The 31-year-old prop had foot surgery in the off-season and started full contact training late. Taumalolo made his NRL return in last Friday night's 26-16 loss to Brisbane where he was the side's best performed forward with 150m from 14 runs in a 46-minute display.
The 2015 premiership winner had missed the previous week's 36-12 loss to Cronulla where the Cowboys were out-muscled, electing instead to play for Mackay in the state league competition.
Respected rugby league analyst Matthew Johns wrote a column for News Corp questioning the decision in a wide ranging piece about the Cowboys' poor start to the season.
"I'm old school, but in my opinion, legends like Jason Taumalolo shouldn't play reserve grade," Johns wrote.
"Players of the calibre and experience of Taumalolo don't need to play lower grades to prove their fitness and capabilities.
"He would have far better served in the top grade.
"Even if Taumalolo was capable of only playing 25 minutes against the Sharks, it's his presence and leadership which would have made a difference. However, it was a selfless decision that the Cowboys say Taumalolo made himself last week."
Taumalolo made it clear on Wednesday the call was his and not that of coach Todd Payten.
He had put his hand up to play for Mackay in round one of the Queensland Cup but cyclonic weather washed the round out.
The next week he told Payten he wanted to come back to the NRL via Mackay where he had a 56-minute stint.
"I made that decision for myself to benefit from," Taumalolo said.
"The last thing I wanted to do was come into an NRL game a bit underdone, struggling and being a liability for those around me.
"I made the decision. I know there has been a lot of talk about the decision I made but it was entirely on myself."
Taumalolo said he did not regret his call and added that he would be better for the run for Mackay and Cowboys when Canberra visit Townsville on Saturday night.
"Playing Queensland Cup before last week's game definitely helped," he said.
"I thought I'd get more kilometres in the legs and get myself going, Last week, although I was struggling at times, it wasn't too bad. I'll be going into this week a lot more confident."
The winless Cowboys must get their season on track with a win over the Raiders. No side in the NRL era has lost four games in a row and won the premiership.
The Cowboys joined an elite club when they lost their opening three matches of the 2015 season before going on to win the title, but they had Johnathan Thurston in the side as well.
Only Newtown in 1933 have lost their opening four matches of a season and won the title in premiership history.
The Cowboys did improve against the Broncos. They started the match on top, but failed to score points before fading.
"There is a long season ahead but there are a lot of positives we can take out of last week," Taumalolo said.
"If we can start the way we did and span that over 80 minutes it will go a long way towards us improving."
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