Who could forget the sound of Andrew McFadden barking instructions at players in his bid to plug the leaks in the Green Machine to ignite their top four charge?

The Raiders soon became the NRL's second best defensive outfit behind the Melbourne Storm - the side they meet in a qualifying final in Melbourne on Saturday.

Papalii says it was by no means an easy fix - because while Raiders coach Ricky Stuart kept the footballs locked up in the shed, McFadden was ruthless on the track.

He had to be if he was going to reverse Canberra's fortunes.

McFadden knew they could score points - they were the second best attacking team in the NRL last season.

He just needed them to be able to stop the bleeding when they were on the back foot - Canberra conceded the fifth-most points in the competition which ultimately saw them fall agonisingly short of the finals.

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Papalii can think of no better word to sum up McFadden's impact on Canberra's rise to premiership contention than simply "massive".

"When he first turned up he was a bit hard on a few of us, and that was needed at the time," Papalii said.

"We had no problem scoring tries, it was keeping them out. He has done a massive job. A lot of credit goes to Cappie [McFadden] and he has done a wonderful job.

"It was more to benefit players, for instance myself. I had a few things in defence I needed to work on and Cappie just identified those problems and made little tweaks in my defence. I think I'm doing pretty well and so is the team."

McFadden's influence on the Raiders goes far beyond bolstering their defence force.

Without him there is no Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad shining at fullback which in turn has allowed Jack Wighton to blossom at five-eighth.

For that, Nicoll-Klokstad laughs he might just owe the former New Zealand Warriors mentor a dinner over the next few weeks as the Raiders set their sights on writing themselves into the history books.

"We had a joke about it, but he has given me two jobs. Straight out of 20s, he has given me two jobs and a few dinners," Nicoll-Klokstad said.

"He has been massive for me with footy stuff. He was my mentor last year at the Warriors.

"What really impressed me was the stuff he did off the field for me in terms of getting my mentality right.

"I understand he is here next year and hopefully it is a little bit longer than that."

The prospect of meeting the Storm during September has so often been one to strike fear into the souls of their opposition.

But Raiders back-rower Elliott Whitehead boasts no such concern - instead he sees a side desperate to make amends after bowing out of the competition at that very stadium three years ago.

"We're a different team this year and we're full of confidence," Whitehead said.

"It's a new competition, it's going to be a tough ask going down to Melbourne, but we believe we can put in an effort like we did a few weeks ago."

NRL QUALIFYING FINAL

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Melbourne Storm at Melbourne, 5.40pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Joey Leilua, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Aidan Sezer, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Josh Hodgson (c), 10. Sia Soliola, 11. John Bateman, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Joe Tapine. Interchange: 14. Bailey Simonsson, 15. Dunamis Lui, 16. Corey Horsburgh, 17. Ryan Sutton. Reserves: 18. Sam Williams, 19. Emre Guler, 20. Siliva Havili.

Storm squad: 1. Ryan Papenhuyzen, 2. Suliasi Vunivalu, 3. Will Chambers, 4. Justin Olam, 5. Josh Addo-Carr, 6. Cameron Munster, 7. Jahrome Hughes, 8. Jesse Bromwich, 9. Cameron Smith, 10. Nelson Asofa-Solomona, 11. Felise Kaufusi, 12. Kenneath Bromwich, 13. Dale Finucane. Interchange: 14. Brandon Smith, 15. Tui Kamikamica, 16. Max King,17. Joe Stimson. Reserves: 18. Curtis Scott, 19. Tino Faasuamaleaui, 20. Brodie Croft, 21. Tom Eisenhuth.