Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has challenged his players to continue rising to new levels in their last two games after a spectacular comeback against the Parramatta Eels clinched a top-four finals spot.
The Raiders rallied from 16 points behind to beat the Eels 28-18 in front of the club's biggest regular-season crowd in six years at Canberra Stadium on Sunday.
More Sport Videos
- Video duration
- 01:25
Croker, Lee shatter brave Eels
- Video duration
- 01:30
Australia win Four Nations
- Video duration
- 00:31
Titans flogged at pre-season training
- Video duration
- 00:37
History means nothing for Australia
- Video duration
- 01:30
Kangaroos knock England out of Four Nations
- Video duration
- 01:30
Scotland draw with Kiwis in thrilling fashion
- Video duration
- 01:06
Gorman 'affected personally' by Barba scenario
- Video duration
- 00:23
Internet safety is key for Hayne
Croker, Lee shatter brave Eels
The combination of Jarrod Croker and Brenko Lee proved too much for the Eels as the Raiders pair terrorised Parramatta's right-side defence to bring Canberra back from a 14-point deficit for a 28-18 victory at GIO Stadium
The win means the Raiders still have a chance to finish in the top two but they have secured a crucial double chance in the finals and a top-four berth for the first time in 13 years.
It was made even sweeter by Jarrod Croker's single-season point-scoring record, Brenko Lee's four tries and the announcement of a new major sponsor deal with Huawei worth almost $1 million per year.
The Green Machine will wait until early this week to assess the damage to prop Junior Paulo's rib cartilage after he left the field just after half-time.
The Raiders will be one of the most inexperienced teams in the finals and Stuart says his side won't get carried away with the hype because "we haven't done anything yet".
But he wants the players to continue a rapid upward curve of improvement to give themselves the best chance of doing something special. The Raiders have won eight games in a row to stamp themselves as a genuine premiership threat.
"They say you need experience to win semi-final football, maybe that will be the case," Stuart said.
"But it will give us a great education going into next year and the years after that. We're very happy with where we sit, but we haven't achieved anything yet outside of the fact we're in the top four.
"I'm very proud of the players in regards to their efforts ... I am worrying about plateauing out.
"I can only ask so much of the players. Have they got it? I don't know but we'll find out over the coming weeks. It's going to be hard because we've been up for a long time.
"We're on a journey here. I haven't got a Jonathan Thurston, a Cameron Smith or a Cooper Cronk. I've got a team ... we don't live off one player, we live off everyone's contributions."
The Raiders hit an unexpected hurdle when a fired-up Parramatta side skipped out to a 16-0 lead to leave the almost 19,000-strong crowd shocked.
The Raiders had been playing like a well-oiled Green Machine in previous weeks, toppling ladder leaders the Melbourne Storm and Cronulla to cement their spot in the top four.
But they stuttered at times and struggled to find fluency in their game as the Eels – who have shown amazing resilience despite a year of off-field drama – refused to be a finals speed hump.
"The effort all year has been outstanding, but we probably need to get a bit more for our effort," said Eels coach Brad Arthur.
"There were too many points scored against [us] in the second half and we probably lacked a bit of class. We're trying really hard, we just need to get a bit more for the effort we're putting in."
Raiders teams of the past may have wilted when faced with a giant challenge to get back into the contest and they trailed 18-4 at half-time after a stuttering 40 minutes of action.
But Croker stepped up when his team needed him most and his try and conversion – which made him the highest Raiders points-scorer in a single season – triggered an unstoppable lime green wave.
Winger Lee was on the end of a spectacular pass from Croker to score three minutes later and the Canterbury-bound speedster crossed two more times to finish the day with four tries.
"I've never scored a hat-trick [let alone four] so to do that in one game is something I'll look back on," Lee said.
"We can't get ahead of ourselves yet ... we know there's a lot of work to do. We've just got to put our head down and bust our arse."
Sia Soliola completed a second-half surge and the Raiders walked away with another win and a guaranteed top-four spot for the first time since 2003. The ladder position carries the bonus of a double chance in the finals and if results go their way, the Raiders could climb into the top two.
The Raiders did it the hard way against the Eels and it showed how far the club had come since missing the finals in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Croker has been a standout this year and leads the NRL in points scored as well as becoming Canberra's all-time most prolific scorer.
Early lead: Semi Radradra scores for the Eels to get the visitors off to a flyer. Photo: Jay Cronan
CANBERRA RAIDERS 28 (Brenko Lee 4, Jarrod Croker, Sia Soliola tries; Croker 2 goals) bt PARRAMATTA EELS 18 (Michael Jennings, Semi Radradra, Bevan French tries; Michael Gordon 3 goals) at Canberra Stadium on Sunday. Referees: Dave Munro and Alan Shortall. Crowd: 18,825.