Josh Reynolds suffered a debilitating hamstring injury, but his Canterbury teammates replicated his fighting spirit to beat Canberra 16-10 on Saturday night.
Reynolds' Bulldogs farewell tour is likely to be dramatically shortened by the injury blow, after he limped up the ANZ Stadium tunnel to a standing ovation midway through the first half and didn't return.
Down to 15 men after they also lost inspirational captain James Graham to concussion early, the Bulldogs overcame a halftime deficit to hold out the Raiders.
Reynolds, who signed a four-year deal with the Wests Tigers on Wednesday, will have scans to determine the full extent of the injury.
"For Josh to leave the field it would have had to be pretty serious," coach Des Hasler said.
But their remaining 15 players exhibited all the passion the injured pair have become famous for.
Halfback Moses Mbye set up two tries in his first 80-minute stint in the halves in more than a month, while second-rower Adam Elliott also scored two tries.
Elliott played 80 minutes for the first time for the club in the pair's absence, as did stand-in captain Aiden Tolman.
Tolman said it was one of the gutsiest performances in some time for the club.
"We probably lost our two most inspirational players," Tolman said.
"They've been playing outstanding footy all year."
But he said they wanted to deliver for Reynolds.
"(Reynolds) is Canterbury Bankstown born and bred and it is going to be disappointing with him leaving next year - so what better way to send him out if we keep playing like that."
Fullback Will Hopoate was also terrific on return from a serious facial injury.
After they trailed 10-4 at the break, Josh Morris changed the momentum of the match when he ran onto an Mbye pass before Elliott scored the match-winner in the 58th minute.
The Bulldogs then held out for the last 20 minutes as the Raiders repeatedly attacked their line without success.
"We were a bit too frantic and panicked a bit," Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said.
"We had to defend a lot - that happens in a lot of footy games and we've got to be able to control it."
Earlier, Canberra forward Josh Papalii laid on the Raiders' first try of the night for Jarrod Croker.
Josh Hodgson then gave the Raiders a half-time lead when he strolled over from dummy-half, but second-half errors in attack sent them to a second straight loss.
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