The Roosters dominated the Raiders in a number of important areas in Sunday afternoon's one-sided clash at Allianz Stadium.

In doing so the Tricolours highlighted some key facets of play that the men from Canberra need to improve on if they are to compete with the top teams in the NRL.

Not least of which is their edge defence, which presented plenty of opportunities for the Roosters' star-studded backline to take advantage of.

It has been a problem that has plagued the Raiders in the past, and it well and truly reared its head again in Round 4 of the NRL Telstra Premiership as all but one member of the Roosters' backline crossed the stripe for points.

"I think it's just all over the park we have to be better and I know it sounds so easy to say," Raiders outside back Edrick Lee told NRL.com. 

"We need to make sure we win the tackles in the middle so it eases up on the edges, and then make the tackles across the field." 

Unfortunately for Lee and the Canberra backline though, they couldn't do so against their Sydney Roosters counterparts.

James Maloney and Mitchell Pearce had standout games orchestrating perfect set plays and using decoys to find their fast and powerful backs with space on the edges.

"The Roosters' outside backs across the park are awesome players so we knew as we were heading into the game that we just had to step up," Lee said.

"With their halves as well, they're NSW representatives so we knew they were going to have a lot of options whether they're kicking or passing or running the ball."

Their precision was too much for the Raiders to handle and Lee said it's an area the whole team will have to focus on ahead of this weekend's encounter with Manly in Albury.

"We really need to have a big focus on defence this week because we're coming up against Manly, it doesn't get any easier."

Despite the 34-6 drubbing at Allianz Stadium there were some positives to take out of the match for the Raiders.

The forwards showed some great fight in the middle of the field while Jordan Rapana was once again impressive carrying the ball out of his own end, making 147 metres and four tackle busts. 

"Rapana is doing a really good job, he was given the opportunity to play there (on the wing) and he's really grabbed the opportunity with both hands and is helping out the team tremendously," Lee said.

"That's one thing we really wanted to work on as outside backs, we really wanted to get in there and help out the forwards because we knew the Roosters were strong up the middle."

As for the six-foot-five former basketball prodigy Lee, whose cousin is NBA star Patty Mills, he's just happy to help out anywhere in the backline for the moment.

"It doesn't really worry me what position I play as long as I do my bit for the team whether that's in at centre or on the wing," Lee said.

"This game was a big game and I had a lot of energy and I just wanted to get in there and really help out the team."