Matt Scott insists North Queensland must find another gear to beat Canberra and is ready to confront the massive Raiders pack on Saturday night in Townsville.

The Cowboys co-captain expects the Raiders to play primarily through their forwards to allow as much room as they can for five-eighth Blake Austin to create opportunities for their dangerous outside backs.

''I'll have to warm my shoulders up,'' Scott told NRL.com.

''They have a massive pack and some very skilful, fast outside backs.''

The Cowboys broke a five-game losing drought with last week's 26-14 home win over the Titans, but Scott believes a repeat of that performance will not be good enough against the Raiders.

''We're not expecting to play at that level and keep getting wins - we have to improve and get better,'' he said.

''It was probably a bit of a scrappy win and we let a few late tries in, but at this stage in the season a win for us is what we needed and everyone is a fair bit happier around the club this week.

''It's a good reminder that we need to keep improving. No-one's really taken the foot off the pedal this week. We know we have to be better to compete in this competition and particularly against the Raiders.''

While Cowboys fans hope the win over the Titans is the catalyst for turning their season around, the players can't sit back and just expect wins to start piling up.

''Hopefully it is a turning point, but we're not going to know that for a while yet, so we're all just concentrating on the Raiders this week and trying to improve on the performance again,'' Scott said.

''They've probably been a little bit up and down this year. On their day they're one of the most dangerous sides in the competition. Defensively in particular, we'll have to be on the money.''

North Queensland coach Paul Green echoed his prop's sentiments, noting that if the Raiders get around his side's own backs it will spell trouble.

''We're expecting a pretty physical type of game so we're looking forward to it,'' Green said.

''[We need to] be physical. They certainly have some handy outside backs and plenty of strike down that edge, so we'll have to be on our game down there.''

It's only round eight but the stakes are high on Saturday night.

Both teams are four points outside the Telstra Premiership top eight and must win to keep their finals hopes alive.