Canberra are adamant their grand final heartbreak will be the catalyst for another tilt at the NRL premiership.

Raiders co-captain Jarrod Croker says their devastating loss against the Sydney Roosters on Sunday night is just the beginning of a successful era at the club.

The Green Machine were playing finals for the first time since 2016 and their first grand final in 25 years but fell 14-8 after James Tedesco scored the match-winner in the 72nd minute.

“I’m just so proud of this club and these boys and how far we’ve come, but it’s an empty feeling,” Croker said.

“I believe this is (the start of something) but it’s tough to look or talk about those sort of things at the moment. I feel pretty empty but can’t emphasise how proud I am of these boys.”

Canberra star second-rower John Bateman backed the club to return to the grand final next year.

“There is a special bunch of players here. We’ll go on for years to come and we’ll be in positions like this again and we’ll get the win, I’m 100 per cent sure about it,” Bateman said.

“The culture of the people who come through this club is special.

“We’ve had a special year, obviously we’ve not got the win we really wanted to get at the end and that’s what people get remembered for but we’ll remember each other for what we have done.

“You take more from the games you lose, you learn what you’re about and we’ll take a lot out of tonight, there was some special moments in that game. We were close, very close.

“Rugby league is hard, it’s not an easy sport, you’ve got to take your chances and we probably didn’t today.

“It’s a very long season but we’ll get back on board and come back next year.”