The Canberra Raiders know they are good enough to give the premiership a shake this season and veteran coach Ricky Stuart thinks their thrilling comeback victory over the Melbourne Storm on Saturday night will convince a lot of the non-believers.
Canberra trailed the league-leaders 18-0 shortly before half-time at AAMI Park but then scored 22 unanswered points to record one of their best wins in recent history.
The triumph helps the Raiders maintain their place inside the top four and Stuart believes his players are starting to build the belief that they can go all the way this season.
"There is no worries about belief as we know we are good enough," Stuart said after the 22-18 victory.
"Sometimes it is just unfortunate scenarios and passages of play that make it more difficult for yourself.
"They showed a lot out there that a lot of our non-believers think we haven't got."
Match Highlights: Storm v Raiders
The Raiders had two players sent to the sin bin during an indifferent start to the match, with Jack Wighton and Joe Tapine both given their marching orders as the Storm opened up an early 18-0 advantage.
A try before half-time from Jarrod Croker helped the Raiders work their way back into the contest and Stuart praised the ability of his side to stay within striking distance as the teams entered the sheds.
"We didn't get many bounces of the ball at all tonight and I was happy with how they hung in there," he said.
"Over the years they have got frustrated, they have got impatient and that has been my biggest bug bear in terms of calming their mentality.
While Croker will win many of the plaudits for his try-scoring double, it was veteran big man Josh Papalii that clinched the remarkable comeback with the match-winning try in the 75th minute.
Papalii's four-pointer came about following a trademark one-on-one strip from hooker Josh Hodgson and Stuart praised his side's composure during the closing stages.
"We had to regroup at half-time and find a bit of composure," Stuart said.
"We are a very good attacking team and very instinctive. We are unpredictable and sometimes that has got us in trouble.
"Sometimes we shoot ourselves in the foot with our unpredictability.
"It has probably helped us this year as we have probably tried to find a little bit more composure with our play more so than always trying to score.
"Outside our defence that is probably one of our biggest strengths."
