CANBERRA winger Jordan Rapana will remain at the club for another season and another NRL title tilt, the new one-year deal also ending his brief flirtation with Japanese rugby.

Rapana only returned to the Raiders this year after the outset of the covid pandemic forced the 31-year-old to leave his rugby union club prematurely.

The NRL had announced just weeks after Rapana signed for Panasonic Wild Knights that he would not be allowed to return to Canberra for the 2020 season.

But that decision was overturned months later and Rapana was given an exemption to join his former NRL club in May following the suspension of the Japanese competition.

The New Zealand International played 19 matches in 2020 to add to his previous 113 appearances between 2014-19 for the Raiders.

“I’m really happy to be staying in Canberra,” Rapana said.

“I feel like I’ve got unfinished business here and I want to be part of a team that can win a grand final.

“I love everything about the club and the boys we have here are a great bunch of blokes, who I think can do something special.

“I’m looking forward to a full preseason as well. The last couple of preseasons for me have been hard as I’ve had surgery or niggling injuries, but I feel really good and I can’t wait to get back into it and be ready for the start of the season.”

The rags-to-riches tale has included just five matches for Gold Coast in 2008, walking away from the game entirely to head on a two-year Mormon venture, an unsuccessful Super Rugby crack at debuting for Western Force in 2011 and stints for Mt Pritchard and Queanbeyan Blues in 2013.

Raiders chief executive Don Furner said the club was looking forward to watching Rapana return for back to back seasons.

“Jordan’s a very popular member of the playing group and well loved by the fanbase, so to have an experienced player like him stay at the Raiders is great news for the club,” Furner said.