The 19-year-old has become a viral sensation after pulling off a stunning mid-air front flip to snatch a bomb against Parramatta on Sunday.

The move led commentators to suggest the Raiders fullback "should be in Rio" rather than the cool climate of Canberra Stadium.

With family in the stands, van Dartel bounced up off the ground and kept running because he simply "didn't want to cause too much of a scene".

"I think mum's heart sank a bit there when I got up [in the air]," van Dartel said.

"I think she knows I would have been fine, I've done a bit of gymnastics in my day so that kind of saved me."

The Dubbo Macquarie Raiders junior admitted he "didn't really know what was going on" as he tucked his head to fall safely on his back.

"I just went up for the ball and probably went a bit too far," van Dartel said.

"If I didn't keep flipping I probably would have landed on my head, so it was more of a safety precaution than anything."

The No.1 has been a revelation in a Raiders outfit that looked set to be cast as also-rans for much of the 2016 season.

"We lost six in a row there and then got a few of our boys back through injury and put it all together," van Dartel said.

"That got things on a roll. We won six straight, and I think we're nine from 10 now. [We've] just got to win one more game to cement our spot in the finals."

The side sits pretty in eighth position with two winnable games remaining.

A finals appearance would cap off a whirlwind year for van Dartel, who joined the Raiders ahead of the 2016 season.

"I finished school, and two or three days later I moved down to Canberra and started training that following Monday," van Dartel said.