In 30 years as a player and coach at the Bulldogs Steve Folkes has seen plenty of highs and lows, but nothing compared to the embarrassment he felt as he watched his side get pummeled 58-18 by Canberra at ANZ Stadium.

The Bulldogs were simply woeful in their worst loss since 1959 as the Raiders ran in 11 tries to three, Colin Best made to look more like Mark Gasnier, Justin Hodges and Greg Inglis all rolled into one than a journeyman centre as he crossed for four tries.

David Milne and Joe Picker also scored doubles as the visitors obliterated their record best win over the Dogs, boosting a Raiders side normally so bad away from home they would struggle to beat the under-8s in the Canberra Stadium carpark.

"This club's always been about playing with pride and tonight I've got to say I was embarrassed," Folkes said.

"We're certainly at the bottom of a fairly big hole and there's no way out of it in the short term that's for sure.

"We were just extremely poor today and the facts are we don't have enough first graders to fill a first grade team, it's as simple as that.

"It's a fairly black day for us ... I don't know if it's the worst but it's on the podium I would think."

While the Bulldogs were without a host of key players, including Sonny Bill Williams, Matt Utai, Luke Patten and Willie Tonga, it's debatable whether even they could have made a difference tonight.

The Bulldogs just didn't have the attitude, and they leaked points with monotony.

It was 16-0 after 17 minutes, Best's first a 95 metre effort which was started by a kick return from impressive winger Justin Carney.

Somehow the Bulldogs got back into the contest, a Michael Weyman knock-on and a Corey Hughes 40-20 providing enough opportunity for Heka Nanai and Andrew Ryan to score and make it 20-18.

Order was somewhat restored when Milne crossed for his double just on halftime before Best turned on the magic in a six minute burst after the break to put the Raiders up 36-18.

From there it was a procession, the Bulldogs thankful the Raiders bombed a few chances which could have seen the score reach the 80s.

"We've had dominant halves before but we haven't really gone on with it," Raiders coach Neil Henry said.

"In my time in the club it's the most commanding victory I've been part of."

As for the change in ritual which saw the Raiders take the bus up to Sydney instead of flying up, Henry said: "We're stuck with it now.

"We're talking about a four-day bus trip to Melbourne (for our next away game.)"

In reality, it didn't matter how the Raiders got to Sydney, they could have walked up on the morning of the game and still taken away the two competition points.

Certainly for Best, who this week agreed to terms with South Sydney for the next two seasons, it was a night to remember.

"My future has played on my mind for a while and now I feel like the pressure is off and I can concentrate on playing some good footy and enjoying myself," he said.

The only sour note for the Raiders was an ankle injury which saw Todd Carney leave the field in the dying stages, the star half to have scans on Monday.

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