NRL: Was Canberra Raiders' 2022 campaign a success or an opportunity lost?

That's despite the emphatic manner in which the Canberra Raiders bowed out of the finals with a 40-4 loss to the Eels at Parramatta Stadium on Friday night.

They do need to do some important business during the off-season, however - re-signing Joe Tapine, who emerged as the best prop in the world, and potentially finding a replacement for Adam Elliott.

A slow start to their campaign due to injuries meant making the second week of the finals was a success.

But it was still an opportunity lost given they were just two wins away from the grand final.

The emphatic manner in which they beat Melbourne in Melbourne to end the Storm's season in the elimination final created expectation they could get past Parramatta.

But it looked like their run of eight wins in nine games to get to the semi-final took its toll as the Green Machine simply ran out of gas.

Losing Elliott (pelvic) didn't help given how important he'd become to the Raiders pack this year. Not to mention a head knock ruling Corey Harawira-Naera out in the first half.

That came off the back of injuries to key players early in the season - Josh Hodgson (knee) and Jarrod Croker (shoulder) for the season, Jamal Fogarty (knee) for the first half of the season, and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (hamstring) for a large chunk of it.

Five straight losses saw them slump to third last after eight rounds and had the Sydney experts writing them off.

But they produced a strong run home after they finally got a settled spine of Fogarty, Jack Wighton, Xavier Savage and hooking duo Zac Woolford and Tom Starling.

It's why Raiders coach Ricky Stuart would've bitten off your hand if you'd offered him a loss in the semi - even if it was a flogging.

"If after round 12 this year, if one of you had've come and said to me I'll do a deal with you and you can get to the second semi-final and get flogged, what do you reckon I would've said?" Stuart said.

"We were coming 11th or 12th or 15th at one stage. What these blokes have done - that game there, that does not define these blokes, the team, the club.

"I'm very proud of them. I could not be prouder in regards to the journey they've been on, the difficulties we were confronted with.

"For us to get where we are today I'm very proud of them. Disappointed with the result? Absolutely.

"We didn't beat ourselves, we got beaten by a better team."

There were also plenty of lime green shoots to fill the Raiders fans with hope for the future.

Canberra second-rower Hudson Young's on the verge of being called up for Australia's World Cup squad.

Savage emerged as the best young fullback in the NRL.

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Woolford and Starling became a handy dummy half pairing.

Sebastian Kris and Matt Timoko both showed they have bright futures in the centres, while Fogarty and Wighton's combination will only improve.

"I'm shattered. I'm so proud of this group. The coaching staff and the group have all stuck together this year. We learnt a lot from last year," Wighton said.

"We could've easily been in the top four as the bottom four. We were beaten by a better team and it's very sad, but I'm very proud of all the boys.

"We had a lot of young boys really deliver for us ... a lot of positives."

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