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Canberra are expecting a gritty contest against Cronulla who will be looking to salute veteran Paul Gallen in his final game at Shark Park after 19 seasons.

Canberra have vowed not to let Cronulla follow Manly's winning formula and let "rubbish" get under their skin in a crunch top-eight NRL clash on Sunday.

The Raiders were the better side for most of their game against the Sea Eagles last week but lost, prompting skipper Jarrod Croker to say "we bought into their rubbish".

Croker said he's expecting another gritty contest against Cronulla who will be looking to cement their finals spot and salute veteran Paul Gallen in his final game at Shark Park after 19 seasons.

"I probably didn't word that correctly, we played into our own rubbish really. But Cronulla are a similar side to Manly, a scrappy sort of side, they get you in the trenches and get you in that fight so we have to handle that a lot better than we did against Manly," Croker said.

"I'm sure the Sharks will have the same sort of mentality as Manly did, we need to be a lot better in holding our nerve a little bit longer and sticking to our game.

"It's going to be a massive test. They're a tough and physical side and have been for a number of years now.

"It's sold out and always a hostile environment and their last game there for a couple of years and Gal's last home game, so a big environment. Another semi-final atmosphere."

Canberra's English recruit John Bateman has been a revelation in his maiden NRL season and is quickly developing a reputation for loving the grunt work.

The international lock, who won two Super League titles in three years before signing with the Raiders, says you want to be playing tough sides at this time of year.

"Games aren't going to be all easy and scoring tries here and there, it's going to be stop-start and stuff like that so these games put us in a good position heading into finals," Bateman said.

"It was pretty feisty when the Sharks played at our place and they came back after we started pretty well.

"It was a disappointing result last week so we really want to bounce back."