Canberra are hoping they have found answers to their NRL woes following a heroic victory over the Sydney Roosters.
The Raiders will miss the finals for the second straight season after being plagued by close losses and second-half fade outs.
While they lead the competition for points scored, their defence has been a major issue - until Sunday's 14-12 defeat of the Roosters.
Even without captain Jarrod Croker, fullback Jack Wighton and halfback Aidan Sezer, the Raiders finally managed to topple a premiership contender.
Raiders halfback Sam Williams concedes it's annoying to produce their best performance of the season when they're out of finals contention, but it could led to fruitful times in 2019.
Despite five-eighth Blake Austin and forwards Junior Paulo and Shannon Boyd moving on, the Raiders will still have the core of the squad next year that lost a preliminary final to Cronulla by two points in 2016.
"We have the same frustrations that everyone else has and there's been too many games this year we've let slip, but there's no point looking back and dragging your lip," Williams said.
"We need to work out why it's happened and on the weekend we probably answered a couple of our own questions in how we go about it.
"We know what we've got in the side, with a few players out as well so we'll try and take a bit of confidence out of it."
Sezer has been named in the extended squad to face South Sydney at GIO Stadium on Saturday, but seems unlikely to return from a hamstring injury.
Forward Joseph Tapine is out for the rest of the season, but the versatile Michael Oldfield slots back into the centres after recovering from a knee injury.
