Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart says his players have been "knocked around" by their finals hopes ending in controversial style, and lifting them off the canvas is his biggest challenge before Sunday's clash on the Gold Coast.

While the Raiders will miss the finals for a third straight year, there has been noticeable improvement and Stuart has implored his squad to avoid dropping their bundle.

Canberra's finals hopes ended after consecutive two-point home losses to the Wests Tigers and Manly.

The Sea Eagles sealed victory with a last-gasp Brett Stewart try that was later deemed illegal.

Despite having to adjust to the Queensland heat, Canberra will start strong favourites against the last-placed Titans, who will be without starting halves Kane Elgey and Raiders recruit Aidan Sezer.

"My hardest job is going to be having the players up," Stuart said.

"We've been knocked around and pretty flat by what happened last week.

"We have to show a professional side of us and they're a resilient bunch, they'll be right."

"A couple of results haven't gone our way, but I believe from a performance point of view we've played a really good brand of footy.

"We need to build on that but I'd like to see the players finish the season on a credible note because they deserve to, our season's been quite progressive.

"The important this is we've improved and we've got to improve again next year."

Stuart said prop Paul Vaughan had overcome a leg injury suffered late in the 26-24 Sea Eagles loss and was expected to take his place.

The Raiders have had a massive transformation of their forward pack since Stuart arrived two years ago, with experienced campaigners Brett White (retired), Dane Tilse (Hull KR) and Tom Learoyd-Lahrs (Melbourne) moving on.

They have been replaced with the young brigade in Vaughan, Shannon Boyd and Mitch Barnett, who has been replaced by Luke Bateman for the Titans game after making his NRL debut the past two games.

"It's been quite a big transformation [in the forward pack] and it's had to be," Stuart said.

"We just thought we should give Luke a bit more footy before the end of the season.

"Giving Mitch a couple of games and a taste of first grade means he will come into the off-season with a real fire in his belly and desire for next year."

Stuart confirmed the hot weather meant bench hooker Kurt Baptiste will be involved after he failed to play a single minute off the bench in the past two matches.

Starting hooker Josh Hodgson has played 80 minutes the past fortnight, giving Stuart the option of playing one hooker when the interchanges are reduced from 10 to eight next year.

"Kurt will get some footy this weekend," Stuart said.

"[Next year] it'll be horses for courses, there'll be games where I need him [Hodgson] to play the full 80, other games we'll have an interchange player ready to replace him if needed.

"I'll worry about next year when next year comes, it's just a matter of finishing this season on a credible note.

"It is difficult [we're out of finals contention] but it's all part of the journey. We're certainly in a lot better position today than we were this time last year, and that's what you have to look at."

SUNDAY

NRL round 24: Gold Coast Titans v Canberra Raiders at Gold Coast, 2pm

TV Time: Live on Fox Sports 1