But the Green Machine have belief that the dream is still well and truly alive, albeit with a few key troops out.

"Definitely it's alive," Raiders halfback Jamal Fogarty told The Canberra Times ahead of their must-win clash against the Dragons on Sunday afternoon. "We've got four games to give it get a real hot crack and hopefully it falls our way."

Canberra will be dealing with some major squad changes this week though.

Winger Nick Cotric accepted an early plea for a grade two careless high tackle and will sit out one game. That could see Albert Hopoate retain a spot in the starting lineup on the wing, even if Xavier Savage returns at fullback. Dynamic outside back James Schiller is another option to fill Cotric's shoes.

Meanwhile, there remains serious question-marks over the fitness of star prop Joe Tapine.

Tapine was due for scans on his injured ribs, but it is still unclear what the diagnosis is, with the forward to be assessed again on Tuesday to see if he will be available for selection.

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Ryan Sutton is in a similar boat and uncertain to play Sunday, undergoing concussion protocols after failing his HIA against the Panthers.

Canberra's three-game winning streak came to a grinding halt against the reigning premiers last Saturday, even without the Panthers' halves stars Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai.

It was an opportunity lost for the Raiders to stamp their authority on the comp and put their hands up as serious finals contenders, as they struggled to put up points and made several errors in slippery conditions at Canberra Stadium.

"I can't bag the effort one bit from our boys," five-eighth Jack Wighton said of their performance in the 26-6 loss.

"We've had three wins and enjoyed the high and a good team got us. We'll do our video, we'll look over it, see where we can be better, then we let it go - we've got to move forward."

Across the park the Raiders struggled to find the "polish" they had displayed in recent games, despite getting out to an early 6-0 lead through a Josh Papalii try under the uprights.

But post-game, before his now infamous "weak-gutted dog" outburst at Jaeman Salmon, their coach Ricky Stuart was confident the mistakes could be easily fixed. Fogarty agreed.

"It's definitely something we can fix up - the concentration bit. Everyone was just a bit off and it showed," he said.

"We were very erratic and frustrated.

"We've just got to get back to what we've been doing the last month or so and focusing on ourselves, making sure we're being disciplined and squeaky-clean with our details.

"We weren't there. We just need to keep our confidence, get back on the horse and get ready to roll out here again.

"We'll sharpen the tools this week to get the polish next weekend."

Fogarty said the pregame hype and reports of a Raiders official claiming plans of an "ambush" against Penrith didn't help the already tense relationship between the two teams, with many flare-ups at Bruce.

"Whoever made those comments during the week, it didn't come from us as a playing group," Fogarty said. "It's a physical sport and obviously sometimes a couple of boys get hot-headed, that's just just part of the game.

"I think we lost our way once we started doing that. Our defence, we were being physical and clean - it was really good - but then there's probably that line we crossed a couple of times and we kind of lost our way and it cost us with a penalty and releasing that pressure valve off them."

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