Canberra remain a chance to finish second on the NRL ladder with the Tigers knocking on the door of the eight with one round left before finals.

However, Stuart may yet make changes if Cronulla win on Saturday night, guaranteeing Canberra third place. A win over the Tigers could get Canberra into the top two if Melbourne beat the Sharks.

Junior Paulo remains sidelined with a lower back injury, but with the likes of Shaun Fensom and Jarrad Kennedy waiting in the wings the forwards have room to move.

Should Stuart elect to rest members of the backline, reserve grade's leading try-scorer Kato Ottio partners Brenko Lee as a potential replacement.

While the Raiders are assured of a second chance, the Tigers must win to stay alive. A loss would end their season if North Queensland topple the Gold Coast on Saturday afternoon.

Jordan Rapana says the Raiders have to prepare as if the Tigers will make the finals despite the potential for the clash to be a dead-rubber.

"Whether they're in there or not we know it's going to be a tough game and we've just got to aim up," Rapana said.

"We're very close to finals so we want to make sure we go in there with as much confidence as we can, and getting a win this week will do that."

Aidan Sezer has held his place despite leaving the field with a minor shoulder injury against Manly as regular halves partner Blake Austin nurses a broken hand.

Sezer and Sam Williams will lock horns with Wests' exciting young halves pairing of Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks.

Rapana says Canberra's right-edge defence will need to be on their game to combat the Tigers' potent attack after being found out against Manly.

While the quartet were found out in defence, Williams gave his outside men plenty of ball as Rapana and Leilua combined for five tries.

"It's the first game that Sam's played with me, Joey [Leilua] and Elliott [Whitehead]," Rapana said.

"No doubt we'll be out here fixing up our defence structures but in attack we got a lot of ball and able to get a few tries."

Paul Vaughan punched out 37 minutes in his first NRL game in over a month against Manly, and is hoping to back it up come Sunday at Leichhardt Oval.

"I'd like to play a little bit more than that but I was still happy to get the amount that I did," Vaughan said.

NRL ROUND 26

Sunday: Canberra Raiders v Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval, 2pm. TV time: Live on Fox Sports 1.

Raiders: 1. Jack Wighton, 2. Edrick Lee, 3. Jarrod Croker, 4. Joey Leilua, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Sam Williams, 7. Aidan Sezer, 8. Paul Vaughan, 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Shannon Boyd, 11. Josh Papalii, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Sia Soliola, Interchange: 14. Kurt Baptiste, 15. Luke Bateman, 16. Clay Priest, 17. Joe Tapine