Canberra Raiders confident Josh Papalii will be free for NRL grand final

Papalii was the hero in Canberra's thrilling preliminary final triumph but he faces a nervous wait after being placed on report for a high tackle which rattled South Sydney Rabbitohs fullback Adam Doueihi.

The star forward's report could see him slapped with a high contact charge by the match review committee on Saturday.

That coupled with Joey Leilua's suspected calf injury were the only sour notes in the Raiders' thrilling 16-10 win at a packed out Canberra Stadium on Friday night.

But Raiders coach Ricky Stuart is confident one of the premier front-rower's in the competition will be free to line up on the game's biggest stage next Sunday.

"I don't believe he has got anything to answer to," Stuart said.

"He's got a wonderful technique, he is hitting the ball. I don't believe that technique and style of tackle would be anything more than careless. I don't think it was a shoulder charge.

"You don't get to this stage of the season if you haven't got those types of players in your footy team. At this stage of the year, they're the guys you're banking on playing well."

The 27-year-old's herculean 71-minute stint garnered a team high 179 running metres and 35 tackles.

The Raiders front-rower earned a well deserved rest after playing the first 53 minutes straight.

Little more than seven minutes later he was on his feet yearning to get his hands on an interchange card - one he was finally able to use after a 10-minute break from the action.

Canberra managed to repel wave after wave of Rabbitohs attacking raids in the dying stages to book their first grand final appearance since 1994.

And of course it was Papalii providing the exclamation mark to seal Canberra's return to October football with a late try to put the result beyond doubt.

"It's pretty surreal. My body is pretty sore to be honest, and I'm just happy to go to a grand final," Papalii said.

"I was starting to cramp up with three minutes to go, and when they scored that late try I thought if we put in one defensive set, we would be alright.

"I have [played big stints like that before], I just probably haven't been effective in the past.

"I just want to be out there for the boys to be honest and get them into a grand final. That's all I was trying to do.

"I want to give these young boys an experience, and I've never been to a grand final myself. To finally get the chance is pretty surreal.

"We're going to celebrate this win but when next week comes around, we will enjoy the week and prepare for what's next because whether it's the Storm or the Roosters, it's going to be a tough one. I want to enjoy the week."

And the Raiders will be desperate for Papalii to be there when it all boils down to the final 80 minutes of the season.

Because in the words of Dunamis Lui, "if he is not the best player in the NRL at the moment, that'll do me."