The four-point win could come at a cost for the Green Machine who risk losing skipper Joe Tapine and senior prop Josh Papalii. They were placed on report for separate shots on Kikau.
Kikau was collected in the head by Tapine’s left shoulder approaching the half hour. He stayed down, but the moment was only picked up by the bunker a few plays later.
Kikau then yelled out in pain when Papalii came down on the back of his legs. It looked a classic hip-drop tackle, although the bulk of Papalii’s weight appeared to land on the ground.
Either way, referee Ashley Klein ruled it was “careless” and put Papalii in the bin.
Kikau missed the start of the second half as he worked on his ankle. He returned and was kept quiet from that point on.
The Dogs remain winless at Magic Round.
Burton was busy early, but just when you wanted him to own the game and win it for the Dogs, he struggled to make an impact.
If Burton was an outside chance to return to the Origin arena, his odds looked to have drifted further. He is a class player, but the topline halves would have iced that result.
Canterbury scored 14 points while the Raiders had two men in the bin. Jordan Rapana was also binned for a professional foul.
Rapana was lucky to avoid being sent to the bin a second time when he tripped Mahoney late in the game. It would have given the Dogs another chance to attack against 12 men.