Canberra owe their fans after a poor showing against Newcastle that exposed big deficiencies in attack and defence, Jordan Rapana says.

Brushed aside in a 28-6 loss to the Knights, the Raiders repeatedly missed tackles and lacked potency near the opposition try-line as they were battered at home in a result that badly damaged their top-four chances.

Rapana will shift to fullback when Canberra host the Wests Tigers on Sunday so regular No.1 Sebastian Kris can cover the injured Jarrod Croker in the centres. 

The winger was puzzled as to how his side had scored the fewest points of any top-eight side while also conceding the most.

“I really don’t know the answer to that, otherwise I would have a solution,” he said.

“A lot of the time you go back to the basics of competing well and doing all those little things right. 

“For periods of the games we’re really good at it, but then we clock off.

“When you’re not doing those little things right, you’re not giving yourself a chance to have the ball. If you don’t have the ball you can’t attack.

“We’ve got to bounce back and get a win, we let our fans down last week.

“It all starts with this week and going out there and showing our fans who we are as Raiders and getting a win for them.”

The Raiders hope to add spark through NRL second-gamer Adrian Trevilyan, who’s been added to the bench after recently returning from an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

The hooker has played three games in NSW Cup and got through a stack of work to encourage coach Ricky Stuart to elevate him to the NRL side in place of dropped bench rake Tom Starling.

“You can notice the difference with him there at hooker, he looks the goods,” Rapana said.

“He’s shown a lot of resilience. He’s carried two massive season-ending injuries, so to see him get back at 100 per cent and now be rewarded with a first-grade spot, it’s awesome.”

By Alex Mitchell in Canberra