Green Machine can still find another gear: Bateman

As Canberra close in on a top four-berth following their biggest win of the year on Friday night, the Raiders have warned they can get even better.

The Raiders made light work of the Warriors at Mount Smart Stadium, piling on five first-half tries in an eventual 46-12 win which lifts them to second position in the Telstra Premiership ladder for the time being.

Having won seven of their past eight games Canberra now play three of the competition's form teams - the Roosters, Storm and Sea Eagles - in consecutive weeks.

Forward John Bateman said despite their dominance in Auckland, he expects his side to get even better through the final five weeks of the regular season.

"We can kick on now, we have actually got a lot of improvement in us," Bateman told NRL.com.

"It's pleasing to know we can still carry on and improve and know we aren't at our best yet.

"It's exciting [to face the top sides now], there's no other way to look at it.

"All the boys are looking forward to it now and we want to test ourselves against the best."

The trip to Auckland to face a side fighting to remain in the race for the play-offs was a potential banana-skin match for the Raiders, who came off a five-day turnaround after beating the Panthers last Sunday.

Coach Ricky Stuart said team staff decided early in the week to sacrifice training sessions in order to let the side recover, which proved a masterstroke come kick-off.  

"Sunday to Friday [games] are always quite tough games to find that little bit of energy, but we did tonight," Stuart said.

 "The way we prepared this week was probably a big influence, we came over Monday morning and got the travel out of the way and had a bit of a chance to get over the tough game last week and re-energise.

"The preparation [was] very low key, we [didn't have] much intensity about it until the back end of the week.

"It was about getting the side [in] the best shape, not so much what we did on the training field."

Stuart said while the scoreline was a bonus, the most pleasing part of the win was how his side performed in the second half after leading 30-0 at the break.

"It was really important for us to stay professional and disciplined to what was working for us in the first half," Stuart said.

"Sometimes you get to that type to scoreline and you can tend to go off task and throw the ball around more and go off your plan."

Meanwhile Bateman paid tribute to his skipper and fellow Englishman Josh Hodgson, who celebrated his 100th Telstra Premiership game in Auckland and was among the Green Machine's top performers.

Hodgson punished the Warriors around the ruck, running for over 100 metres and scoring a second-half try.

"It's been fantastic to see how he has come on in leaps and bounds since coming to the NRL. He was one of the reasons I came over here," Bateman said.

"I got the chance to play alongside him for my country, but to play every week with him is special.

"He's one of the best players I have ever played with and one of the best captains, and I've played with some good captains."

NRL Ladder Predictor: Have your say