Canberra have hung on to win their first NRL game of the season, defeating a slow-starting North Queensland side 23-18 at Canberra Stadium on Monday night.

It was fourth time lucky for the Raiders who'd suffered a series of disappointing defeats to sit last on the ladder after the opening three fixtures.

But the Cowboys failed to heat up until it was too late on Monday, the tropical visitors never recovering from a 20-6 half-time deficit in front of a crowd 12,193.

The tries came thick and fast from the outset from the Raiders as Nigel Plum swept past Aaron Payne and Antonio Kaufusi to get on the board in just the sixth minute.

Raiders centre Jason Croker then dotted down in the 12th minute before setting up a try for winger Adrian Purtell try that gave the home side a 14-0 buffer.

The Cowboys got back in contention with a piece of Travis Burns brilliance, the five-eighth chipping and regathering before stretching out to score in the 20th minute.

But it wasn't long before Canberra reasserted themselves with Joe Picker capitalising on a Marc Herbert pass to make it 20-6 at the break.

The virtually flawless first 40 minutes for the Raiders was marred only by the sidelining of Trevor Thurling, who limped back to the dressing rooms with an ankle injury that will see him out for around six weeks, while Plum also hit the bench with damage to his ribs.

In the second half the Cowboys lifted their game substantially.

John Williams went over in the 59th minute, while Ben Farrer helped close the gap to 22-18 four minutes from fulltime.

But in a quiet second stanza a field goal to Terry Campese iced the Raiders' first win of the season.

Canberra coach David Furner said it was a gutsy effort from his side, who wavered towards the end of the match on the back of a depleted interchange.

"I think we played a pretty good first half, I know with the players and what we were talking about at half time, we were all positive getting out there," he told reporters.

"Sometimes things don't go the way you plan in the second half but we were down to two men on the bench from the 30 minute mark so it was pretty gutsy I'd say."

Furner singled out debutante Josh Dugan and front-rower Scott Logan for extra credit but saved the most praise for 18-year-old centre Jarrod Croker, who was an obvious lynch pin in the Raiders victory.

North Queensland coach Neil Henry played down any suggestions of bad blood between himself and former apprentice Furner.

Henry controversially left the Raiders' top job last year, only to be replaced by his assistant, Furner.

"I'm happy for Dave Furner, he's got his first win at the expense of me I suppose but that's good," he said.

"I've got an affinity with the players here, they're a great bunch of blokes, they're happy, they're singing their song and we're dejected.

"That's the game, it's a rollercoaster. Sure, I'd obviously prefer to win but we didn't play good enough today and full credit to the Raiders."

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