But it was another Josh - Papalii's co-captain Josh Hodgson who set it up with another one of those pesky one-on-one strips.

It changed the momentum of the game and set up one of the most epic comebacks in NRL history.

The Raiders beat the Storm 22-18 in Melbourne on Saturday.

It knocked the knock on the Green Machine right out of the park - they hadn't beaten a top-four team in 2019.

Well they have now. And how have they! Overturning an 18-0 deficit after 30 minutes to storm home with 22 unanswered points.

It wasn't lost on Raiders coach Ricky Stuart, who said Jarrod Croker's try at the start of the second half - his second - gave them the belief.

It made it 18-10 with almost 30 minutes remaining.

"Coming out and scoring first in the second half gave the boys a boost," he said.

"It galvanised the players even more. There's no worries about belief. We know we're good enough.

"Its just sometimes it's just unfortunate scenarios and passages of play make it even more difficult for yourself.

"They showed everything out there that a lot of our non-believers think we haven't got."

It was more than the deficit the Raiders were able to overcome - there was plenty of adversity as well.

Both Jack Wighton and Joe Tapine were sent to the sin bin in the opening half.

Wighton for a professional foul as the Storm pressed - just four minutes in - and Tapine for retaliating and pushing Storm prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona in the face.

Asofa-Solomona has started the push and shove as the Raiders tried to pack their scrum.

He'd looked dangerous every time he got the ball in his opening stint and he finished with 142 run metres.

But the poor discipline didn't matter for the Raiders in the end as they finished with all the running.

"I was disappointed in our little bit of discipline that we showed in the first half," Stuart said.

"Losing two players, I've got to mention that because I would if we got beaten.

"We're better than that. Jack's I understand, that's a reaction thing, but Taps, it's something that's not us.

"I feel sorry for Taps, he's disappointed with it, but we'll get through that and he won't do that again. It's a good lesson."

Raiders five-eighth Jack Wighton was excellent in his 150^th NRL game.

He and the rest of the Green Machine will take massive momentum into their Manly clash at Canberra Stadium next weekend in front of what could be a massive crowd.

They look set to finish top four. Not only that, they must surely be counted as genuine title contenders.

But they could be without Tapine, who was forced off with a rib injury.

Raiders fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad produced a cracking catch-and-pass to allow Jordan Rapana to dive into the corner and then Hodgson capped off his strip with a nice ball for Papalii to win it.

Storm coach Craig Bellamy was impressed with the Raiders' grit.

"They've been in the top four the whole year. They're obviously a really good side," he said.

"They were really gritty tonight. I haven't seen all their games this year, but they were really good."

AT A GLANCE

CANBERRA RAIDERS 22 (Jarrod Croker 2, Jordan Rapana, Josh Papalii tries; Croker 3 goals) bt MELBOURNE STORM 18 (Justin Olam, Josh Addo-Carr, Suliasi Vunivalu tries; Cameron Smith 3 goals) at Melbourne. Referees: Ben Cummins, Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski. Crowd: 17,769.