Everyone knows it makes them mad. And when this bear gets made he dances.

What a dance it is too, straight through the middle of the Sydney Roosters' defensive line.

They don't make superlatives for Josh Papalii any more. What more can you say about the Canberra Raiders warrior?

He again chucked the Green Machine on his back, bloody nose and all, scoring the winner to guide the Raiders to one of the gutsiest victories in Canberra history - 24-20 over the Roosters at the SCG on Thursday night.

It ended the Roosters' 10-game winning streak at the venue and broke a 33-year drought there for the Raiders in the process.

Yeah sure, they haven't played there for 33 years, but who cares.

Papalii cared, after the bunker somehow decided an Angus Crichton elbow to his nose wasn't a penalty. But Papalii's reaction to it was.

Thankfully, those two points didn't come back to bite the Raiders. Or the under-fire bunker, which is apparently as undermanned as the Green Machine.

"When he got whacked in the nose - I don't understand why he didn't get a penalty - but when he got whacked in the nose like that I was pretty confident we were going to go on and win this match because they poked the bear," Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said.

There will be an anxious eye on the match review committee to see what they make of the two Raiders put on report - their playmakers no less.

Jack Wighton for a dangerous tackle and George Williams for a high one - both on Brett Morris.

The Roosters winger scored a first-half double, after Canberra prop Dunamis Lui scored the opening try.

It could add to the injury crisis already embroiling the Green Machine, who had seven players missing for the Roosters win.

They fought their way back in the second half, with Jarrod Croker, Williams and then Papalii all scoring to come from behind.

Roosters winger Matt Ikuvalu also crossed in the second stanza, but it wasn't enough.

The Roosters bombed a couple of opportunities in the dying minutes as the Raiders held on to show their season's well and truly alive.

"Proud, very proud of the players. It's just another win though. We've got to keep that heart and style of play and just move into the next match now," Stuart said.

That match is against South Sydney at Canberra Stadium on Saturday night.

AT A GLANCE

CANBERRA RAIDERS 24 (Dunamis Lui, Jarrod Croker, George Williams, Josh Papalii tries; Croker 4 goals) bt SYDNEY ROOSTERS 20 (Brett Morris 2, Matt Ikuvalu tries; Kyle Flanagan 4 goals) at the SCG. Referee: Gerard Sutton.