After beating the Newcastle Knights twice in four games, the Raiders are hoping to kick on to bigger and better things according to prop Shannon Boyd.
When the Raiders beat Newcastle 44-22 in Round 13, it was considered a turning point in the Green Machine's season after combating a three-game losing streak in Newcastle.
While byes in Round 14 and 17 weren't frowned upon by Ricky Stuart's men, their two consecutive losses to North Queensland and the Warriors certainly were.
Now one week following their second victory over the Knights, a 36-22 win this time around, Boyd was excited to make the most of the Raiders' second chance to revive their season, starting this weekend against Cronulla.
"It was a big win especially in terms of the top eight and not slipping away from it too much so hopefully we can back it up this weekend. It's pretty crucial for us to kick on," Boyd told NRL.com.
"Cronulla are a good team and we can't take them lightly and think we're going to stroll in and win so we have to work pretty hard for it. It's hard to say [whether we've turned a corner] we just need to back it up again.
"We can take plenty of things out of our previous losses, especially over in New Zealand, that was definitely a wake-up call for us."
Another important factor of their latest victory over Newcastle was it marked only Canberra's second win (from eight attempts) at GIO Stadium this season.
"It was massive to win at home," Boyd said. "The fans get cranky when we're not winning so hopefully we can string a few wins together and get the crowd back.
"In saying that, Cronulla a handy team and it's going to be tough. They are pretty good across the park when you have a look at them; we do know we have to be careful of their second phase play though."
With Canberra sitting at tenth and looking to play deep into September, to help boost the club's fortunes Boyd said that coach Stuart has earmarked him and Paul Vaughan as leaders of the club.
Admitting he hasn't been in the best form of late, making 100 metres once in his past four games, Boyd added he's looking to work back to his best.
"I don't think I've been too good over the past few weeks. I definitely need to pick up my game. There has been a lot of defence recently when I've come on which knocks you up a little bit but if I keep working on things I should be better off for it," Boyd said.
"The NRL is very up and down, and can set you back pretty quickly too. If you're not doing the little things at training then you start slipping off – you need to keep on top of it.
"Ricky always has 'Vaughany' and me in his office to give us a bit of rev up too. He always refers to us becoming leaders, which is a good thing. It puts a bit more responsibility on us."
Video courtesy of raiders.com.au
