Canberra forward Adam Elliott says the next two games are ‘must-win’ for the Raiders as they attempt to rescue their season following a poor start.
The Raiders are priced at 11/4 to finish in the top eight of the NRL but they currently sit 2-5 ahead of their clash with the New Zealand Warriors on Saturday.
Huge game
The Warriors were hammered 70-10 against the Melbourne Storm on Anzac Day and the Raiders will be keen to inflict more pain. They then face Canterbury before a horror run of games.
They will face Parramatta, Cronulla, South Sydney and the Sydney Roosters, which makes the next two games hugely important.
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Elliott says they can take heart from the 36-6 loss against Penrith last start.
"Must-win this week, must-win next week as well," he told reporters. "You've got to get on a bit of a roll, it's that part of the season where you want to start building some momentum.
"It probably was (must-win) on the weekend, it would have been great to go there and really shock everyone. I went into that game really confident we were going to win, particularly when we went in at halftime."
Wary of the Warriors
Meanwhile Elliott says they are well aware that the Warriors will be determined to bounce back and will be on guard.
"Sun Tzu's The Art of War, he says never underestimate your opponents," Elliott added. "That's something we definitely can't be doing this week, they'll be coming out playing their best game of the season this week. We're going to be ready for it, we've got to play our best too."
