It was their third straight win and has kept their finals dream alive, but it's a case of job half done with Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart re-iterating they still have unfinished business.
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Raiders overwhelm woeful Warriors
The Canberra Raiders have kept their top eight hopes alive with a 36-16 win over the struggling Warriors in Auckland.
That business involves their massive clash against Penrith at Canberra Stadium on Sunday, which will have huge implications on the final make up of the NRL top-eight.
The Raiders' 36-16 victory over the New Zealand Warriors in Auckland on Sunday has kept them two wins beyond the sixth-placed Panthers, who are equal with Manly and North Queensland on 28 premiership points.
Canberra need to beat the Panthers and then Newcastle at home and the Melbourne Storm away in the final two rounds to have a chance of making the eight.
They'll be sweating on a knee injury to star centre Joey Leilua, who came off in the second half of the Warriors' sixth straight loss, but it's believed to be a knock rather than any structural damage.
The belief is starting to build around a side that's hitting its straps at the business end of the season.
"We haven't done what we need to do. We're just slowly creeping on what we want to get to and that's to win the rest of the games this season," Stuart said.
![Nick Cotric scored two tries in the Raiders' easy win over the Warriors.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170824122843im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/v/7/s/5/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxtzd4.png/1502613313778.jpg)
"We spoke about that before Souths. We beat Souths, we beat Cronulla and we won tonight so there's three of the six that we need to win.
"But Penrith are going to be tough and Newcastle are going to be tough and then we've got Melbourne in Melbourne, so we've got a really, really tough finish. But you can only do what we're doing."Â
The Raiders controlled the first half with the left edge combining for the opening two tries - firstly Jarrod Croker putting Nick Cotric away, and then vice versa.
That side of the field is Canberra five-eighth Blake Austin's new home and he enjoyed a return to his blistering best, with his kicking, passing and running games all clicking into gear off the back of another solid display from the Raiders' big boppers.
The Warriors were able to hit back through a David Fusitua try, but then Austin crossed following a nice dummy and step to send the visitors into the sheds 12 points up and in complete control.
But the Kiwi side rallied after the break and if they'd been able to capitalise on their 80 per cent possession in that period could've gotten back into the game.
Warriors five-eighth Ata Hingano showed he was a player of the future in setting up a try after it looked like he'd suffered a serious knee injury, only to get his ankle strapped and play on.
The Warriors were their own worst enemies and made several crucial errors after captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck scored to cut the lead to eight.
Those errors led to Raiders centre Joey Leilua and his winger Jordan Rapana both scoring, before Cotric grabbed his second with what's becoming a trademark run.
The Warriors scored a consolation try, with Isaiah Papalii crossing in the dying minutes.
Croker, who moved to second on the Raiders' all-time try-scoring list, said the focus was now solely on the Panthers.
"It's certainly growing, but I wouldn't say we lost confidence there in the middle part of the season," he said.
"We had a lot of games there where we completed at 60 per cent against top-quality sides and put so much pressure on ourselves and then either got beaten on the bell or in golden point.
"We still take confidence out of those games, but obviously winning three in a row it certainly builds your confidence. We can only worry about next week now and go forward from there."Â
CANBERRA RAIDERS 36 (Nick Cotric 2, Jarrod Croker, Blake Austin, Joey Leilua, Jordan Rapana tries; Croker 6 goals) bt NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS 16 (David Fusitua, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Isaiah Papalii tries; Mason Lino 2 goals) in Auckland. Referees: Adam Gee, Gavin Reynolds. Crowd: 10,182.