It wasn't just a night that sent a message the Canberra Raiders are still in the NRL finals race.
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It was a night that sent a message to rabid South Sydney fan and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that Canberra needs a new stadium on a freezing night in the capital.
The Raiders have kept their NRL finals hopes alive with the 32-12 victory over the Rabbitohs.
Several results also went their way on Sunday, with both St George Illawarra and the Dolphins losing.
It's moved the Green Machine into ninth on the ladder - equal on premiership points with Redcliffe, but just outside the eight on for-and-against.
They now switch their focus to a tough trip to Belmore to face the in-form Bulldogs - with Raiders coach Ricky Stuart keeping his cards close to his chest about whether Josh Papali'i will make the trip to play his 300th NRL game or have a week off to play it home.
![Xavier Savage flies for a Jamal Fogarty bomb on his way to scoring a try. Picture by Elesa Kurtz Xavier Savage flies for a Jamal Fogarty bomb on his way to scoring a try. Picture by Elesa Kurtz](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/reqbnGrLXyZFax2TwSi3Na/cd0e32a6-154a-4971-a1dc-fe2b80e7360e.JPG/r0_36_3240_1865_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
It could come down to Canberra simply needing to win and having their enforcer in the front row gives them their best chance of that.
The Raiders were expertly guided around the park by halfback Jamal Fogarty, who now has two wins in his two games back from a biceps injury.
His kicking game was on-song again, while his defence was outstanding on his good mate Jack Wighton - who was playing his old club for the first time.
Stuart likened Fogarty's importance on Sunday night to the fact Albanese was there.
The 12,114 in the crowd gave their Prime Minister a hearty boo every time he appeared on the screen in his Souths livery.
The Raiders had a game plan to target Rabbitohs halfback Cody Walker when they had the ball and it bore fruit - scoring three tries down his side.
"I don't think anyone knew that Jamal was out for all those weeks, like we do with a lot of other playmakers," Stuart said.
"Jamal tonight was probably as important for as having Albo here to see that we need a new stadium.
"Hopefully he understands the fact that what he had to sit in tonight he could probably help us get a new stadium at some stage."
On whether he would play Papali'i, Stuart remained coy.
"I told you the truth last year about Jarrod Croker [getting rested to play his 300th at home] and I got slammed so I'll keep it to myself," he said.
Along with Fogarty, the Raiders had good players across the park - Joe Tapine and Trey Mooney in the middle, as well as Xavier Savage on the wing.
They were all switched on from the start and ran in three tries before Souths even knew what hit them.
The Rabbitohs scored a few lucky - and some controversial - tries, off the back of repeat sets, but were never really in the hunt.
They lost star winger Alex Johnston to a ruptured Achilles early in the first half, while the Raiders had centre Matt Timoko put on report.
Stuart revealed he almost let Savage go late last year before the young gun made some changes.
Savage scored a try, was excellent under the high ball and showed his renewed physicality with a bellringer on Souths forward Jacob Host.
His fellow Raiders winger Jordan Rapana scored a double as well.
"I've said for two years [Savage's] a young Indigenous boy who we had to back," Stuart said.
"But believe me before Christmas this year I was ready for him to find another club.
"But he was the one who made the change.
"He made some different decisions in regards to how he prepared, how he trained and you can see that in his physicality now.
"He gets targeted every week. I couldn't be more pleased for that young man."
Raiders keep finals hopes alive with Souths thrashing
The Canberra Raiders' finals hopes have taken a massive boost, just for-and-against keeping them out of the top eight.
They thrashed South Sydney 32-12 at a frosty Canberra Stadium on Sunday night.
It ended their poor run of results in milestone games - in Canberra captain Elliott Whitehead's 200th NRL game.
Whitehead was bizarrely sin-binned on the final siren for a flop despite the game being well and truly over.
It also meant it was an unhappy return for former Raider Jack Wighton, who had a quiet night along with most of his Rabbitohs teammates.
The Dragons and Dolphins both losing on Sunday helped the Green Machine move into ninth - on the same number of competition points (24) as the Redcliffe club.
They'll still need to keep winning to keep their playoff hopes alive with another four out of their final six games the likely target.
It will be interesting to see whether Raiders great Josh Papali'i will play his 300th game next week at Belmore or be rested to play the milestone game at home the following week.
While Wighton was quiet, Raiders halfback Jamal Fogarty was excellent.
His kicking was superb - both in general play and from the tee - as was his defence, marking up on Wighton.
Trey Mooney and Joe Tapine were great in the middle, while Hudson Young was brilliant on the left edge.
Souths suffered another massive injury blow, star winger Alex Johnston limping off having ruptured his Achilles early in the first half.
Hudson Young didn't take long to show his Origin groin injury was well and truly behind him, bursting through the Rabbitohs' defensive line before finding Jordan Rapana with a no-look offload to open the scoring.
They were in again shortly afterwards as Fogarty's aerial bombing raid on diminutive Souths fullback Jye Gray got into gear.
Raiders winger Xavier Savage flew over the top of Gray to score.
Canberra seemed to come with a plan to attack Souths' right and Sebastian Kris sliced right through that side to make it 18-0 inside 20 minutes.
Souths got back into the game off the back of five consecutive sets - with the officials cruelly taking the pleasure of a Savage bellringer on Jacob Host that sent the second-rower's mouthguard flying.
Instead they penalised Matt Timoko for high contact and put the Canberra centre on report.
Luck also played a role, a Cody Walker kick clean-bowling everyone with Souths centre Taane Milne getting to the loose ball first to open their account.
Rapana scored his second after Savage batted back a Fogarty bomb, allowing the Raiders halfback to kick the ball across field for his winger to gather.
Souths scored a controversial try right on the stroke of half-time, with Walker scoring off a Jack Wighton offload - which could have been ruled a double movement.
That was definitely the opinion of the 12,114 fans at the ground.
But it was awarded to make it 24-8 to the Raiders at half-time.
Raiders prop Ata Mariota sliced straight through the Rabbitohs middle to open the scoring in the second half.
Souths scored another controversial try, with second-rower Tallis Duncan awarded it despite Whitehead's hand appearing to be under the ball.
AT A GLANCE
CANBERRA RAIDERS 32 (Jordan Rapana 2, Xavier Savage, Sebastian Kris, Ata Mariota tries; Jamal Fogarty 6 goals) bt SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS 12 (Taane Milne, Cody Walker, Tallis Duncan tries) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: Wyatt Raymond. Crowd: 12,114.