“Embarrassing” Canberra risk slipping even further behind the NRL eight-ball if they can’t upset reigning premiers Penrith at GIO Stadium on Friday night.

With suspended star Jack Wighton joining a string of injured teammates on the sidelines, the Raiders are languishing in 16th spot on the ladder after a lamentable display in a 24-14 loss to Newcastle.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart admitted the performance wasn’t up to scratch and said the five-day break between matches was perfect, with his troops itching to set the record straight.

“It has been a short turnaround, but we didn’t play well last week,” he said.

“I thought it was a performance that we were a little bit embarrassed by … and we want to fix that.

“That’s not us last week, and I feel that the short turnaround has probably done us more good than harm.

“We were clunky defensively and in attack … we’ve been through it, we weren’t happy with it overall, and we need to fix it.”

It has not been much better at Penrith, also with just one win to date, although both their losses have been by a single point.

Panthers coach Ivan Cleary was far from panicked, but stressed his side couldn’t rely on their back-to-back premiership-winning form to simply return without hard work.

“There’s a bit of a pattern there where we’ve put in a level of performance that … is not good enough to win,” he said.

“We’re a little disappointed with where we’re at, but confident we can continue to evolve – there’s still a lot of improvement in us.

“It’s unrealistic to look back on last year and the year before. We’re not living in the past, we’re just worrying about now and it’s a very tough comp.

“What’s been shown is there’s a lot of good teams out there, everyone is jockeying to find their best footy.”

Cleary confirmed second-rower Luke Garner had not been dropped but was still recovering from a rib injury, while Liam Martin is “really close” to returning from a hamstring niggle.

The Raiders get veteran winger Jordan Rapana back from a three-week ban to join a young backline where each of the other four members are aged 23 or younger.

Stuart hoped Rapana could make up for lost time and bring a big performance after a rough shoulder charge earned him his suspension.

“I understand it’s hurt him, it’s hurt us too,” Stuart said.

“I could see the disappointment in his body language right throughout the last three weeks … you feel a little bit isolated from the team.

“It has hurt the team … but we’ve got to regroup now and we’ve got to make sure that we’re getting that right.”