Canberra Raiders beat Penrith Panthers 24-12 in NRL round 14

AS final Origin auditions go, Canberra enforcer Josh Papalii couldn't have done much more in the win against the Panthers.

AS final Origin auditions go, Canberra enforcer Josh Papalii couldn't have done much more last night.

MATCH CENTRE: RAIDERS v PANTHERS

The only question now is whether it was enough to convince Maroons coach Mal Meninga he is worth a shot in game two.

The Raiders back-rower, who famously got under the skin of Blues captain Paul Gallen during last year's finals series, was a chief contributor as his side overcame a gritty Penrith at Canberra Stadium.

He was a dominant force on the Raiders' right edge, giving the Panthers' defence plenty to think about every time the ball went his way.

Papalii was even using his head to set up tries, with Josh McCrone's four-pointer just before half-time coming after the Raiders halfback's pass cannoned into his head before McCrone regathered to touch down.

At the very least, Papalii has given Meninga food for thought. He plays tough. He has that intimidation factor and would relish playing in the Origin cauldron that is Suncorp Stadium before a packed house of Queensland supporters.

Papalii

Meninga will also suspect NSW would rather Papalii not be chosen, which may be enough in itself.

Canberra are the only side not to be beaten at home this season.

And while they were far from perfect last night, they still had too much firepower for a Panthers side who never threw in the towel.

It took the home side just two minutes to get on the board with centre Blake Ferguson out-leaping Travis Robinson to bring down a Terry Campese bomb for a try.

It was the start of a nightmare opening 30 minutes for Robinson under the high ball.

His twin brother Reece, in the Raiders' No.1 jumper, was having no such problems. He made it 12-0 after 14 minutes when he linked out the back following a scrum win and strolled through a gaping hole.

At that stage, it looked ominous for the Panthers.

But Ivan Cleary's men slowly worked their way into the contest and winger David Simmons' try in the corner 12 minutes from the break was the culmination of some built-up pressure from the visitors.

Cleary would have been happy with a 12-6 scoreline at the break given the Raiders' dominance in the opening 20 minutes.

Instead, McCrone's fortunate try four minutes from half-time made the task in the second half that much more difficult.

The Panthers threw plenty at Canberra in the opening 15 minutes of the second half but Cleary just doesn't have the game-breakers at his disposal to take advantage of the half-chances.

And so it was last night.

The Raiders did enough in defence to keep Penrith at bay and when interchange forward Paul Vaughan stormed through James Segeyaro to score his first NRL try midway through the second half, it was 24-6 and the mountain just became too high for the Panthers.

Simmons scored his second in the shadows of fulltime to make the scoreline credible as his halfback Luke Walsh limped off with a knee injury.

"I thought our scrambling defence was outstanding tonight,'' Campese said.

"Only to let in that last try in the last five minutes was a credit to the way we practised throughout the week.''

Cleary said his side's slow start had cost them.

"Makes it hard you know. We were just a bit off the pace at the start of the game,'' he said.

Raiders centre Jarrod Croker had another perfect night with the boot and the club believes he'll be fit to play next week after limping off in the second half.

CANBERRA 24 (B Ferguson J McCrone R Robinson P Vaughan tries J Croker 4 goals) bt PENRITH 12 (D Simmons 2 tries M Moylan L Walsh goals) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: Ben Cummins, Adam Gee. Crowd: 9,176.