The Canberra Raiders travel to Melbourne knowing that a win will send them through to their first grand final since 1994.
The Raiders play the Melbourne Storm at AAMI Park on Saturday night with the winner rewarded with a grand final berth.
Raiders halfback Aidan Sezer said the team knows they need to put in a good performance on Saturday night.
“We know it’s on the line,” Sezer said.
“We’re at the pointy end of the season, and we want to go down there and put on a good performance because there may not be any tomorrow.”
Having lost to the Sharks in the first week of finals, the Raiders beat the Panthers to make their first NRL or ARL preliminary final in over two decades.
However, the players aren’t looking too far ahead according to Josh Papalii.
“The job’s not done," Papalii said. "We’ve still got a prelim to play in Melbourne. It’s important for us to take it one step at a time.”
The Raiders defeated the Storm 22-8 when the two teams played last month.
Melbourne forward Tim Glasby said his side needs to lift against the Raiders.
They got us up there, they were playing some great footy and they still are now so I think we need to lift from where we started last time we played them,” Glasby said.
“Their start was really good against us and they scored a couple of tries early on.”
The winner of Saturday’s match will play the winner of Friday’s match between the Cronulla Sharks and North Queensland Cowboys in the grand final.
SQUADS
Ricky Stuart has named the same 17 players for the clash against the Storm. Both Austin and Hodgson managed to get through last weekend’s clash and are ready to face the Storm on Saturday night.
The Storm have lost giant forward Nelson Asofa-Solomona after he dislocated his elbow. Christian Welch comes into the side, while Matt White and Felise Kaufusi are named on an extended bench.
Watch highlights from the last time the Raiders and Storm met in the video below.
