Canberra Raiders vow to lift for crucial St George Illawarra Dragons clash in Ricky Stuart's absence

It's the quintessential Stuart backs-against-the-wall game, only Stuart won't be there.

The Green Machine need to win against the Dragons at Canberra Stadium on Sunday to keep their NRL finals hopes alive.

They're not only missing the world's best prop in Joe Tapine (ribs), but they'll be without their passionate coach as well - as they look for revenge against rivals St George Illawarra, who controversially beat them only a month ago.

It had the players and coaches vowing to get the two points in Stuart's absence.

The Raiders sit just one win outside the top eight, with the 11th-placed Dragons one win further back.

Canberra have made a habit of winning big games when their backs were against the wall during Stuart's tenure.

Raiders gun second-rower Hudson Young said the club's leaders had come together to get them back on the winner's list in their coach's absence.

"Ricky's our coach and we're always going to stand by him," Young said.

"There's probably been a few discussions around us leaders trying to glue together ... and do it for him."

It was a sentiment Raiders assistant coach Andrew McFadden echoed.

He said the Raiders' on-field leaders had taken on extra responsibilities this week.

"Most definitely. [Stuart] is the heart and soul of this place," McFadden said.

"We know he's hurting and I know the players are very committed to do what's best and go out there and perform for him on the weekend."

Jack Wighton had a more pragmatic approach and said it was just business as usual.

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He's had so many different situations pop up during his 215-game NRL career that he said you just needed to adapt to whatever happened - and that included losing your coach for a week.

The 29-year-old said he had his coach's back - something Stuart had also done for his star five-eighth throughout his career.

But Wighton didn't miss the opportunity to have some fun at his suspended coach's expense.

"I've appointed myself captain-coach so I got a win out of it," he said with a laugh.

"Everything's been good, everything's flowing as normal. All the leaders and everybody is stepping up and taking a little bit of a role and nothing changes.

"We always back each other. That's part of the club, part of the Raider way. It means you look after him and back him. That's what we do."

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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