Canberra Raiders keep season alive with comeback win over Newcastle Knights

And that's exactly what his Green Machine did.

They produced a stunning comeback in the second half, turning around a 14-point deficit to beat the Newcastle Knights 28-22 in Newcastle on Sunday.

It keeps their finals hopes alive as they now chase wins at home against Manly and then away to the Wests Tigers to force their way into the NRL top eight.

Raiders five-eighth Jack Wighton showed his mental fortitude to bounce back from kicking the ball out on the full to score the winning try.

It almost looked like Raiders old boy Edrick Lee had produced a stunning try in the final minute to potentially send it to golden point only for Jordan Rapana to produce a try-saving tackle.

The match review committee will be busy with Raiders prop Corey Horsburgh put on report twice - for a lifting tackle on Dominic Young and for not making a genuine attempt to tackle Adam Clune.

There should be no concerns with the second charge.

Josh Papalii was also put on report, as was Knights centre Dane Gagai - for a lifting tackle on Hudson Young - and Mat Croker for a crusher on Joe Tapine.

Both Papalii and Tapine played important roles in the build-up to Wighton's winner.

The Raiders remain one win outside the top eight - with Brisbane, South Sydney and the Sydney Roosters all within reach over the final two rounds.

Since 2009, Canberra has has a try-scoring centre on the left edge.

Jarrod Croker made a glittering career through his nose for a four-pointer, but a shoulder injury ended his season.

Then up steps Sebastian Kris to keep the tradition going.

He's the Green Machine's leading try scorer with 12, after he added two more.

Kris scored the opener by beating Dane Gagai one-on-one and then flew for a Jamal Fogarty bomb for his second.

There's a reason Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga is looking at Hudson Young for the World Cup.

It's just hard to work out what it is.

Is it his flick pass? Is it his kicking game? Or is it the second-rowers' athleticism?

He produced another stunning try, diving athletically to score from his own grubber out of dummy half as part of the Green Machine's stunning second-half comeback.

After a week from hell, things somehow got even worse for Newcastle on game day.

They'd had the Kalyn Ponga-Kurt Mann cubicle saga and then two of their outside backs, including star centre Bradman Best, were dropped for missing the team bus.

There's also been question marks over coach Adam O'Brien's future following a disappointing Newcastle season that's seen them well out of finals contention with weeks remaining.

Then they lost Daniel Saifiti with COVID-19 hours before the game and second-rower Tyson Frizell was injured in the warm-up.

Despite all that, and the Raiders having everything to play for, they still started the better and scored three of the opening four tries.

It was a couple of ex-Raiders doing a lot of the damage.

Anthony Milford was involved in everything, while Edrick Lee scored a first-half brace - and almost made it a hat-trick in the final minute.

Milford drifted across field, with his speculative run ending up in Lee's hands to score the opener in the corner.

Knights debutant Krystian Mapapalangi earned a try assist with his first touch in the NRL in the process.

Milford also produced a 40-20 - although it did look like it might've gone out on the full.

His catch-and-pass, off the back of a David Klemmer offload, ended up with Dominic Young scoring in the corner.

Lee outjumped his old teammate Jordan Rapana for a Milford bomb to score his second.

It's normally the Green Machine that's associated with Englishmen in the NRL in recent years.

But that balance might be starting to change with Josh Hodgson (knee) and Ryan Sutton (finger) both ending their time in lime green with injury.

Plus Harry Rushton has been release from his contract to go home for personal reasons.

It was the Knights' Young who starred in the first half - also scoring a brace - to help the home side out to a 22-8 half-time lead.

AT A GLANCE

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.