Canberra 34 Sydney Roosters 12

THE only thing that stopped it from being a picture perfect day - the Canberra way, in the middle of winter - was that the rain waited until 15 minutes into the game before it started.

But the Raiders didn't really need it to help wash the Sydney Roosters away. It may have only been 6-0 to Canberra at that stage, but there had been enough evidence to suggest they were well on their way.

It was clear from the start the Raiders had come to play, while the Roosters looked more like they were hoping to get the job done. The conditions made it harder to hang on to the ball, so when Canberra scored just before half-time and went to the break leading 18-0, the game was effectively over. The Raiders kept the one-way traffic going in the second half and got to 28 before the Roosters scored.

The Roosters have been praised for their ability to score off kicks, but when the kicks aren't bringing tries, they had better be able to adjust to finding other ways. Yesterday, they couldn't adjust, and the heavy loss followed. To make things worse for the visitors, the rain did not stop.

"We have to be honest," Roosters captain Craig Fitzgibbon said. "We weren't exactly throwing a lot at them [in the first half]. In the second half, we threw a bit more footy at them."

But, by then, the bird had flown the proverbial coop, and courtesy of their 22-point win the Raiders rose two spots, to ninth, while the Roosters dropped one, to fourth. But are the green machine talking about making the finals, or trying to keep a lid on things?

Well, they admit they're at least thinking about it.

"It's always in the back of your mind," Raiders captain Alan Tongue said. "It's where you want to be, at the end of the season, so of course you think about it. But we're not making a big issue of it. We put enough pressure on ourselves to win, every time we play, so it doesn't make sense to add to it by looking too far ahead."

It seems like every time the Raiders hit the wall, they find a way to bounce back. Last week's shock win on the road against St George Illawarra, backed up by yesterday's victory over another top-eight side, have put them in the thick of the battle again, and against the Roosters they did it by backing their ability to make things happen with the ball.

Their first try came when they took advantage of a very compressed Roosters defence by running around it. After that, they scored in a variety of ways - by a smart move off a scrum, by teamwork, by individual brilliance and opportunism. Along the way they added to the heat that was already on the Roosters by coming up with two 40-20 kicks - one to halfback Todd Carney and the other to five-eighth Terry Campese.

Canberra scored off one of their 40-20s. The Roosters kicked one 40-20, through five-eighth Braith Anasta, but from the ensuing set they turned over possession through a poor pass that went to ground. That was a pretty good indication of the difference between the two sides.

Raiders coach Neil Henry described the win as being "right up there" with the team's best this season, but, as a good coach will do, he didn't let the win stop him from identifying areas in which the team needed to improve if they hoped to keep winning.

"It was a very good first half," Henry said. "[But] I think we gave them a few opportunities with a few decisions we made in the second half. You don't want to take away the confidence the boys have to try things, but you've also got to be careful to make the right decisions and we made a few rash ones after the break.

"We came here today with a belief we could win. The form of the boys has been pretty good for most of the year. Our forwards were great today. [Troy] Thompson, [Dane] Tilse and [Scott] Logan led the way up front. Joel Monaghan came out and had a terrific game. I think everyone helped carry the load, right across the park.

"Most sides compress their defence and we've had a bit of success trying to get around that. We were able to do that again today. There's no doubt we lapsed for about 20 minutes in the second half, and that's something we've got to look at, but, overall, I think we can be pretty happy."

CANBERRA 34 (M Chalk 3 T Campese A Purtell J Monaghan tries T Carney 5 goals) bt SYDNEY ROOSTERS 12 (B Anasta A Roberts tries C Fitzgibbon 2 goals) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: J Maxwell. Crowd:  13,100.