After a gruelling, grinding and ugly slog against the Bris bane Broncos last night, the Raiders are still alive in the race for the NRL title.

The Raiders cemented their place in the top eight and a spot in the finals next week with a gutsy 18-16 win at Suncorp Stadium.

It definitely wasn’t pretty.

The Raiders were forced to scramble and scrounge their way to the toughest win of their season.

But in the end it was all worth it.

The players embraced a small pocket of Canberra fans in the crowd afterwards.

However, the steely determination and the subdued celebra tion spoke volumes for an emerging NRL powerhouse.

The job’s not finished.

They don’t want to be in the finals to make up the numbers.

The Raiders believe they can make it all the way to the grand final and lift the trophy at the end of the season.

Beating the Broncos was just another step along the way.

Now they can focus on ramping up their bid to break a 16-year premiership drought.

They will meet either the Wests Tigers or St George Illawarra Dragons in the first week of the finals.

For a full match report and details of the Raiders' reaction to their win, see the print edition of tomorrow's Canberra Times.