It's a double-edged sword - having beaten the Melbourne Storm in Melbourne three weeks ago.
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On one hand, it shows a trip to face the NRL minor premiers should hold no fears for the Canberra Raiders.
But on the other, they'll be greeted by a Storm outfit looking to make amends.
For 69 minutes, the Raiders looked to be heading to Sydney to face the Roosters in next weekends qualifying finals, but they let in two late tries to lose 24-20 to the New Zealand Warriors at Canberra Stadium on Saturday.
The Raiders will now head to Melbourne to take on the Storm, likely to be on Saturday night.
They came from 18-0 down to beat the Storm with four unanswered tries on their home turf three weeks ago.
A repeat of that victory would earn them a home preliminary final at Canberra Stadium, with the NRL changing the role this season due to the stadium rebuilds in Sydney.
But Raiders coach Ricky Stuart knows his Storm counterpart Craig Bellamy better than most and knows what will be waiting for him.
"Yeah [it's heartening], but that'll have them even more ready," Stuart said.
"I know what Craig's like. That will certainly be part of their preparation, but we have to go and perform again."
While the Raiders will welcome back four stars after being rested - Jordan Rapana, John Bateman, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and Sia Soliola - as well as potentially Joey Leilua (suspension) and Joe Tapine (ribs), they'll anxiously waiting the match review committee's findings on an alleged eye gouge by Hudson Young on Warriors back Adam Pompey.
Michael Oldfield (AC joint) could also be out for the rest of the season after injuring himself scoring a stunning try.
Corey Horsburgh finished the game with his knee strapped, but wasn't wearing a brace and expected to be right to face the Storm.
"We'll wait and see how Corey is over the next couple of days, although it doesn't look good for Mick," Stuart said.
Stuart was disappointed with the way they played and said they had a team good enough to win.
They never really got going and found themselves 12-6 down before finally clicking into gear just before half-time.
Two brilliant solo efforts from the two Joshes - firstly Papalii dummied, danced and then barged his way over and then Hodgson produced a cracking solo effort that sent them into the break 16-12.
Papalii was immense, running for 205 metres to go with his try, seven tackle breaks, one line break and two offloads.
When Oldfield went off following his effort it looked over, but late tries to Roger Tuivasa-Sheck - which took 13 passes to go from one side of the field and back again - and Blake Green produced the massive upset.
Warriors coach Stephen Kearney was confident the Raiders would bounce back ahead of their trip to Melbourne.
"Without a doubt. They probably wouldn't like me saying it, but they could have had a thought on next week and we needed to take advantage of that," he said.
"They're certainly the real deal, there's no doubt about that."
AT A GLANCE
NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS 24 (Lachlan Burr, Adam Pompey, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Blake Green tries; Issac Luke 4 goals) bt CANBERRA RAIDERS 20 (Sebastian Kris, Josh Papalii, Josh Hodgson, Michael Oldfield tries; Jarrod Croker 2 goals) at Canberra Stadium. Referees: Matt Cecchin, Adam Cassidy. Crowd: 13,331.