The Raiders returned to the winners circle in a golden point thriller against the St George Illawarra Dragons and it was halfback Aidan Sezer pulling the strings on Friday night.

The halves knew something needed to change with the Green Machine riding a four-game losing streak, so they switched sides in the hope it would light a fire under Canberra's attack.

Austin says they've been throwing the idea around "for a long time" and decided to bite the bullet with their season on the line.

Sezer came up with two clutch plays that saved Canberra's season and Austin hopes the Green Machine can build on the shift and get on a roll to the finals.

"It's good to see [Sezer play well], we might get a smile out of him this week," Austin said.

"He came up with some really big plays and it's going to be great for him.

"It's been a tough year, not only for him but myself, we've obviously copped a lot of criticism and one performance is not going to shake all that, but hopefully it can put a bit of confidence back in the squad and put us on a bit of a roll."

Austin boasts a deadly left foot step and feels more comfortable on that side, but Sezer's role as the dominant kicker has held them back from making the change in the past.

You wouldn't have known it when the Raiders playmaker turned in one of his most impressive kicking displays of the year against the Dragons, capped off with a stunning 40/20 that put the Green Machine in a position to steal the win.

Austin shut down rumours of a rift with centre Joey Leilua in the lead up to the clash and maintains the shift has been made in the hope it breathes new life into their attack.

"The biggest thing that's held us back from doing it in the past is Aidan is a left foot kicker and more of a dominant kicker. We wanted to make that really comfortable, left side is better for that," Austin said.

"He played a lot of right side on the Gold Coast, and left side suits me as well. We'll keep building on it.

"Aidan has a better passing game as well, so hopefully he's going to get a lot more clean ball to the likes of Leilua and [Jordan] Rapana and hopefully we can be better all round."

Sezer says the Raiders "had to try something new" because "it hasn't been working the way it's been going".

Now the Raiders are hoping to build some momentum ahead of their clash with competition leaders Melbourne next week.

Sezer says "the monkey is off the back" for the Raiders but he knows it will still take a huge effort to make the finals as they sit two wins out of the eight with seven games remaining.

"We haven't been really thrilled with our attack and we changed things up," Sezer said.

"It's a work in progress, it definitely wasn't the conditions we wanted to play a bit of footy, but ultimately we got a win and that's the most important thing.

"We're players and in situations like this when we've lost four on the trot you're looking around trying to change little things up and looking for a bit of innovation with your attack.

"Me and Austo swapping sides, I guess that sparks things, it changes things up and freshens things up as well."