Their stunning comeback 28-22 victory over the Newcastle Knights on Sunday has kept them within touching distance of the NRL top eight, much to the relief of coach Ricky Stuart in his return from a one-match suspension.

"Really happy [with the response]. It does [keep our finals hopes alive], that's really important. Winning that game keeps us alive for another week and we'll review it, talk about that first half, but we all know what it was. We've just got to be better," Stuart said post-match.

The Raiders are just one win behind three teams - Brisbane, South Sydney and the Sydney Roosters - who are all on 28 competition points and two ahead of the Canberra Raiders.

And the Raiders have the best run home of any of those three, hosting the Manly Sea Eagles at Canberra Stadium next Saturday before travelling to Leichhardt Oval to face the Wests Tigers in the final round.

Both teams' seasons are over with only pride to play for and they're both struggling - losing by a combined 100 points on Saturday night.

Souths and the Roosters meet in a final round blockbuster clash that will play a massive role in the final make-up of the top eight.

The Raiders could potentially even finish level on competition points with the Broncos if there's a bit of turnaround in the two sides' points differential.

Brisbane faces a massive game against fifth-placed Parramatta at Lang Park on Thursday night.

The Eels now seem out of reach of the Green Machine on 30 competition points.

Newcastle had been surrounded by turmoil all week and lost two key players on game day - Daniel Saifiti (COVID-19) and Tyson Frizell (ribs), who injured himself in the warm-up.

But they looked like the team that had everything to play for in the first half, racing out to a 22-8 half-time lead off the back of braces to Edrick Lee and Dominic Young.

It was totally different after the break, however, as the Green Machine flew out of the sheds to produce a stunning 40 minutes of football

Hudson Young continued his boom season that has him in Mal Meninga's sights for the Australian World Cup squad, showing his athleticism to finish off his own grubber out of dummy half.

Star Raiders five-eighth Jack Wighton produced a brilliant try to win it with eight minutes remaining, shaking off a kick out on the full a few minutes earlier.

Wighton is also in the mix for the Kangaroos and finished off some brilliant work by the Raiders' two big boppers - Joe Tapine and Josh Papalii.

Papalii made the break. Tapine, who has emerged as the best prop in the world this year, was there in support and he flicked it across for Wighton to charge over.

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Raiders centre Sebastian Kris scored a brace to continue his break-out season as a try-scoring outside back.

"The experience of the two teams showed in the second half... to lose two rep players in the captains run and warm-up," Knights coach Adam O'Brien said.

"We're fighting to try and win the game back in the final 30 seconds ... we showed a bit of backbone tonight."

CANBERRA RAIDERS 28 (Sebastian Kris 2, Jordan Rapana, Hudson Young, Jack Wighton tries; Jamal Fogarty 4 goals) bt NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS 22 (Dominic Young 2, Edrick Lee 2, Jayden Brailey tries; Anthony Milford goal) at Newcastle. Referee: Grant Atkins. Crowd: 16,768.

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