It's why, despite having two years to run on his contract, they're in the process of extending him by another two seasons out to the end of 2024.

Papalii will play his 213^th NRL game against the Canterbury Bulldogs at Canberra Stadium on Sunday, having come up through the Green Machine's junior ranks.

The Queensland State of Origin star has established himself as arguably the best prop in the game, with his influence in Canberra typified by his epic ankle tap on Gold Coast halfback Jamal Fogarty.

Canberra are also looking to extend hooker Tom Starling for one more season, while they're waiting for the NRL to finalise the salary cap for 2021 before looking to lock in Sia Soliola and Jordan Rapana.

Papalii would join co-captain Jarrod Croker and five-eighth Jack Wighton as Raiders signed until 2024.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said Papalii would go down as one of the club's greats following their win over the Titans.

He would know - he's one of them and played with most of the others.

"At the end of his career we want him to be a one-club player. I talked very glowingly about him after the game on the weekend and I don't take that back," Stuart said on Tuesday.

"He's one of our favourites here and I see him as a big part of this club going forward for a number of years, and hopefully being in the community and always being that Raider, that favourite son.

"I'm very fortunate being able to coach a player such as Josh."

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While Papalii's ankle tap will go down as one of the defensive efforts of the millennium, it was a rare highlight defensively for Stuart.

He's put his team on notice - they need to plug the holes in the lime green wall in the lead-up to the NRL finals.

The Raiders are on the verge of booking their spot in the play-offs in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2004.

But Stuart said they needed to fix their defence, pointing to the eight linebreaks they allowed the Gold Coast on the weekend - the Titans average 3.27 per game.

"You can't win big games if you're letting linebreaks through and they were just simple, fundamental errors in the linebreaks that were made," he said.

"It wasn't as though it was a big fancy play or what not, it was just individuals switching off. It's not a collective thing, its an individual thing and we've got to fix it.

"We've got to fix it quickly because we're moving into an important part of the season.

"Defence is the key indicator towards performance. I'm certainly not happy with that area of our game last week.

"At one stage of the season we were not scoring enough points, [but] defensively it was helping us win games. We've got to get back to that attitude. We will fix it quickly."

If they fix it this week it doesn't bode well for the Bulldogs, who boast the worst attack in the NRL.

They've scored the least amount of points, the fewest tries, had the least linebreaks and made the fewest tackle busts in the competition.

It's why they're sitting on the bottom of the ladder desperately searching for that one win that could see them swap places with the Brisbane Broncos and avoid the wooden spoon.

But they've lost their past three games against the Green Machine - and five of their past six.

What they do have in attack, generally comes from five-eighth Kieran Foran.

He's 10th in the NRL for try assists (10), and the Bulldogs' best for line engagements and linebreak assists.

The 30-year-old has certainly caught the Raiders' eye.

"They always spring out a strong performance every two-three weeks, but they're in every game," Stuart said.

"That's what I believe [former coach] Dean Pay instilled in them - that competitiveness, that tough edge. And they have that.

"When Kieran Foran's in their team they're a better team again. He's a player they thrive off in attack.

"You can see he's a great leader on the field and gives them some really good direction.

"We need to be thinking about our performance and improving in areas - this week it's our defence.

"It's going to be a great test for us because Canterbury, with Kieran Foran, they do have some smart attack."

NRL ROUND 16

Sunday: Canberra Raiders v Canterbury Bulldogs at Canberra Stadium, 6.30pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2. Jordan Rapana, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Curtis Scott, 5. Nick Cotric, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. George Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Siliva Havili, 10. Dunamis Lui, 11. John Bateman, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Hudson Young. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Joe Tapine, 16. Ryan Sutton, 17. Matt Timoko. Reserves: 18. Sam Williams, 19. Harley Smith-Shields, 20. Kai O'Donnell, 21. Matt Frawley.

Bulldogs squad: 1. Will Hopoate, 2. Nick Meaney, 3. Marcelo Montoya, 4. Kerrod Holland, 5. Dallin Watene Zelezniak, 6. Kieran Foran, 7. Lachlan Lewis, 8. Ofahiki Ogden, 9. Jeremy Marshall-King, 10. Dylan Napa, 11. Josh Jackson, 12. Raymond Faitala-Mariner, 13. Aiden Tolman. Interchange: 14. Sione Katoa, 15. Renouf To'omaga, 16. Dean Britt, 17. Matthew Doorey. Reserves: 19. Luke Thompson, 20. Jack Cogger, 21. Reimis Smith, 22. Tim Lafai.