Canberra has overcome a lackluster start to outgun the Bulldogs 52-34 at Canberra Stadium and finish the regular season in sixth position, consigning the Bulldogs to their first wooden spoon since 1964 (disregarding the 2002 salary cap scandal).
The Raiders had everything to play for on Sunday afternoon heading into the playoffs, but started like a side that couldn't wait for Mad Monday.
Dane Tilse knocked on from the kickoff, and that set the tone for the Raiders opening half.
The Dogs then got off to the dream start courtesy of a four pointer to Hazem El Masri, and the home side proceeded to leak tries at an alarming rate.
Canberra were lucky not to be facing a substantial half time deficit, with the normally reliable El Masri unsuccessful with each of his four conversion attempts.
The Raiders kept themselves in range with a tries to Joel Monaghan and Terry Campese, but they continued to hand the ball over, with dreadlocked rookie Jamal Idris crossing before a double to winger Heka Nanai put the visitors up 16-12 in the shadows of the break.
The Dogs had the Green Machine on the rack, and looked certain to deliver a knockout blow as they peppered the Canberra line in the shadows of the break, but Adrian Purtell had other ideas.
The Raiders centre grabbed an intercept and charged 90 metres downfield, and despite being run down by Idris, he was able to get a ball away for David Milne to score and tie the game up at 16-all at the break.
Canberra started the second stanza on fire, with Monaghan plucking another well-weighted Campese bomb out of mid-air to crash over and put the home side in front.
A soft try to Ryan Hinchcliffe out of dummy half in the 48th minute put the Raiders up by 12, and suddenly the Green Machine looked capable of racking up a cricket score.
The Raiders were starting to turn it on, Monaghan again out-leapt the Dogs to put Costigan over, and the home side had three tries in 11 minutes to open the second half.
Some slick ball movement pulled one back for the Bulldogs in the 59th minute through Daniel Holdsworth, with El Masri's extras reducing the deficit to 12.
The Raiders replied almost immediately with Milne bagging his second, before Corey Hughes burrowed his way over in his Bulldogs farewell.
Milne hit a short ball at speed to bring up his hat trick in the 70th minute, followed by Monaghan crossing for his try trifecta in the 74th minute to cap another scintillating attacking display, before Nanai bought up the game's third hat trick two minutes from time.
