A 21-year-old rookie who grew up with a poster of Ricky Stuart on his wall has given the Canberra Raiders hope they can play finals football this season without star halfback Todd Carney.

The Raiders board last night voted to suspend Carney for the remainder of the season after another brush with the law last Sunday. At the same time, NRL debutant Marc Herbert was proving there could be life for the Raiders without their troubled playmaker.

With five-eighth Terry Campese taking the leading role, the Raiders launched themselves into the top eight with a resounding win over the Gold Coast Titans at Canberra Stadium.

And after a nervous start Herbert was right in the thick of it.

While Campese was without doubt the star, Herbert played his role, scoring a try and helping set up three others during the eight-tries-to-one romp.

Raiders captain Alan Tongue admitted Carney's absence was noticeable on the field, but said the performance of Herbert was promising for the club.

"Herby was very dominant with his talk and he had early communication and everybody just responded to it," Tongue said.

"Obviously Toddy brings a lot of spark to the game, but we just got on with the job and I thought Herby was outstanding."

Raiders coach Neil Henry agreed with Tongue's assessment, while also heaping praise on Campese, who was by far the best player on the field.

"He is the senior partner, I suppose, in the halves given his experience in first grade and it was pleasing to see him being rewarded," Henry said. "His running game was tremendous, he was taking on the line and it was just a great effort."

The Raiders entered the game needing to win by 15 or more points to leapfrog the Titans and break into the top eight.

With a host of star players including Luke Bailey, Scott Prince and Mat Rogers still sidelined, the Titans now face a difficult task to break back into finals contention.

It starts next weekend with a trip to Olympic Park to face the Melbourne Storm.

Despite admitting his team was struggling, Titans fullback Preston Campbell said they could spring an upset against the reigning premiers.

"It's pretty daunting and we did get a bit of a touch-up there last year," Campbell said. "But I'm still feeling pretty positive. We've still got a few games left and we've got blokes coming back from injury."

Henry admitted he had reservations about how his team would react after the tumultuous week and praised his players for the way they had responded.

"I just said, 'Let's get on with our football,' and the boys were committed to that," he said. "Once we started playing I thought we were on song, despite the early setback with the try from dummy half."

The Raiders started the game nervously.

Herbert lost the ball on his first run and conceded two early penalties as the Titans pinched a four-point lead through back-rower Anthony Laffranchi.

It took a while for the momentum to build, but once the Raiders were in full stride the Titans had no hope of slowing them.

With his regular halves partner suspended, Campese took it upon himself to spark his team, making a break midway through the first half to set up fullback David Milne's try.

Raiders winger Colin Best struck just two minutes later and Herbert and Justin Carney also added their names to the scorers list before the half-time break.