Wests Tigers skipper Robbie Farah says his team has run out of second chances as they chase their first finals berth since their NRL premiership in 2005.

The Tigers have lifted themselves back into playoff contention with wins over South Sydney and North Queensland to sit four points outside the top eight in 11th place.

But Farah says there can be no slip-ups from now until the end of the season, starting with Sunday's visit to Canberra.

"We can't get too carried away. We've had two good wins but we're going to have to back that up week-in and week-out now until semi-final time," he said.

"We've run out of second chances; we've used all those up, so a poor performance again is just going to throw us back out of contention.

"We know that every week's a must-win game for us from now on in."

That the Tigers' job isn't anywhere near done was emphasised by coach Tim Sheens.

"Two wins and the bye in between have sort of improved our position on the table, but it's a long way away yet," Sheens said.

"From the point of view of what we're trying to achieve on the field, it was two weeks at a time - that's just internal little things that they're trying to achieve, trying to keep that focus for a couple of weeks and then move on to whatever else we need to move on to."

Farah said the Tigers' round-one victory over the Raiders had shown them how to bring down Canberra.

"In the first half, Campo (Terry Campese) tore us to shreds but in the second half we handled him a lot better," he said.

"We came home strong and won the game so I guess that's a good indication of how to stop them."

Both Farah and Sheens were dismissive of claims Canberra's big pack would overrun the Tigers.

Farah said the Tigers had got some size on their side these days, while Sheens said the Raiders' bulk can be a double-edged sword.

"The Raiders are a big pack but that can work for you or against you," Sheens said.

"If you share possession with them and the penalty count is reasonable, the big man suffers from the fact that he is too big.

"But of course if there's a lot of penalties against you and you drop too much ball - which we had a spell of against the Cowboys in the second half - then the big man hurts you.

"Size matters in many ways as long as you're getting possession. But if you don't, then our speed of line and our game can hurt the big man."

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