The easy fix in the Canberra Raiders' search for an elusive number

It's the $400,000 question plaguing the Canberra Raiders at the moment.

Raiders second-rower Corey Harawira-Naera said one thing they needed to fix was their discipline.

Then they have to start concentrating on every single play - both offensively and defensively.

Harawira-Naera agreed with Raiders coach Ricky Stuart their opening 55 minutes against Penrith on Sunday was the best football they've played all season.

It had them 14-6 down against the reigning premier Panthers.

The only problem? The 36-6 scoreline showed their other 25 minutes was nowhere near good enough.

They lost the penalty count 11-4 and Harawira-Naera said, while a few of them were 50-50, it was something they needed to fix before they play the New Zealand Warriors at Redcliffe on Saturday.

"I don't want to blame the ref, but the penalty count in the second half definitely didn't help us," he said.

"A lot of it was ill discipline, but there was a lot of 50-50s that could've gone our way as well.

"We can only control what we can, but we still made it tough on ourselves.

"One thing we can be better at is our discipline. We'll address that during the week."

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Canberra have lost four in a row and have slumped to 15^th on the NRL ladder.

They've been held tryless after the opening 20 minutes in their past two games and have conceded 16 tries in the second half so far this season, while only scoring six.

Raiders acting captain Jack Wighton said they were "napping" during their loss to the North Queensland Cowboys a couple of weeks ago and Harawira-Naera felt that was also the case against the Panthers.

"We need to bring the same energy we did all week and the way we started that game going that 55 minutes and hopefully put another 25 on the back end," Harawira-Naera said.

"I know it's quite cliche, but we are still searching for that 80-minute performance.

"I think Jack said it last week there was a bit of napping and I think once it got to that last 25 minutes that's when boys started missing their assignments a bit.

"[An] 80-minute performance next week against the Warriors [and] I think we'll be right, but every set we've got to be in it both sides of the ball.

"That was probably our best 55 minutes that we've put together for the whole year - and look at the scoreboard. It's bittersweet.

"We're still searching for that 80-minute performance. The first 55 minutes was good, but 36-6 isn't a good scoreline. So it's obviously not good enough either."

One positive for the Green Machine was there were no charges to come out of their post-game push-and-shove, which was put on report when Wighton, Hudson Young and Stephen Crichton came together for a chat.

Harawira-Naera wasn't part of it initially and only came in to break it up against his former club.

It was a disappointing result for the New Zealand international, who was playing his 100^th NRL game.

He felt some of the Raiders players had taken exception to some of the Panthers for trying to "stand over" them and they were simply standing up for themselves.

"A few of our boys like talking, obviously [the Panthers] like talking - there was a bit of bickering back and forth. But we all shook hands at the end of the day," Harawira-Naera said.

"It's just the competitiveness. We don't like losing and they were obviously trying to put it over us. I think the boys just took an exception to it.

"We're not going to lie down and take that if they're going to try and stand over us. I think we were just standing up for ourselves a bit."

The 26-year-old hadn't noticed the Penrith fans mocking the Viking clap, which happened twice during the second half.

But he felt winners can do what they like.

"They're just like their players, they get a bit cocky sometimes," he said of the Penrith fans.

"But when you're playing well you can do whatever you want. And we're not doing it at the moment. Kudos to them."

NRL ROUND EIGHT

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v New Zealand Warriors at Redcliffe, 3pm.

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