Canberra Raiders tune up for NRL finals with Wests Tigers mauling

It comes after the Green Machine smashed the Wests Tigers 56-10 at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday, with a blistering first half setting up the win.

That's despite Stuart opting to rest two of his stars, Jack Wighton and Elliott Whitehead, to freshen them up for their trip to Melbourne to face the Storm next Saturday.

The Raiders will only get a six-day break - something that didn't surprise Stuart as he's used to Canberra getting the "short straw".

He probably wished he could've rested more of his team after the Brisbane Broncos had effectively bowed out of the finals race with their loss to St George Illawarra on Saturday.

But with the NRL rules requiring him to name his game day 19 before the Broncos' final whistle it meant he could only give two players a break.

He manage to give halfback Jamal Fogarty half a game off with Canberra up 42-0 at the break - falling narrowly short of the Green Machine's best ever opening stanza of 44-0 against Wests in 1999 and six short of the NRL record of 48-0 by Newcastle in 2003.

The thrashing edged the Raiders' last visit to Leichhardt, when Canberra won 52-10 in the final round of 2016 - on their way to the preliminary final.

It was so bad the Tigers supporters booed their team off at the break.

The Raiders will have to sweat on the match review committee after fiery prop Corey Horsburgh was put on report for a high tackle.

About the only thing the Raiders didn't do well in the first half was their captain's challenge as they destroyed a hapless Tigers team.

It sends Canberra into the finals off the back of two big wins, having smashed Manly last week as well.

They'll travel to Melbourne with plenty of confidence to take on a wounded Storm outfit, having also won their past four trips to the venue.

Stuart thanked the Tigers for allowing the Raiders to honour their late chairman Allan Hawke, who died during the week, with a minute's silence before the game.

"Any hitout without any problems with injury and whatnot is a good hitout," Stuart said.

"We're in good form, the players are full of belief and confidence and for them to do what they've done over the last three months has been an extraordinary feat.

"And it's not over yet. We're not just in there to make up the numbers, like a lot of other people think."

Stuart wanted a good start and that's exactly what he got - so good it was on track for them to have a chance of chasing down South Sydney for seventh spot, albeit with a strong breeze behind their back.

The Green Machine started the day 114 points behind the Rabbitohs on differential - meaning a pace of about 1.5 points per minute.

They were 18-0 up after 13 minutes with tries to Matt Timoko, Sebastian Kris and Nick Cotric.

Cotric showed no signs of the groin injury that kept him out last week, but he did find himself switched to the right wing with Jordan Rapana on the left.

Hudson Young continued his boom season with a double.

Storm legend Billy Slater expected the Green Machine to do some damage in the finals too.

"They could unsettle any team in the top eight ... they're a dangerous team to play," he said during the Nine commentary.

"They've got a balanced team at the moment."

AT A GLANCE

CANBERRA RAIDERS 56 (Hudson Young 2, Matt Timoko, Sebastian Kris, Nick Cotric, Jordan Rapana, Xavier Savage, Jamal Fogarty, Josh Papalii tries; Fogarty 7, Rapana 3 goals) bt WESTS TIGERS 10 (Daine Laurie, Ken Maumalo tries; Adam Doueihi goal) at Leichhardt Oval. Referee: Gerard Sutton. Crowd: 10,041.

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