The Raiders built their victory on the back of four first half tries, with centre Phil Graham scoring his first NRL hat trick in the opening twenty minutes.

Wests couldn’t recover from Graham’s early exploits, while the Raiders clamped down defensively on the Tigers for almost the entire contest and forced a string of handling errors from the visiting side.

Canberra’s win sees them remain in the hunt for an NRL finals berth, their seventh home victory in a row lifting the Raiders past the faltering St George Illawarra Dragons.

With three of their four remaining matches to be played at Canberra Stadium, the Raiders are a dark horse to make the top at eight at the expense of Parramatta, the Northern Eagles, or the Melbourne Storm.

After a solid start by both teams, the Raiders took an early 4-0 lead when centre Phil Graham crossed wide out for the game’s first try.

Clinton Schifcofske, back at fullback for Canberra after a month long lay-off, couldn’t add the extras from the sideline.

Graham was proving a handful for Wests and added his double soon after, the confident Raiders utilising their mistake free start to open up a handy 8-0 advantage.

Graham was enjoying the wide-ranging Canberra attack, and found himself with a hat trick inside the first twenty minutes after scoring again out wide. Schifcofske though struggled with continued conversion attempts from the touchline, the Tigers lucky to be down just 12-0 after the Raiders ideal start.

The game tightened over the middle stages of the half as Wests dug in and managed to pressure the Raiders into mistakes. But Canberra were defending stoutly, their solid play keeping the visiting side scoreless in the mild conditions.

With less than five minutes left before the break the Raiders again scored- this time though Finch- Schifcofske finally adding the extras to make the score 18-0 at the break.

Wests had had their moments over the closing stages of the first half, but the Roosters try seemed to end their hopes of winning the match.

The Tigers tried as best they could to come home over the top of the Riders, but were continuing to find it hard to cross the tryline.

The Raiders kept their wits about them and grinding their way towards victory, Schifcofske added a second half penalty goal as Wests nabbed a converted try through hooker Robbie Mears to bring the margin back to 14 points.

The Tigers can come no closer though, barnstorming Raiders centre Ruben Wiki making sure of a victory for the home side with a try nine minutes from the fulltime hooter.

Schifcofske added the extras to Wiki’s try, making the final score 26-6 in Canberra’s favour.