Robbie Farah says the Wests Tigers know they will face a St George Illawarra side desperate to show they are still a premiership contender in 2018 when the two sides meet at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers kept their finals hopes alive with Sunday's 22-20 win over Canberra as they look to move on from a week which saw their club at the epicentre of the off-field news cycle.
Farah said his side knows the Dragons will have plenty to prove after an embarrassing 40-4 loss to the last-placed Eels, their fifth defeat in the past six weeks.
"They're going to come out hard, obviously they're coping a bit of flak for the way they played (against the Eels)," Farah said.
"They'll be looking to bounce back and for us, every game is a must-win and we came down here (to Canberra) with that mentality and we kept our season alive now and it's going to be the same next week."
Match Highlights: Raiders v Wests Tigers - Round 22, 2018
Amazingly Farah and Benji Marshall enjoy a perfect 11-0 record against the Green Machine but Farah concedes it was tough to hold on as the Raiders scored two second-half tries to none.
"They're a team that keeps coming at you especially when they have a mountain of possession and in the second half they had a completion rate of around 100," he said.
"They were coming hard so it was a pretty gritty effort from our boys to hold on."
Coming into the game averaging 15.7 points a game, the Tigers quickly surpassed that mark with three tries while Joey Leilua was in the sin-bin for a professional foul during the first half.
Farah said he wished the team could have put the result to bed early but said he was happy to escape Canberra with the two points to keep their season alive.
"I thought we had some opportunities in the second half to skip away again but we just couldn't take our opportunities," he said.
"And like I said they're a team when they get possession and offloads they're tough to contain, but I thought defensively in the second half, while we let in some soft tries, overall it was pretty strong performance."
The win was made that much sweeter for Tigers fullback Moses Mbye who capped his 100th NRL game with a sensational individual try and the win.
"We like to celebrate milestones at this club, the boys got me a win in my 250th and (Luke) Brooksy in his 100th so for Moey to a win it's pretty special and I thought he was outstanding for us," Farah said.
