Ben Barba earns all the plaudits, but shutting down the Bulldogs' imposing forward pack is the key to the Canberra Raiders keeping their finals hopes alive.
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That's the view of Raiders captain David Shillington ahead of tonight's season-defining encounter with the NRL ladder leaders at Canberra Stadium.
Electric fullback Barba is an unbackable favourite for the Dally M Medal after a stellar campaign which has included the Bulldogs winning their past 12 games in a row.
Barba's 20 tries are the most in the competition, while his 23 line-breaks are second only behind Newcastle winger Akuila Uate.
Those opportunities wouldn't be possible without the Bulldogs' forwards marching down the field and creating second-phase play.
Man mountain Sam Kasiano has thrown the most offloads of any front-rower in the game, Englishman James Graham has been a revelation in his first season in the Australia while second-rowers Frank Pritchard and Greg Eastwood are at their destructive best when they're running over the top of outside backs.
''Their second-phase play is going to hurt us if we let it happen,'' Shillington said.
''When you've got players like [centre] Josh Morris and Benny Barba sniffing around for offloads, they're pretty dangerous with a broken line defence. We need to lock it down or they'll tear us apart.''
The Raiders will be boosted by the return of former Australian and NSW prop Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, who has passed a fitness test on his injured hamstring. Learoyd-Lahrs takes the place of Sam Mataora, who has been ruled out for the rest of the year with torn ligaments in his finger.
''Tommy's experience will be good for us,'' Shillington said.
''He's played a lot of rep footy. He knows games like [this] you have to be a bit of a battering ram. They have got some big fellas we need to charge through.''
A victory for the Bulldogs will secure Des Hasler's men the minor premiership, while the ninth-placed Raiders could return to the top eight for the first time since round six. Canberra is level on wins with the Broncos and Tigers, but has a worse points differential.
Having had success by staying at a hotel in NSW before their past two home games, the Raiders again adopted the tactic last night in search of their fourth straight win.
It's that pressure cooker atmosphere Raiders coach David Furner believes has helped to get the best out of his side.
''Getting the two points puts in a really good opportunity to play semi-final football,'' he said.
''It's basically been sudden death [the past three weeks] - a loss could put us back in the pack or a win could put us in the eight. The motivation's there.''
