How the Canberra Raiders will stop St George Illawarra Dragons halfback Ben Hunt

While St George Illawarra halfback Ben Hunt might be the Dally M Medal favourite, he'll be public enemy No.1 at Canberra Stadium come Sunday.

With all the controversy surrounding the Raiders and the suspension of their coach Ricky Stuart for his "weak-gutted dog" comments about Penrith half Jaeman Salmon, it's easy to forget the Green Machine face a potentially NRL season-defining game against the Dragons at home this weekend.

Hunt's the key to stopping a repeat of the Raiders' controversial loss to the Dragons in Wollongong a month ago - where the NRL conceded Canberra should have been awarded a penalty in the final minute to give them a chance to level the scores and send the game into extra-time.

The Dragons captain committed three professional fouls in the dying seconds, but no penalty was awarded and St George Illawarra held on for a 12-10 victory in cyclonic conditions.

It was the second time in a year Hunt had played a major role in guiding his team to victory over the Raiders, with his kicking game especially damaging against the Green Machine.

That's why he's the major focus for Sunday's game.

Canberra captain Elliott Whitehead said they would target Hunt to ensure his lethal right boot didn't "kick them to death" once again.

"I think it's his kicking game. You saw what he did to us down in Wollongong - he kicked us to death," Whitehead said.

"We'll probably put a bit more pressure on him so he doesn't have much time to kick us to death.

"We'll be looking at that to come into training on Friday and hopefully we can stop him."

That Dragons loss in round 16 clearly still grates with the Raiders.

Stuart mentioned it following the Green Machine's victory over the Gold Coast Titans two weeks ago and Raiders winger Jordan Rapana said the fact it could have such a big impact on whether they play finals made it hurt even more.

Canberra sits one win outside the top eight, behind the eighth-placed Sydney Roosters, with just four rounds remaining.

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They probably need to win at least three to play finals, while the 11th-placed Dragons must beat the Raiders to keep their very slim hopes alive.

Rapana said the loss had them hungry for revenge.

"Every loss burns, but where we're sitting on the ladder now - ninth and only two points out of the eight - it hurts a little bit more," he said.

"But that's more fuel to the fire and wanting to get one back on them this week."

Whitehead said they'd been working on converting their chances in a bid to get their attack firing against the Dragons.

Scoring was something they struggled with in their 26-6 loss to the Panthers on Saturday.

Their focus last week had been on getting out of their defensive half after Penrith had strangled them earlier in the season.

"We probably didn't execute on good ball as good as we wanted. We probably put more focus in yardage [against the Panthers]," Whitehead said.

"We put some focus on the good ball this week, and hopefully it helps us so we can get some more points on the board."

NRL ROUND 22

Sunday: Canberra Raiders v St George Illawarra Dragons at Canberra Stadium, 2pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Xavier Savage, 2. Albert Hopoate, 3. Matt Timoko, 4. Sebastian Kris, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Zac Woolford, 10. Emre Guler, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead (c), 13. Adam Elliott. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Ryan Sutton, 16. Corey Horsburgh, 17. Corey Harawira-Naera. Reserves: 18. James Schiller, 19. Ata Mariota, 20. Matt Frawley, 21. Peter Hola, 22. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.

Dragons squad: 1. Moses Mbye, 2. Mat Feagai, 3. Jack Bird, 4. Zac Lomax, 5. Tautau Moga, 6. Talatau Amone, 7. Ben Hunt (c), 8. Jack de Belin, 9. Andrew McCullough, 10. Blake Lawrie, 11. Josh McGuire, 12. Jayden Su'a, 13. Michael Molo. Interchange: 14. Tyrell Sloan, 15. Aaron Woods, 16. Tyrell Fuimaono , 17. Billy Burns. Reserves: 18. Jayden Sullivan, 19. Jackson Ford, 20. Jaiyden Hunt, 21. Cody Ramsey 22. Jack Gosiewski.

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