Jarrod Croker was "proud but not surprised" as the Raiders produced a stirring defensive performance to beat the Titans 20-4 at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium on Saturday night.
It turned out to be a milestone match for Croker, who equalled Andrew 'Joey' Johns as the fourth-highest point scorer in premiership history (2,176) by booting four goals at Kogarah.
"I didn't know that mate - it's a nice little accolade. Hopefully, I can get past [Johns] next week," Croker told NRL.com.
"Compared to those guys [all-time list], I'm nothing near them. There are some very good names on that list. Just to be mentioned as a part of them, it's very special."
Canberra's co-captain was chuffed with the team's resilience. They had only 47 per cent of the ball but repeatedly repelled the Gold Coast, who lost halfback Jamal Fogarty (quad) and winger Anthony Don (hip) to second-half injuries but had ample chances.
Match: Titans v Raiders
Round 4 -
home Team
Titans
9th Position
away Team
Raiders
5th Position
Venue: Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, Sydney
Try-saving tackles from Jack Wighton and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, both on Don in the opening term, highlighted the dedication.
"We know we've got that in us. It's what we build a lot of our game on. We've got a lot of areas to work on. We haven't played our best footy and we're 3-4, so that's a positive," Croker said.
"Our defensive stuff is ingrained in us now. We've got Penrith at Penrith on Friday night, a short turnaround, and we've got to be a lot better in a lot of areas. But I'm always proud of the boys."
Coach Ricky Stuart was similarly impressed with their defensive grit while he sang the praises of fullback Nicoll-Klokstad, who racked up a whopping 269 metres and six tackle-breaks.
"It's not just the stats that you read; there's a lot of stuff that he does, and number of the other boys do, that you guys [in the media] don't see - and I say that respectfully," Stuart said.
"Some of the catches fullbacks have to make with these high balls in the air ... it was really slippery out there tonight and hard to handle the footy. It's all good getting a rap one week, but you've got to be consistent.
"Charnze is a really level-headed guy ... It's about being really good every week if you want to be at the top in this comp."
The Raiders opened the scoring with a ripping try to winger Jordan Rapana - his 74th for the club, equal with Immortal Mal Meninga, who was in the stands tonight.
Halfback George Williams put second-rower Elliott Whitehead into a hole on halfway before he found Croker, who produced a brilliant back-inside flick pass to put Rapana over the stripe.
Power game comes to the fore again with Papalii try
Croker added a penalty goal in the 27th minute - the only other points until the Titans finally crossed on the stroke of half-time after Don's near misses and a similar error from hooker Mitch Rein, who dropped the ball in the act of touching down.
Winger Corey Thompson did well to keep his boots off the sideline and secure the try on the left edge.
Prop Tino Fa'asuamaleaui played the opening 40 minutes without a break and collected an exceptional 128 metres from 11 carries.
He finished the game with a double-century in metres in yet another impressive performance from the former Storm forward.
Raiders front-rower Ryan James started in place of Josh Papalii against his former team and was hellbent on applying kick pressure.
James tormented halves Tanah Boyd and Fogarty as they cleared the Steeden but also wore a couple of big shots himself.
Ricky lauds record-breaking Raiders
Papalii was effective off the interchange in again punching out big metres. He pushed Canberra further ahead in the 50th minute when he picked out Fogarty, who dropped the ball cold the previous set, and steamrolled his way across the chalk.
With Fogarty heading to the sideline shortly afterwards, the Titans failed to capitalise on their opportunities.
Lock Ryan Sutton crashed over for the Raiders in the dying minutes to claim his second try in as many weeks.
