Elliott Whitehead brilliance guides Canberra Raiders to gutsy win over New Zealand Warriors

He's normally the ultra-reliable Canberra Raiders second-rower, but on Sunday he became the Green Machine's star halfback.

Whitehead guided the Raiders to a 26-14 victory over the New Zealand Warriors at Canberra Stadium.

Not even getting crunched in a tackle and having a quiet vomit on the field could stop him.

He even had a stint as acting captain when co-captain Jarrod Croker went off for a head injury assessment.

But the Raiders will be holding their breath to see how the elbow of another England international pulls up after John Bateman looked in all sorts of pain and needed treatment - although he was able to finish the game.

Bateman was confident he would be able to face the Cronulla Sharks at Kogarah on Saturday.

Whitehead found himself as a makeshift halfback after another of Canberra's English contingent, George Williams, was forced from the field with a head knock in the first half.

Williams failed his HIA and was unable to return.

Increasing Whitehead's responsibility was Raiders five-eighth Jack Wighton getting a spell in the sin bin for what was at best a marginal offside.

He was given a 10-minute spell for repeated Canberra infringements.

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It meant Whitehead and fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad took over the running of the Green Machine in attack.

While Raiders coach Ricky Stuart was unhappy with not only the standard of the game, but also the consistency of the officiating of it as well, he was happy with the performance of Whitehead.

"Elliott, he's got great utility value, he's very skilful. I said it a couple of weeks ago he's the most underestimated player in the competition," Stuart said.

"For Jack to have to fill in and play a completely different role today at seven. Eight minutes into the game we lost our halfback.

"Elliott to go to six, and it was a wonderful way we scraped or found a way to win and scrape the game like that.

"We didn't play well but with the disruptions in regards to the three head bins, with the disruptions with the sin binning that was not a sin binning, I thought we did an amazing job through their effort in winning that game.

"We played against a footy team that had nothing to lose. Throwing the ball out the back and looking for the second-phase play was hard to defend but they did a good job."

The Warriors will be without captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck for the final round after he limped off with a hamstring injury and they'll have concerns over prop Isaiah Papali'i, who could come under scrutiny for a shoulder charge on Nicoll-Klokstad.

Former Raider Jack Murchie was put on report for a high shot on a slipping Semi Valemei, who had also starred for the Green Machine until he went off for an HIA.

He scored a double, including a 90-metre effort to get them back in the game in the first half when Wighton was off the field.

The crowd erupted, with their roar belying the fact there were only 6000 there.

His second showed he also has power to go with his pace as he crashed over with plenty to do - it all came from a Whitehead intercept.

Warriors assistant coach Todd Payten confirmed Tuivasa-Sheck's 2020 season was over.

"I'd like to put him on a plane. It's just not going to happen. We spoke about it last week, putting him on a commercial flight, but he'll get home quicker on a charter," Payten said.

"I know he's counting down the days. He told me so after last weekend's game. His wife Ash was relieved that we got beat [last week ending our finals chances]. I can't hold that against the kid."

The Raiders' victory has kept their top-four hopes alive.

If they beat Cronulla and the Parramatta Eels lose to the Wests Tigers later that day they will jump to fourth.

Warriors five-eighth Kodi Nikorima's kicking game caused the Raiders plenty of problems early.

He put a perfect grubber in behind for Peta Hiku to run onto for the opening try and the first of his brace.

Hiku's second came from a nice ball from Nikorima, which came just after Wighton had been controversially sent to the sin bin.

But not before he threw a beautiful, flat, cut-out pass for Croker to score - but he had a head clash with Tuivasa-Sheck in the process and was also forced off for an HIA, although he was able to return.

Initially, the visitors took advantage of Wighton's absence, with a nice ball from Nikorima ending up with Hiku's second.

The craziness of the first half was capped off with Whitehead putting his stamp on the game.

He produced some ad-lib brilliance that clearly had more than a hint of an English upbringing kicking the soccer ball around.

Whitehead grubbered-and-chased, regathered, put a cross-field kick off his instep perfectly for Hudson Young to run onto and put the Green Machine in front just as Wighton emerged from the sheds to return to the field.

It had them the unlikely leaders 16-14 at half-time despite only having 43 per cent of the football and a 7-1 penalty count against them.

A Whitehead intercept led to Valemei's second and he also had a nice catch-and-pass in the lead-up to Nick Cotric scoring the sealer in the 73^rd minute.

Oh and he also ran for 111 metres.

The NRL bunker was again in the spotlight with several bizarre calls in the dying minutes of the game.

AT A GLANCE

CANBERRA RAIDERS 26 (Semi Valemei 2, Jarrod Croker, Hudson Young, Nick Cotric tries; Croker 3 goals) bt NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS 14 (Peta Hiku 2 tries; Chanel Harris-Tavita 3 goals) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: Chris Sutton.