Canberra coach Ricky Stuart says his NRL team have climbed up off the canvas and are ready to take on another “bruised” opponent when they play the Warriors on Saturday.

The Raiders fell to a 36-6 loss to unbeaten Penrith last round while the Warriors were left reeling after a 70-10 Anzac Day defeat by Melbourne.

Sitting at 2-5 and with some more heavyweight clashes looming, the match against the Warriors at Redcliffe is key to Canberra’s hopes of playing finals football.

They welcome captain Elliott Whitehead back after the second-rower missed the Panthers match with significant facial injuries from a head knock in training.

The Warriors, who are 3-4, are trying to regroup in a five-day turnaround, losing Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (concussion), Josh Curran (knee) and Aaron Pene (suspension) from the Storm match.

“We were obviously disappointed with our results but we’re working hard to find that next win,” Stuart said on Friday.

“We’re going to be playing against a team that’s pretty bruised from their last result so I expect both sides to be very similar.

“The last month has been very tough – we’ve played good football in patches but we need to build that momentum for 80 minutes.

“It’s still early in the competition and it’s very congested for around 70 per cent of the table but you can only look after your own backyard and it’s important for us to start winning.”

Stuart didn’t think extra training was the answer to his team’s woes and said that it wasn’t time to “panic”.

“The one thing you don’t want to do is overload the boys, we’ve only had one session this week,” he said.

“You certainly can’t go into panic mode and overload the guys at training because then physically you’re not doing the right thing by them 

“When you trust players and have got belief in them, as I have, it doesn’t take much to turn it around.

“It’s an ounce of luck, the rub of the green, sometimes that’s all it takes and at the moment that would be very pleasant to have.”