Canberra are eyeing a first minor premiership in 35 years after hat-trick hero Kaeo Weekes inspired a 28-24 defeat of gallant St George Illawarra at GIO Stadium.
The Dragons, missing 11 players to injury, never let their hosts breathe easily on Saturday night but fullback Weekes' first two tries either side of the break gave the Raiders the buffer they needed.
With their seventh consecutive win, Canberra move two competition points clear atop the NRL ladder and enjoy a favourable run to finals.
The Raiders still have two byes to come across the last nine rounds of the regular season and face only two sides that began this weekend in the top eight - fewer than minor premiership rivals Canterbury and Melbourne.
"I was that confident we were going to be a good team this year, no I didn't think we were going to be where we are today," said Canberra coach Ricky Stuart.
"But their hard work, commitment, our leadership and their buy-in has got us in a healthy position at the moment."
Since their inaugural season 44 years ago, the Raiders have claimed the minor premiership just once before: in 1990, with a team boasting Mal Meninga, Laurie Daley and Stuart.
After an early dogfight against the Dragons, Weekes came up with a performance to rival any of those men.
"He just takes our team to another level," Stuart said of his fullback.
With scores level, Weekes had his first try on a counterattack, scooping Kyle Flanagan's grubber kick up and leaving the scattered defensive line in his wake belting 85 metres to score.
Weekes dived over on the right only two minutes after the break, and completed a first NRL hat-trick breaking six tackles on a kick return as the final 20 minutes approached.
A spread down the right side put Flanagan over and had the Dragons within four points in the final 10 minutes but they ran out of time, left to rue 13 errors.
St George Illawarra were also left frustrated by the officiating; Weekes scored his second try immediately after a tough escort penalty on Corey Allan, and Tyrell Sloan was denied a first-half try for a forward pass from Moses Suli.
A sardonic Shane Flanagan hinted that if not for the NRL's tough stance on referee criticism this season, he'd have spoken his mind more enthusiastically.
"Lucky the rules are changing, related to press conferences, because I'd be paying a fine," he said.
"When you're a side flying high like the Raiders, you probably see that they get the bounce of the ball and they deserve it because (they're) at the top of the table.
"When you're at where we're at, the middle of the table, sometimes you feel that you don't get the rub of the green sometimes. It's a tough one. In the end, that's the difference.
"I thought we should've won."