Canberra rubber stamped its return to the finals in style by smashing the Wests Tigers 56-10 at Leichhardt Oval to lock up eighth spot on the ladder.
In Sunday's earlier match, Cronulla defeated Newcastle 38-16 to secure second place on the ladder behind minor premiers Penrith.
The Raiders' victory means they travel to Melbourne to face the Storm in an elimination final next weekend after missing out on a top-eight spot last year.
They have enjoyed seven wins from their last eight matches and go to Melbourne knowing they have beaten the Storm at AAMI Park on four successive visits.
The Tigers finish 2022 with the wooden spoon for the first time in the joint venture's history and it will take more than the return of Tim Sheens as head coach to have them close to being a finals contender.
After Brisbane were beaten by St George Illawarra on Saturday, the only way the Raiders could have missed the finals was if they had lost to the Tigers by 54 points.
Even though Ricky Stuart rested skipper Elliott Whitehead and five-eighth Jack Wighton, there was no hope the Tigers would come anywhere near that tally.
The Raiders steamed through the Tigers with embarrassing ease and finished the first half 42-0 up — six points short of the NRL's record first-half margin, set by Newcastle against North Queensland in 2003.
By the 35th minute every member of the Raiders backline — Xavier Savage, Nick Cotric, Matt Timoko, Seb Kris and Jordan Rapana — had got on the scoresheet and halfback Jamal Fogarty converted all seven of their first-half tries.
The pick of the tries in the Raiders' first-half onslaught came from winger Rapana.
Stand-in five-eighth Matt Frawley sent Kris through a gap on a short side, and after slicing through the Tigers' defence he popped the ball up for a supporting Rapana to finish.
Hudson Young continued the rout, with Savage and Fogarty also crossing before half-time.
When the Raiders kicked dead towards the end of the first half, ironic cheers rang out from the spectators, before the Tigers were booed off at the break.
Savage went off momentarily in the second half with an ankle complaint and the Tigers found some rhythm with Daine Laurie and Ken Maumalo reducing the significant deficit.
Young got the Raiders back on track when he jinked his way down the middle, earning himself an early mark before rampaging prop Josh Papalii finished the job off.
Sharks topple Knights
A hat-trick to Briton Nikora helped Cronulla to a comfortable win over Newcastle that confirmed a first NRL top-two finish for the Sharks since 1999.
The Sharks will now host North Queensland in a qualifying final next weekend at home, where they are on a five-match winning streak against the third-placed Cowboys.
The win at Newcastle Stadium was Cronulla's sixth in a row but looks to have come at a cost.
A hip-drop tackle from Mat Croker left State of Origin representative Siosifa Talakai with an apparent ankle injury in the final two minutes of play.
Both men left the field: Croker to the sin-bin and Talakai to the casualty ward.
Newcastle was determined to finish its disappointing season on a positive note and made the error-prone Sharks work hard to confirm their home qualifying final.
But just as they did against Canberra in their last home match, the initially-competitive Knights fell away the further the game went on and were unable to withstand repeated pressure close to the line.
Cronulla's handling errors gave the Knights early field position but the home side struggled to capitalise on territory without injured playmakers Kalyn Ponga, Anthony Milford and Jake Clifford.
When Cronulla scored against the run of play through Luke Metcalf, who pounced on an Adam Clune kick and streaked 95 metres, the Knights' spirits could well have broken.
But the home side replied with a long-range try of their own, with Dominic Young picking off a wayward Nicho Hynes pass to lock the match up at half-time.
As rain teemed down in Newcastle, the Sharks lifted their intensity and scored within 43 seconds of the restart in the second half.
Cronulla regained possession from a short kick-off and rolled forward to the tryline, where second-rower Nikora grabbed his second try.
The Sharks wrestled territory back as the second 40 went on and when Nikora completed his first NRL hat-trick, they had built up an unassailable lead.
AAP/ABC
