Stuart says couple of weeks ago Canberra hooker Siliva Havili couldn't have punched out anywhere near 80 minutes, but the only thing standing in the Tongan rake's way was himself.

Perhaps an injury crisis was just what Stuart needed to shatter the mental barriers he has been trying to help Havili overcome.

Havili went within a whisker of playing the full 80 minutes in Canberra's breakthrough win last week and now he believes he can do it again against the Parramatta Eels at Canberra Stadium on Saturday.

"I know Ricky has been really big with the mental side of my game, not giving up on anything and letting my mental side take control of my body, and just pushing me to my barriers," Havili said.

"I know that’s in me, so that’s a good thing for my self-confidence. I know if we get into that position or if I do have to play those minutes that I am capable of doing it.

"The more I play the more I get confident with my minutes, and the more I get confidence with my forwards and also the halves."

Havili is preparing for his sixth game in lime green but he will link up with Canberra's third starting halves combination during that time in Aidan Sezer and Blake Austin.

The 25-year-old isn't shaken - last week's monumental effort has left Havili adamant he can play big minutes and be a big impact player in the NRL. The mental barriers are gone.

"I came off and saw Ata [Hingano] go down and I knew I had to dig in for the boys," Havili said.

"I was controlling it well with the boys scoring a lot and kicking the ball out of play just getting our breath back.

"With the amount of troops that went down everyone had to play big minutes and out of position, it wasn’t just myself. Everyone took it on board and made it a lot easier for me."

Havili says Canberra's first win of the season is crucial for a Green Machine outfit preparing for a clash with the winless Eels that many had touted as a top four team.

Parramatta coach Brad Arthur insists his side can play finals football this year but they face a tall task in a Raiders outfit looking to continue their own resurgence.

"It’s a big confidence booster with the way we’ve been losing, but also [the Manly] display wasn’t up to scratch, wasn’t at our ability," Havili said.

"Credit to the boys, we had to owe it to our fans, we had to owe it to our club, we had to owe it to each other too.

"Toots [Jarrod Croker] got the boys together and we just responded well, controlled, everyone just took it on board. Full credit to the boys, everyone dug deep for each other and everyone just kept turning up for each other which was good to see."

NRL ROUND SIX

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Parramatta Eels at Canberra Stadium, 7.35pm. Tickets available from Ticketek.

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

Eels squad: 1. Clint Gutherson, 2. George Jennings, 3. Michael Jennings, 4. Kirisome Auva'a, 5. Bevan French, 6. Corey Norman, 7. Mitchell Moses, 8. Peni Terepo, 9. Kaysa Pritchard, 10. Tim Mannah (c), 11. Manu Ma'u, 12. Tony Williams, 13. Tepai Moeroa. Interchange: 14. Beau Scott, 15. Kenny Edwards, 16. Daniel Alvaro, 17. Kane Evans, 18. Will Smith, 19. David Gower, 20. Suaia Matagi, 21. Josh Hoffman