The players are quickly losing confidence in the bunker just two rounds into the season, a week after Raiders co-captain Josh Hodgson raised concerns over the way the bunker now reviews tries.

Papalii was left scratching his head after Sharks centre and former teammate Josh Dugan was awarded a try with seven minutes remaining in the Raiders' win over Cronulla.

Cronulla winger Ronaldo Mulitalo appeared to have hands on the ball as well when opposite number Bailey Simonsson caught a high ball.

The ball then spilled loose before Dugan grounded it, with the bunker ruling Mulitalo hadn't knocked the ball forward and it had come backwards off Simonsson.

Papalii wanted a return to the days of the referee making a decision and then that was that.

"I think the video refs need a bit of help up there. We were having a good chat to some of the Sharkies boys and they said, 'Every time it goes to the bunker it's a 50-50 call. It's a flip of a coin the way they're deciding on tries or knock-ons'," he said.

"I think we just need to go back to basics where the ref makes the call. If he's wrong, he's wrong. If he's right, he's right."

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Papalii said it wasn't the only incident across the weekend that left him confused.

Brisbane Broncos lock Pat Carrigan dropped the ball in their loss to the Gold Coast Titans, with play allowed to continue and eventually leading to Tesi Niu's try.

"The Sharkies boys didn't think Dugan had scored. If his own teammates don't think he scored," Papalii said.

"I honestly believe there was a hand there. I was watching the Broncos game - Carrigan knocked it forward, but apparently it went back ... I don't know mate."

Papalii felt the fact the Raiders were able to hold on against the Sharks was a sign of where the team was at these days.

A few years ago, he said they would've lost that game - after dominating the opening 60 minutes.

But the Green Machine held on to continue their unbeaten start to the season and make it five wins in a row against Cronulla.

Papalii said they had plenty to work on ahead of playing the New Zealand Warriors at Canberra Stadium on Saturday.

"Games like that, three or four years ago, we lose those games. It's the kind of team we're building at the moment," he said.

"We're becoming that gritty team that other teams have to fight hard for that extra metre, or that extra tackle.

"That's been building until now. We got very close in '19 and were unlucky last year.

"We're going good so far. We just have to grind it out. There's a few positives, a lot of negatives. We're going to have go look at the video after this."

NRL ROUND THREE

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Cronulla Sharks at Canberra Stadium, 3pm.