They joined Scott Prince, Nathan Friend, Ashley Harrison, Kevin Gordon, Ryan James, Michael Henderson and Mat Rogers in the stands, meaning the Titans had to call up departing back Esi Tonga (Parramatta) from Queensland Cup outfit Ipswich.
William Zillman shifted to five-eighth and Anthony Laffranchi stepped up to the front row to cover their losses.
The Raiders were left reeling by the loss of NSW fullback Josh Dugan, this time sidelined with a groin injury.
He joined the likes of Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, Trevor Thurling, Terry Campese and Matt Orford in the casualty ward.
For most of the first half, the game was everything you would expect from two patched up teams fighting it out to avoid the wooden spoon.
Errors outnumbered highlights for the most part and the Titans sent groans through the modest crowd of 10,230 when they bombed three tries.
Steve Michaels couldn't reel in a Zillman kick, Laffranchi knocked on over the line and Greg Bird was ruled to be held short by referee Alan Shortall.
Joel Thompson strolled over in the 20th minute to claim the first points and the lead for the Raiders. But soon they would relinquish it and never get it back.
Cook Islands representative Dominique Peyroux claimed his first NRL try in the 28th minute.
Will Matthews celebrated his first for the Titans in the shadows of halftime.
Then flyer David Mead set sail from his own 20m line to score a brilliant individual try six minutes into the second half.
Michaels was desperately unlucky not to earn more points just four minutes later, when a lineball Jordan Rankin pass was ruled to have floated forward.
But Michaels couldn't be denied in the 53rd minute when he grounded a Zillman bomb to give his club an 18 point buffer.
The Raiders lacked any spark in attack without their key playmakers, but managed to find the tryline again 13 minutes from time, stand-in fullback David Milne scoring a consolation try.
Then David Shillington set up an interesting finish, barging over in the 73rd minute, Jarrod Croker's conversion reducing the margin to six.
But a final minute penalty goal from Preston Campbell iced the result.
The loss leaves Canberra in real danger of claiming the wooden spoon just 12 months after their miraculous surge into the 2010 finals.
They sit on the same competition points as the Titans, only ahead of them on for-and-against.
One standout for the club was the efforts of lock Shaun Fensom, who put in another Herculean effort in defence with 58 tackles.
GOLD COAST 26 (W Matthews D Mead S Michaels D Peyroux tries P Campbell 5 goals) bt CANBERRA 18 (D Milne D Shillington J Thompson tries J Croker 3 goals) at Skilled Park. Referee: Alan Shortall, Tony De Las Heras. Crowd: 10,230.
- AAP
