A way into their first NRL grand final in 25 years. In the 30^th anniversary of their maiden premiership.

Somehow they found a way to beat the South Sydney Rabbitohs 16-10 at Canberra Stadium on Friday night.

Mostly through gritty defence, which has become the trademark of this team.

And Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said they couldn't have done it without their fans, who not only helped set a new Raiders record for Canberra Stadium, but helped the team when they needed them most.

When they were under the cosh, a man down, and holding onto a slender lead.

When a Viking clap of 26,567 fans - minus a few Rabbitohs fans - erupted around the stadium in the dying minutes.

Those fans helped lift a tiring Green Machine.

"There's a wonderful relationship here between the Canberra Raiders and our community," Stuart said.

"We put a lot of effort and work into the community. We're a community driven club and they repaid us tonight. They really helped us get over the line."

They had to overcome a lot. Wave after wave of Souths attacks.

They lost fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad to the sin bin for a professional foul on Adam Reynolds with 10 minutes remaining and they held just a four point lead.

That seemed a harsh call. Especially following a bizarre decision to allow Cody Walker to drag Nicoll-Klokstad in goal had gone unpunished - a goal-line drop-out was the call instead.

They'll be waiting anxiously on whether big bopper Josh Papalii gets charged by the match review committee on Saturday for a high shot on Souths fullback Adam Doueihi.

The Raiders will also sweat on the fitness of Joey Leilua (calf).

"Physio, physio, physio. That's all I'm going to do," he said.

"Maybe [it's a tear], I'm not too sure. I can't tell you."

Papalii was a behemoth in the middle, running for 168 metres and playing 70 minutes, but more importantly barging over for yet another match-winning try.

They need to start coming up with new superlatives for him he's that good.

Now they have a date with either the Melbourne Storm or Sydney Roosters, who fight for the honour of facing the Green Machine at the SCG on Saturday.

"It's been many, many years of hard work, disappointments and a lot of lows," Stuart said.

"Getting our opportunity to play in a grand final and I couldn't more prouder for those blokes in that change room.

"They've got the opportunity to create a little bit of their own history. We're only halfway there though. We've got another game to play and ... we're going to playing a very classy football team, whoever it is."

Raiders co-captain Josh Hodgson was also immense.

Jarrod Croker's opening try came off the back of Hodgson's strip, his grubber in behind and his tackle that spilled the ball free.

The Rabbitohs were able to draw level through a Dane Gagai try off the back of a scrum, making it 6-all at half-time.

They edged in front from a brilliant Jack Wighton try - dropping the ball onto his knee before getting a boot onto it. Then chasing it to score.

AT A GLANCE

CANBERRA RAIDERS 16 (Jarrod Croker, Jack Wighton, Josh Papalii tries; Croker 2 goals) bt SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS 10 (Dane Gagai, Campbell Graham tries; Adam Reynolds goal) at Canberra Stadium. Referees: Ben Cummins, Grant Atkins. Crowd: 26,567.