Canberra Raiders in NRL finals driving seat after seeing off dogged Canterbury Bulldogs

They made hard work of it, taking until the final 10 minutes to put the result beyond doubt - winning 36-24 at Canberra Stadium on Sunday night.

It should be enough to seal a spot in the top eight - although a win from their remaining two games would make things a lot more comfortable, while also giving them a shot at a home semi-final.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart was proud with the way they handled needing to win to keep their season alive.

"We needed to win today. I was really pleased with how they handled the pressure of needing to win because they showed a lot of composure in times of the game where it was tight," he said.

"We talked about playing a long game all week and they did."

While finals might mathematically still be up in the air, one thing's for sure - there's never a boring moment when Jordan Rapana is around.

The Raiders fullback was involved in everything - setting up three tries, scoring one himself, while also playing a big hand in the Bulldogs' first try as well.

He ran for 172 metres, while Canberra centre Matt Timoko scored a double.

The Raiders' middles were also back to their metre-eating selves, with Joe Tapine (175m), Josh Papali'i (144m), Corey Horsburgh (136m) and Emre Guler (102m) bringing up their centuries.

Rapana could also come under scrutiny from the match review committee for contact with his knees in two separate incidents.

The Raiders lost winger Albert Hopoate at half-time to a rib injury, but in good news Horsburgh passed his head injury assessment and is right for next week's massive Brisbane Broncos clash.

Canterbury hooker Reed Mahoney was put on report for a dangerous tackle.

Stuart expected to welcome five-eighth Jack Wighton (hamstring) next week and he didn't think there was too much to worry about in regards to Rapana.

"I don't think there's any concern. It's hard to disappear," Stuart said.

"Especially when they go to dummy over the tryline. With the speed of the game ... especially for a fullback, he couldn't disappear on [Viliame] Kikau.

"There's a lot more to be answered for over the weekend than one about Jordan.

"He's been massive all year. He'll let us all know about [his] stats. He's already said he's re-signed too early."

A nice Rapana fend got the Green Machine rolling, leading to Timoko's first try.

But it wouldn't be a Raiders game if there wasn't some form of chaos theory involved and this one didn't disappoint.

Rapana did well to keep a Matt Burton goal-line dropout from going out. The only problem was it went straight to Bulldogs flyer Josh Addo-Carr, who ran 60 metres, with Canterbury winger Blake Wilson eventually scoring in the corner.

Raiders co-captain Jarrod Croker announced his retirement at the start of the week and the biggest roar of the game was reserved for him.

He caught Jamal Fogarty's cross-field kick for a four-pointer, before Bulldogs centre Jacob Kiraz levelled it up at 12-all at half-time.

With Hopoate not returning after the break, it meant James Schiller's first involvement was a desperate try-saving ankle tap on a flying Addo-Carr.

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The Raiders took advantage of Schiller's work, Rapana putting Timoko through a hole for his second to restore the home side's lead.

But again Canberra squandered it - doubly so after Fogarty had produced a timely one-on-one strip inside their defensive 10m.

Timoko was forced into touch the very next play and shortly afterwards Bulldogs halfback Toby Sexton dummied over to level it again.

Tries to Canberra winger Nick Cotric, Rapana and Papali'i wrapped things up before former Raider Liam Knight crossed for a late consolation try.

AT A GLANCE

CANBERRA RAIDERS 36 (Matt Timoko 2, Jarrod Croker, Nick Cotric, Jordan Rapana, Josh Papali'i tries; Croker 6 goals) bt CANTERBURY BULLDOGS 24 (Blake Wilson, Jacob Kiraz, Toby Sexton, Liam Knight tries; Matt Burton 4 goals) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: Gerard Sutton. Crowd: 12,402.

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