They've chalked up three consecutive conquests the club had craved, constructed through a combination of courage and competitiveness to re-collaborate their finals charge ahead of a contest with Newcastle.

According to co-captain Jarrod Croker and club centurion Sam Williams, it's a camaraderie cultivated in recent weeks at their Cararra base, more than 1000 kilometres from their Canberra quarters, that has the club on the cusp of a top-eight challenge.

Ricky Stuart and his coaching staff have given the boys a few days off training since Thursday's upset win over Parramatta. Preparation for Saturday's crunch clash with Newcastle cranks up a couple of cogs on Wednesday.

They watched the races together on Saturday, had a barbecue on Sunday and have even indulged in a trivia night, in among ping pong games, and FIFA tournaments.

The result? A squad boasting sky-high morale which has well and truly banished to the rear-view mirror the off-field dramas which plagued the Raiders on and off the field earlier in the season.

"Being away in this environment has showed how close a knit team we have," Williams said ahead of his 100^th NRL match for the Raiders.

"You learn about each other, you learn things about people you didn't know beforehand. In a team sport it's so important to have that camaraderie and I think it's really showing.

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"It's very frustrating as a player when people are calling out the camaraderie within this group. We're all good mates, we all get along well and whatever happens on the football field is nothing to do with what's happened within this camp.

"It's just nice to put a few of those things to bed. You could see the other night how much we love playing with each other, competing and winning together.

"It's just one of those things where we had a little bit of a point to prove to show how good a group we are in terms of mates. That was the most pleasing thing after bouncing back."

After two short turnarounds in less than three weeks, the Raiders have nine days between Thursday's Herculean effort against Parramatta, and Saturday's key match-up against fellow top-eight chasers Newcastle at Lang Park.

Stuart was keen to give his playing crew a chance to recover after a taxing couple of weeks, and his charges have certainly taken the opportunity to chill out.

"We had two games in four or five days and a couple of the boys playing Origin as well, we did need a couple of days rest and we've done it really well," captain Croker commented.

"We had a bit of a trivia night one night, we got together and watched the races on Saturday arvo and had a barbecue on Sunday. While we're recovering, there's not a lot you can do.

"We really get along well and with the FIFA and basketball and ping pong and cricket and those sorts of things...we tend to fill our time up pretty quick so before you know it it's time to go again.

"We had a tough period there midway through the year. For the boys to be able to hang tough and stick together and get ourselves back in the game, it's been a good couple of weeks."