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Canberra Raiders boost finals hopes with win over South Sydney, ending milestone game curse.
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.
Raiders climb ladder with 10th win over Rabbitohs, Whitehead celebrates 200 games with victory.
Moving to ninth on the ladder after extending their record against the Rabbitohs to 10 wins from 14 matches during Ricky Stuart's tenure, the result was a fitting result for Canberra captain Elliott Whitehead who became only the 15th player to play 200 first grade matches for the club.
The Raiders made their intentions known from the opening moments with a blockbusting run by Hudson Young setting up Jordan Rapana (5th minute) and Xavier Savage (9th minute) juggling a towering bomb to give the hosts a 12-0 lead in as many minutes.
Things continued to go from bad to worse for the Rabbitohs as Alex Johnston was assisted from the field with a suspected season-ending Achilles injury and an error inside their own half allowing Sebastian Kris (19th minute) to extend the lead.
Canberra Raiders well-positioned for finals, despite tough opponents Manly, Penrith, and Sydney Roosters.
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart thinks his side couldn't be better placed to make a charge into finals, despite facing the NRL's toughest run-in,
Of the 12 teams vying for the six up-for-grabs finals spots - Melbourne and Penrith are all but guaranteed qualification - the 10th-placed Raiders will come up against the toughest opposition in their remaining seven games.
The average league position of the sides they are yet to face is 6.57, AAP analysis has found, with tricky clashes against in-form sides such as Manly, Penrith and the Sydney Roosters to come.
But Stuart...