Raiders aim for more

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Raiders aim for more

Canberra coach David Furner was a relieved man after Saturday's stunning 20-12 win over Melbourne but said the result will count for little if his team doesn't build on it.

The Raiders were given little chance against the high-flying Storm at AAMI Park, having only won once in the Victorian capital in 14 previous attempts and coming into the game on the back of an eight-game losing streak.

But the NRL's bottom team heading into Round 10 turned the form book on its head by scoring the first two tries through Reece Robinson and Josh McCrone and then finishing better after the hosts had drawn level, with Blake Ferguson scoring a brilliant solo try.

"We worked hard for that game," said Furner.

"I think I've been saying it all along that the last seven or eight weeks the players have been working hard at training and working hard together and never doubted for one moment the character in the side."

While Melbourne did level the scores two minutes into the second half, it wasn't long before Furner could see his men getting on top again.

"I thought once it was 12-apiece we started trading sets with them and you could just see about five or six sets later we started to get over the top of them," he added.

"It's a full credit to the team."

But both Furner and skipper Alan Tongue were also quick to concede that the team needs to maintain that winning form next Friday night against the Bulldogs at Canberra Stadium.

"I think it's about keeping our feet on the ground," Furner said.

"That's another pleasing thing - we've come from a Monday night game and I never question the character of this team and the players that are in it."

"We've got to do that against another very good side on Friday night."

Tongue added: "We talked about it ourselves - one win here doesn't make a season, we've got to back it up now and the good sides do that."

"The Melbournes, the Broncos, they back it up and they do that week in, week out and that's what we've got to do, we've got to back it up next week."

Tongue was also delighted by the fact that his team-mates played with plenty of freedom even though they hadn't won in so long.

"One of the things that I'm most pleased coming out of that game is that we played with a fair bit of confidence," he said.

"With the amount of losses that we've had there, to come out and play that against Melbourne and throw the ball around a bit and be pretty creative there ... that's really pleasing because you can go into your shell."

"But we've played some footy tonight and we did it for the full 80 minutes and this is one of the toughest road trips in the competition, so there's plenty to take out of it."

"Sometimes when you play against these top sides it's pretty easy to build that energy."

"You know that you're going to be in a contest and you're going to be in it for 80 minutes, it's easy for a player to get yourself up for these sort of games."

Source: Sportal.com.au