But the Raiders have won their last three against Souths and travelled up early for the game on Thursday.
Croker pointed to the strong Rabbitohs pack, which will be bolstered by the return of Sam Burgess from suspension to join his two brothers.
He also felt Souths had threats out wide through Greg Inglis and Dane Gagai.
But the 27-year-old was buoyed by the Raiders' defensive efforts over the last fortnight – keeping the Eels tryless and it took the Bulldogs until after the final siren to score their second.
"I've been pleased with the way we've won our games and the style we're defending and the toughness," Croker said.
"There's no denying it's a massive test this week.
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"You mention those three Burgess boys, Damien Cook's probably up there as one of the chances to play Origin for the Blues this year, and then Inglis and Gagai and Alex Johnston and guys like that, Adam Reynolds, it's a fairly good team and they're playing really good footy.
"It's definitely one of our biggest tests so far and I know our boys are looking forward to it."
Croker expected the same 17 to run out against the Rabbitohs after coach Ricky Stuart named the same 21 as last week on Tuesday.
Given it's a day game, he expected ball retention to be important in the warm weather.
The Raiders have completed at 80 per cent or above in both their wins and in the 70s for all-but-one of their four losses.
Croker felt whichever pack could win a war of attrition in the middle would come out on top.
"It's going to be pretty warm up there compared to the last couple of weeks, so ball control's very important as well and tiring them out by holding the ball," he said.
"Two big forward packs going at it, some pretty good outside backs on both edges it should be a pretty good game to watch."
While the Raiders look set to lose prop Junior Paulo to the Eels at the end of the season on a four-year, $2.8 million deal, Croker was still hopeful the big bopper would stay in Canberra.
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But the Raiders can't match the length of the offer, having tabled a two-year deal themselves.
Paulo's one of a number of Raiders off-contract, along with halves Aidan Sezer and Blake Austin, fellow prop Shannon Boyd and Origin star Josh Papalii.
Croker was confident the speculation surrounding Paulo's future wouldn't be a distraction.
"It doesn't to be honest. It's not too much of a worry for us. It happens every day in our game. It's the game we play, it's a business," he said.
"Every player's off-contract at some stage, every team goes through having players off-contract so we're not worried about that … we don't let that sort of stuff get to us.
"I'm sure every player that's off-contract is going out there to bust their backside to get a contract and remain here. I'm pretty sure they all want to stay here, so hopefully they all do."
NRL ROUND SEVEN
Saturday – South Sydney Rabbitohs v Canberra Raiders at Central Coast Stadium, 3pm. Live on Fox League.
Raiders squad: 1. Jack Wighton, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Joey Leilua, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Blake Austin, 7. Aidan Sezer, 8. Sia Soliola, 9. Siliva Havili, 10. Junior Paulo, 11. Joe Tapine, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Luke Bateman. Interchange: 14. Ata Hingano, 15. Shannon Boyd, 16. Josh Papalii, 17. Dunamis Lui, 18. Liam Knight, 19. Michael Oldfield, 20. Brad Abbey, 21. Jack Murchie.
Rabbitohs squad: 1. Alex Johnston, 2. Richie Kennar, 3. Greg Inglis (c), 4. Dane Gagai, 5. Robert Jennings, 6. Cody Walker, 7. Adam Reynolds, 8. Thomas Burgess, 9. Damien Cook, 10. George Burgess, 11. John Sutton, 12. Angus Crichton, 13. Sam Burgess. Interchange: 14. Adam Doueihi, 15. Mark Nicholls, 16. Jason Clark, 17. Tevita Tatola,18. Robbie Farah, 19. Hymel Hunt, 20. Cameron Murray, 21. Kyle Turner.
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David Polkinghorne is a sports reporter at The Canberra Times.
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