Canterbury have made a fast start to life under new coach Cameron Ciraldo, taking down Canberra 34-18 in an NRL trial game.
The Bulldogs looked much improved despite gun players Josh Addo-Carr, Villiame Kikau and Matt Burton sitting out, scoring four first-half tries in the impressive display in Moruya.
Hooker Reed Mahoney made an instant impact on club debut as did lock Ryan Sutton, who powered over for an early try against his former side.
Mahoney dominated proceedings around the ruck and came up with two try-assists, with his distribution getting the Bulldogs flowing forward during his time on the field.
Veteran Josh Reynolds was in action after his recent upgrade to a top-30 contract, but their youngsters also looked the goods.
Nineteen-year-old centre Paul Alamoti, who's a chance to start round one, grabbed a try while 21-year-old second-rower Jacob Preston was dynamic running for 94m and scoring a try of his own.
Hulking prop Franklin Pele also showed his considerable potential with a bruising 88m, five tackle-bust game off the bench.
But it was a worrying start for the Raiders, looking unorganised early with a number of errors and set restarts stopping them from building any momentum.
Back-up halves option Brad Schneider showed his class, grabbing a try by gathering his own grubber-kick before a line break led to a try for Elijah Anderson as they mounted a second-half fight.
Winger James Schiller ran 95m to pull the score back to 22-14 before Canterbury scored late tries to seal the win.
Canberra forwards Corey Horsburgh and Trey Mooney, who are on the shortlist to start at lock in round one to replace the departed Adam Elliott, each had two errors in the first half, with Ata Mariota (72m) the best of the props.
Making matters worse for the Raiders was an injury to young gun fullback Xavier Savage, who left the contest with a jaw injury and will head for a precautionary X-ray.
