Canberra forward Elliott Whitehead believes the Raiders can't afford a third-straight loss with their NRL season drawing to a crossroads in Newcastle.
Touted as premiership hopefuls after reaching a preliminary final last year, things haven't gone to plan for the Raiders who sit outside the eight with a 4-5 record after the representative round.
Sunday's clash against lowly Newcastle at McDonald Jones Stadium shapes as a must-win for the Green Machine if they are to be serious contenders.
"We really need to get the two points this week, we can't really afford to lose three on the bounce now," Whitehead said.
"From here we're going to have to put a great performance in and I believe we can do that."
The Raiders were in a similar position at the same time last season.
A loss to St George Illawarra after the representative round saw them slump to 4-5 and one draw before winning 13 of their last 14 to finish second.
But even at their lowest ebb, they didn't put three losses together.
"I think we've lost a few weeks when we've tended to give the ball over in places of the field where we shouldn't really be giving the ball over," Whitehead said.
While the Knights have been rooted to the foot of the ladder for two seasons, both of their games against the Raiders last year went to golden point.
Canberra will be without gun forward Josh Papalli, who is serving a suspension over a drink-driving conviction, but the pack looks set to be boosted with giant prop Shannon Boyd named to start despite withdrawing from last week's Anzac Test with a leg injury.
Whitehead said Papalii's absence would be massive, but believes his replacement at second row Sia Soliola can once again prove his utility value.
"Most of the time he's one of the best players on the park so hopefully he can perform that well this week," Whitehead said.
Whitehead and star hooker Josh Hodgson will run out alongside Joey Leilua and Junior Paulo after going up against them in England's clash with Samoa last week.
"I had to tackle them both a few times at the weekend and I definitely prefer them being on my side," Whitehead said.
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