Through green eyes 2021

All the news on the Canberra Raiders NRL team, all in one place

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greeneyed
Don Furner
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: As I saw it

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"I was just happy for the players. It was a very difficult day, ugly day. Happy that they got a little bit of relief from the past five weeks.

Josh Papalii definitely hit him high, but he was falling into the tackle. I've got to look at it again too, I haven't seen it again. There are going to be a whole heap of send-offs this year if that's a send off incident. I just hope they don't change now if that's going to be the precedent. We're going to find a completely different game of rugby league that we've been following for many, many years.

It's sad we're talking about it. With the talking about it, we're giving other sports a leg up and that's not what we're here for. We've got a wonderful weekend of rugby league and we want to promote our game and unfortunately we're talking about the wrong things. But it has to be spoken about too. With Josh's incident, Jack getting 10 minutes for that, the game's changed.

I think I mocked them because I said we might be down one, we might be down two, it'll show us what type of spirit you've got. It's unfortunate that I'm in here answering these questions when I'd love to be talking about the courage and the spirit and the fight we had there to win. We were down. I've said it for a number of weeks, our joint's not broken, our club's not broken, it's a wonderful club. We've just been losing football games, we haven't had any luck, we had no luck again today. Criticise all you want for saying we've had no luck. We have been in poor form, we have played bad football at times, in periods of play, but not for 80 minutes of every game. But we have not had any luck and we had none today. Fortunately through their culture and the spirit of the jumper and the player inside it, we hung on.

I got quite excited at about the 11 or 12 minute mark when we were behind, with the energy we showed when the adversity hit us. We were down to 11 straight away, the players turned. We were a completely different football team there when we went to 11 men.

I shouldn't be losing players to suspension. It should be send off sufficient. Jack hit him above the knee. And they said it was unnecessary contact. If he doesn't make that contact I'm into Jack, saying why aren't you chopping in at the legs to try and create the third man technique that you need to get the player down on the ground and on his back. If you have a look at the tackle, Hudson Young is up high holding the young bloke, and when Jack who's hit him above the knee, it was just very unfortunate how the player ended up.

I know we’ve got to play to our mums and dads. I'm the first to promote the game. I had Fox in there in the sheds before the game today just to try and give the people in the lounge rooms a feel for what it is like. I don't have to do that but I do it because I feel it's my responsibility to promote the game. And I want to promote the game to parents. But we’ve got a game that’s quite unique and we’ve got a game that’s not for everyone, it’s as simple as that. It’s a tough, brutal, contact sport. And if we want to take that away, let us know and I’ll start recruiting different types of players.

I'm happy to talk to anybody from the NRL who wishes to give me a call to get my opinion. That's probably the best way for me as a coach to discuss it.

Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart


2021 Round 10. Canberra Raiders 20 - Canterbury Bulldogs 18. It was a desperately needed victory. The Raiders were reduced to 12, when Jack Wighton was sin binned with 25 minutes remaining. The Bulldogs quickly took the lead for the first time in the match. The Raiders were then reduced to 11, when Josh Papalii was sent off. But a courageous Green Machine marshalled the troops to produce two very good tries in the space of three minutes - and an unlikely, come from behind victory. A try at the death for the Bulldogs could not wrest control from the Raiders. It was a narrow, two point victory for Canberra, but it was all that was needed to break a five game losing streak.



Let's face it, it was not too pretty. The Bulldogs have won just one match all season, and are anchored to the bottom of the competition ladder. The Raiders had almost 55 per cent of the ball in the first half, and over 60 per cent of the territory. They controlled the game well, with the kicking game often pinning the Dogs to their line. But the Raiders were very conservative and able to score just one try. It appeared the plan was again to grind out a victory.

The Raiders were at their best with Josh Papalii on the field - and he laid the platform for the Corey Harawira-Naera try in the 12th minute. However, the Raiders lost something when Ricky Stuart made his first set of interchanges, at around the 25 minute mark. The Bulldogs then started to make an impression, producing a couple of line breaks. But they were unable to remain composed or sustain any pressure.

That changed 10 minutes into the second half, when another Bulldogs line break produced a four pointer for former Raiders winger Nick Cotric. It started to look like another second half fade was about to unfold - and when Wighton and Papalii were removed from the field, Raiders fans everywhere feared the worst. But it was almost like the sin bin and send off flicked the switch for the Raiders. The injection of Josh Hodgson - playing as a cross between a lock forward and an extra half - worked. The attacking shapes looked perfect for the two Raiders tries to Curtis Scott and Seb Kris. Caleb Aekins brought out his ball playing abilities. It was a thrilling, exciting comeback, for a team many would have written off with 20 minutes to go.

It is difficult to know if this will be the start of a turnaround in the Raiders' fortunes this season. The victory will have released a pressure valve for the players and the club. It will do a lot for the mindset of the team. But they now face the Melbourne Storm and Sydney Roosters over the next two weeks. Three of the Raiders' biggest names - Josh Papalii, Jack Wighton and Josh Hodgson - may well be missing due to judiciary charges. It's difficult to imagine a tougher test right now.

I've done my best to focus on the play, on the match, so far. But the changed interpretations foisted on the game by the NRL this week is a subject that can't be avoided. The officials have been instructed, in a ham fisted way, to clamp down on foul play and contact with the head. No one would argue that foul play and contact with the head needs to dealt with seriously by the NRL. But the past failures of the match officials to enforce the rules, and the past failures of the match review committee and judiciary to consistently deal with foul play, have produced a serious overreaction from the NRL this week. Magic round has not been so magic as a result.

In the five games so far this weekend, we've seen 12 sin binnings and a send off. The rash of sin bins have had a significant impact on the course of matches, particularly given the current speed of the game. In my view, the fans of the game have been robbed of the contests they should be seeing. Losing a player for 10 minutes - or longer - is far too harsh a penalty for many of the offences we've seen.

Both Raiders coach Ricky Stuart and Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett made some very sensible points in their post match press conferences. As usual I've included a transcript of what Ricky Stuart had to say, above. I agree with what Stuart had to say about the Josh Papalii and Jack Wighton incidents. I'd also add that I believe that Josh Hodgson's "chicken wing" incident was completely unintentional. He's on report for that.

This is what Trent Barrett had to say about the clamp down:

"It’s a bit of a lottery. I watched the games last night and nobody wants to see scorelines like that. I learned of the NRL directive from our football manager on the way to captain’s run. The six-agains change the score and this is going to make it worse. If that’s what they want, well, I don’t know if that’s good for the game. You feel sorry for the coaches and players it happens to because it makes it really difficult. It’s a contact sport, it’s pretty hard to not touch someone’s head or neck. I played, I knew I was going to get hit in the head or neck occasionally, I’m fine with that. There’s no thuggery in the game anymore, it’s not like the 1980s. There are no swinging arms and elbows. Occasionally there will be contact there, nobody goes out to do it. It’ll turn into a game of League Tag, if that’s what they want and that’s the concern for us."

What the NRL seems to have forgotten is that accidents happen in a contact sport. What the NRL seems to have forgotten is that a much faster game, with rules designed to create more fatigue - is an environment in which more accidents will happen.

I'm concerned that the raft of changes to rules and interpretations in the past two years have been introduced by the NRL with inadequate consultation. That the ramifications of the changes have not been properly considered. That the changes have been so poorly thought through that more changes need to be made on the run. That changes are constantly being made while the season is in progress.

I'm concerned that we are losing the game of rugby league that we love.

Stats that mattered?

The Bulldogs had almost 55 per cent of the ball in the second half and 62 per cent of the territory. They finished the game with a 52 per cent possession share - and a better completion rate than the Raiders (88 per cent, compared with 84 per cent for the Raiders). The Raiders' error count was double that of the Bulldogs (11-50. The Bulldogs made more line breaks (6-4) and more offloads (17-10). Despite that, the Raiders made more runs (211-181), running metres (1815-1682), post contact metres (766-629), kick return metres (190-178) and metres per set (48-42). Tackle breaks were even (35-35). There was not much in the kicking metres, but the Raiders forced two line drop outs, the Bulldogs one.

Canterbury had the better effective tackle rate (88 per cent, compared with 86 per cent for the Raiders). Both teams missed 35 tackles. Neither coach would be too impressed with that. But the Raiders also posted 21 ineffective tackles, the Bulldogs 14.

That's a pretty mixed set of numbers for both teams. Both teams scored three tries. The Bulldogs had more try scoring opportunities, and their inability to convert them would be a huge concern for their coach. The numbers highlight that there is still work to do for the Raiders. But the stat that really mattered in the end - 20-18 - will be a relief for coach Stuart.

Memorable moments?

The Raiders' three tries were impressive. As mentioned, Josh Papalii did the ground work for the first, making a good run and offload to Caleb Aekins. George Williams then fooled Brandon Wakeham into jumping one way, and he went the other. Williams made a great break, passing inside to Aekins, with Corey Harawira-Naera backing up for the try.

The second half tries were beautifully worked. Despite the Raiders being short handed, they still managed to generate overlaps. With 12 minutes remaining, Jack Wighton was standing on the short side of the ruck - but he quickly shuffled to the open side to become first receiver. The Raiders then went right, a beautiful chain of passing from Wighton to Williams to Aekins and then to the try scorer, Curtis Scott. He crossed in the corner. Just three minutes later, Josh Hodgson operated as first receiver. A long pass from Starling at dummy half pushed the play wide. Again, that produced men on for the Raiders. Aekins bobbed up on the left this time for the try assist, with Seb Kris charging through for four points. It is hard to split those two as the best Raiders tries of the game.

Best performers?

Caleb Aekins. 18 runs for 165 metres, 42 kick return metres, 80 post contact metres, two line break assists, three try assists, three tackle breaks, one offload, six tackles, 86 per cent tackle efficiency.

Curtis Scott. One try, 18 runs for 176 metres, 75 post contact metres, one line break, five tackle breaks, 17 tackles, 95 per cent tackle efficiency, one kick defusal.

George Williams. 14 runs for 90 metres, one line break, one tackle break, 21 tackles, 88 per cent tackle efficiency, nine kicks for 243 kicking metres.

Tom Starling. 11 runs for 89 metres, 35 post contact metres, nine dummy half runs for 63 metres, one off load, 48 tackles, 91 per cent tackle efficiency.

Josh Hodgson. Seven runs for 68 metres, 31 post contact metres, one line break, one tackle break, 16 tackles, 89 per cent tackle efficiency. His steadying influence was not measured in statistics.

Top tacklers: Tom Starling 48, Elliott Whitehead 38, Corey Harawira-Naera 37
Most metres gained: Curtis Scott 176, Caleb Aekins 165, Bailey Simonsson 128, Corey Horsburgh 127

My player ratings:

Caleb Aekins 7
Bailey Simonsson 5
Sebastian Kris 6
Curtis Scott 7
Semi Valemei 6
Jack Wighton 6
George Williams 7
Josh Papalii 4*
Tom Starling 7
Emre Guler 6
Corey Harawira-Naera 6
Elliott Whitehead 6
Dunamis Lui 5

Hudson Young 6
Josh Hodgson 6
Corey Horsburgh 6
Ryan James 5

* Player sent off, two point deduction.

Do you agree with the ratings? Let us know what you think!

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zim
Laurie Daley
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by zim »

Think Kris is lucky to get a 6 there. Will Hopoate gave him a bit of a bath.
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Botman
Mal Meninga
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by Botman »

Simo getting a 5 against a 6 for Kris is... to be honest wild.
Simo very comfortably out played Kris.
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BadnMean
Steve Walters
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by BadnMean »

I think the 5 and 6 are fair enough. Simo made about a hundred errors and did his usual nuthin in attack. Kris was a constant handful with the ball, struggled a but in defence but with 1 and 2 man overlaps for most of the game I thought our edges held up pretty well.
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afgtnk
Laurie Daley
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by afgtnk »

BadnMean wrote: May 16, 2021, 9:30 pm I think the 5 and 6 are fair enough. Simo made about a hundred errors and did his usual nuthin in attack. Kris was a constant handful with the ball, struggled a but in defence but with 1 and 2 man overlaps for most of the game I thought our edges held up pretty well.
You mean errors that would include things he did to save tries, like batting a ball down.

Ok.
LastRaider
John Ferguson
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Through green eyes 2021

Post by LastRaider »

I swear Ricky is the only coach in the NRL who talks about luck! Instead of aiming to be the dominant team, out scoring the opposition comprehensively and playing a full 80 minutes, he seams to always put our games down to “luck”.

It’s a joke!! Could you imagine telling your boss you repeatedly don’t get the job done because you didn’t have any luck! Imagine if you were in accounting...

“I’m sorry boss, I couldn’t get the payroll out in time today as I just didn’t have the luck I needed using internet banking... I missed the 5pm cut off... we will get the bounce of the keyboard next week though”
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greeneyed
Don Furner
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: Game changing II

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If you ever had any doubts that the NRL is a highly reactive organisation, the last couple of weeks will surely have dispelled them.

The NRL cracked down hard on illegal play during Magic Round, and the results were not so magic. There were 14 sin bins and three send offs and the fans were robbed of the contests that they should have been seeing in many of the games.

Let me say up front: no one wants to see players whacked in the head. I certainly don't. Everyone wants to see head injuries in the game significantly reduced. I certainly do. Everyone agrees that serious head high tackles should result in players being sent off and punished. I certainly do.

But the performance of the NRL in going about the task of reducing head injuries in the game has been short of what it should have been. They have let the game down.

Why has the NRL been reactive?

Concerns about head injuries in contact sports have been around for quite a while.

A proactive sporting organisation would sit down in the off season with coaches and players to work out a plan on how to deal with a major problem like that. They'd look at the reasons why head injuries might be happening in the game. Look at whether adjustments are needed in tackling techniques. Whether the rules of the game are having an impact. Are the incentive structures right? They'd look at whether penalties for foul play are giving the appropriate disincentives for foul play. Whether the match review and judiciary processes are producing the results the game wants.

A proactive sporting organisation would get agreement on a plan amongst all the stakeholders - the clubs, officials, coaches and players. They'd get some "buy in" - including from the fans. They'd get it ready for implementation from that start of the season.

The NRL did none of that.

What did the NRL do? This year, in Round 5, they changed the rules for bringing in an 18th man, when players fail head injury assessments. Not from Round 1. At least they consulted and improved the proposed rule - which would have seen an 18th man brought into games once in a blue moon. For some reason, player welfare wasn't high on the agenda in that debate. It was all about maintaining the fatigue generated by new rules to make the game faster.

Then, prior to Round 9, the NRL issued a memo encouraging officials to use the sin bin or send off mechanisms for careless or reckless contact with the head - contact which involves a significant degree of force. Officials were also encouraged to consider using penalties and sin bins for tactical breaches in the ruck and offside, which exploit the "set restart" rule.

The officials received the memo, but clearly they didn't quite "get it". Instead, what we got in Round 9 was a huge controversy - as a result of foul play in the game between the Eels and Roosters which was missed by the officials and the bunker. So the NRL issued another memo... and drummed the message into the officials. And the result was what we saw in Magic Round. By Sunday, the ARLC Chairman, Peter V'landys was saying that the referees had been "a bit overconscientious in the enforcement of it".

That's a case study of reactive behaviour from an organisation. Of poor change management. The changes were decided upon on the run. There was no consultation. No one understood what the changes were. There was certainly no "buy in". They came as a surprise to people who are sort of important... like coaches and players.

The NRL has been aggressively defending their crackdown since Magic Round.

Peter V'landys and referees boss Graham Annesley tell us that "these aren't new rules" that are being enforced. Of course, head high tackles have never been allowed. But the interpretations in relation to the sin bin are certainly new.

Sin bins have a huge impact on the course of matches, particularly in the faster, modern game. Teams can easily score three tries in the 10 minutes against 12 man oppositions. Game over. The NRL has repeatedly said that the aim of the new "six again" rule, was to reduce penalties and the influence of officials on the course of matches. Yet, they are now actually having more impact than ever.

The NRL has also dismissed the claims of the coaches that they received little notice of the changed interpretations. Trent Barrett said he found out about the NRL crack down on the way to his captain's run, prior to Magic Round.

"There was more than one email, this was a period of two weeks and it was also done at the beginning of the season that we would be looking at this concussion issue," V'landys has said.

Being told that the NRL would be "looking at the issue" isn't notice of a changed interpretation. Two weeks, in the midst of the season, is not much notice - when what you're trying to do is change behaviour, to change tackling techniques. That needs to be practiced, preferably in an off season.

The NRL has vowed the crack down is not a one off.

"It’s not a one round blitz," Graham Annesley said this week.

"This type of contact with the head and neck is to be driven out of the game as much as possible. Unless the behaviour of players on the field is changed and they exhibit better judgment in how they approach their tackling styles, then we’ll continue to see harsh action."

The question is... is this the best response to the problem? Has the NRL properly understood the problem?

The match review committee issued 24 charges to 22 players after Magic Round. There were 14 the previous week, and that was then possibly a record. Was foul play really a whole lot higher in the last two weeks?

Fourteen of the Magic Round charges were so minor, that they only produced a fine. Last weekend, only five players failed a head impact assessment (HIA). Two of them resulted from head high tackles. In those cases, the players responsible - one of whom was Raiders prop Josh Papalii - were sent off and suspended. Appropriately.

Three of the failed HIAs were players injured while they were defending. The NRL's crackdown is not addressing that issue at all. And it is for this reason that aiming for more "around the legs" tackles might actually be counterproductive... if they're the tackles causing injuries amongst defenders.

I wrote last week about how the rule changes introduced by the NRL in the past two years - to speed the ruck and speed the game - may be leading to increased player injury rates. You're always going to see accidents in a contact sport. But the stated aim of the rule changes was to increase fatigue - and with more fatigue, you're likely to see more accidents in the game.

Current and former players certainly seem to think so. This is what former Raider, Brett Finch had to say this week:

"By speeding the game up there’s going to be more fatigue. With more fatigue comes errors. That’s in terms of missed tackles, that’s in terms of tackles that can go wrong or poor technique that can create high tackles.

“Now the crazy thing about this is, [Peter V'landys] is going to sin bin people and send people off. Guess what that’s going to create? More fatigue. There’s going to be less people on the field. They’re going to have to work harder. More fatigue. Bigger score blow outs. It’s ridiculous. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s trying to patch things up on the run. He’s just creating bigger problems."

"I don’t want to sound like a player saying, ‘back in my day…’. But this is not the same game I grew up watching. It’s not the game I played. There was one close game on the weekend. Other games were over after 10 minutes."

"If I’m paying my hard-earned to fly up there with the family and watch one game that went down to the wire… it’s robbing the fans of good footy and I just think we’re way off the mark with this. We’ve got problems now as a game. There’s 40 points consistently scored every game. There’s literally no defence because of these new rules."

I'm not sure I often agree with Brett Finch, but he's hit on a few critical points in all that.

Graham Annesley told us on Monday that it was too early to make a judgement on whether fatigue was having an impact on accidents and injuries, that all the statistics would have to be analysed in due course. But he did say this:

"Of the 24 charges that were laid across the course of the weekend, 16 of those charges - or 16 of those players who were charged - spent less than 40 minutes on the field before they committed their offence. They played less than half a game of football, so these things weren't all happening in the 60th, 70th and 80th minute after players had been out there and they're all fatigued at the end of the game."

You can make your own judgement about how long it takes for a player to become fatigued, but modern rugby league is intense, and with the new rules, the pace is unrelenting.

Today, the NRL decided to release some statistics to correct "some misconceptions about the changes in the game over the last two years". The NRL has been telling us for the past year about how their rule changes have created more fatigue and more points. It now turns out fatigue is not an issue at all! That's, in part, because more tries are being scored, and players get more breaks while shots at goal are being taken!

The NRL might not be very good at planning, consultation or change management, but they sure know how to spin doctor!

This past week or two has not been the game's finest hour.

Hopefully, some lessons are learned from it.

Hopefully, there's a pause in the constant changes on the run, changes that are poorly thought through.

Hopefully, things will settle down a bit in the next few weeks - that there's a bit more common sense in the officiating. We probably saw a bit of that, even over the course of last weekend.

And, hopefully, at the end of the season, the NRL has a proper review of the whole box and dice.

Looking forward, it may well be that the changes needed in tackling techniques will lead to another shift in the balance between attack and defence. That ball and all tackling is less effective, that offloads become more prevalent. And that that might produce more blowouts in point scoring.

We'll need to seriously ask the question: What do we want the game of rugby league to look like in the future?

We'll need to ask: Are recent rule changes producing the sort of game we want? Have we lost something about the game we love?

It will require more than issuing a couple of memos. It will require proper consultation and agreement on a way forward... that everyone in the game, including the fans, can get behind.

****

Every week I rate the Raiders players on a scale of 0-10... and here is the points tally after the Round 10 clash with the Bulldogs. Tell us what you think of the ratings!

Total points

Elliott Whitehead 63
Jack Wighton 63
Jordan Rapana 62
Ryan Sutton 61
George Williams 59
Josh Papalii 59
Hudson Young 58
Bailey Simonsson 50
Sebastian Kris 49
Tom Starling 47
Curtis Scott 45
Josh Hodgson 44
Ryan James 44
Siliva Havili 44
Joe Tapine 41
Sia Soliola 36
Caleb Aekins 32
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 31
Emre Guler 28
Jarrod Croker 26
Corey Horsburgh 24
Corey Harrawira-Naera 21
Dunamis Lui 20

Average points per match

Jordan Rapana 6.9
Ryan Sutton 6.8
George Williams 6.6
Josh Papalii 6.6
Hudson Young 6.4
Caleb Aekins 6.4
Elliott Whitehead 6.3
Jack Wighton 6.3
Josh Hodgson 6.3
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 6.2
Corey Horsburgh 6.0
Semi Valemei 6.0
Tom Starling 5.9
Joe Tapine 5.9
Curtis Scott 5.6
Emre Guler 5.6
Bailey Simonsson 5.6
Ryan James 5.5
Sebastian Kris 5.4
Corey Harrawira-Naera 5.3
Jarrod Croker 5.2
Sia Soliola 5.1
Dunamis Lui 5.0
Siliva Havili 4.9

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greeneyed
Don Furner
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: As I saw it

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2021 Round 11. Melbourne Storm 34 - Canberra Raiders 10. Another second half fade from the Raiders. Another sorry loss. The Raiders scored two exciting tries from kicks in the opening quarter hour, among the best of the year from the Green Machine. They then did not score another point. The Storm scored two tries in the final five minutes of the first half to take a 12-10 lead to the break - and went on to score a total of 34 unanswered points.





The Canberra Raiders were missing three of their biggest names due to suspension - Josh Papalii, Jack Wighton and Josh Hodgson. They were also missing Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Joe Tapine, Jordan Rapana and Jarrod Croker due to injury. But then the Storm were missing their entire first choice spine - Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes, Ryan Papenhuyzen and Harry Grant. They lost forward Kenny Bromwich 24 hours before the match. The Storm were playing a second rower at five eighth and a four game rookie at half. They were just as affected by the unavailability of key players.

The Storm completely and utterly dominated the Raiders up front. The Raiders forwards repeatedly struggled to make ground with the ball, while the Storm often did it easily. That was true for most of the first half, and it just got worse in the second. Only two Raiders forwards - Corey Harawira-Naera and Ryan Sutton - broke 100 metres gained. Only four Raiders players broke 100 metres gained. The Storm strangled the Raiders out of the game.

If it hadn't been for Sam Williams' long kicks for the touch line - it could have been a whole lot worse. Canberra deliberately aimed to find touch - which was not a bad tactic, even under the new rules, which just produce a turnover, rather than a scrum. At least it allowed the Raiders to walk downfield and ensure the defensive line was set. I expect that the Raiders were also hoping for a 40/20 or two, but that didn't come.

Melbourne's attack understandably took some time to gel, but once they played more direct football their points flowed. Storm fullback Nicho Hynes and hooker Brandon Smith - along with prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona - ran amock. Nicho Hynes' future is up in the air, and he's just waiting on some offers from other clubs to be tabled before he decides where he'll be playing in 2022. If the Raiders aren't tabling a contract, well, I'll just shake my head. He was outstanding last night. There was not a single Raiders player last night who showed the sort of spark he did.

As mentioned, Ricky Stuart's post match press conference was very brief. He was obviously, and understandably, very disappointed last night. He had few answers to offer. In my view, the 14,000 Raiders fans who went to the game last night deserved more in the way of answers.

Stuart said injury and suspension was not an excuse. He said that attitude was not the problem. But we didn't hear much more than that. I guess the question is: if it's not attitude, what is it? Stuart has previously said that fitness it not the issue, but the players looked gassed in the second half. They didn't seem to have the fitness or physicality to match the Storm. Melbourne was in a completely different class in that department. The players' state of mind is possibly an issue. Conceding the lead in the last five minutes of the first half perhaps had them thinking: "here we go again". Either way, it's the job of the coaches to get the players physically and mentally prepared.

More worrying is this thought: The modern game seems to have passed the Raiders by... and perhaps the premiership window has closed. The tactics that were so successful in 2019 aren't winning tactics in 2021. The squad is ageing, and we did not see enough new blood injected this year. The best teams are continually refreshing their squads. We're almost halfway through the season, and the Raiders sit in 11th place this morning. Even if the Raiders can make the finals, it's difficult to see them competing with the top five teams. Hopefully, that's wrong and the Raiders can surge in the second half of the year. But I can't get one word out of my mind this morning. Rebuild.

Stats that mattered?

The Storm had 55 per cent of possession and two thirds of the territory last night. They had a clear advantage in both in the first half, and that just became more pronounced in the second. The Raiders' error count was one problem (Raiders 12, Storm 7) - and their completion rate was poor (69 per cent, 80 per cent for the Storm). Melbourne dominated all the attacking statistics. They made more runs (199-157), running metres (1782-1239), post contact metres (586-338), offloads (19-13), line breaks (6-1) and tackle breaks (34-22). I don't think I can recall a worse disparity in average metres per set - with the Storm making 10 metres more than the Raiders per set last night (44-34).

The Raiders made more kicking metres (576-461) - but then they had to, and the Storm didn't have to. The Storm forced three line drop outs, the Raiders two.

Canberra had to do a lot of tackling (372 tackles made, Storm 310) - and they missed a lot more than the Storm (34-22) and posted a lot more ineffective tackles than the Storm (32-20). I will say that Storm were "very good" in the ruck. Melbourne conceded five penalties (Raiders three) and five set restarts (Raiders three) - but there probably should have been a lot more called against the Storm. They were lying in the ruck for an age all night.

Overall, however, that's a pretty disappointing set of numbers for the Raiders.

Memorable moments?

The two Raiders' tries were terrific, and Curtis Scott played an important role in both. The Green Machine produced one of the tries of the year at the end of the first set of the match. Sam Williams put in a big up and under on the last tackle, with Curtis Scott recovering brilliantly and offloading to Semi Valemei. They kept the ball alive and sent the ball back across field. George Williams then produced a perfect kick ahead for Bailey Simonsson. Four points.

In the 13th minute, Scott made a great break on the Raiders' own 30 metre line - running for 40 metres before being brought down. It set up the opportunity for Sam Williams to kick ahead, 10 metres from the line, with Elliott Whitehead following though for a very good try.

There was a memorable moment in defence in the 30th minute, when Sam Williams put in a kick to the corner. Seb Kris, Bailey Simonsson, Corey Horsburgh and Sam himself drove Nicho Hynes back into the in goal. Unfortunately, there was some memorable poor defence as well.

Best performers?

Sam Williams. Nine runs for 56 metres, one try assist, one offload, 19 tackles, 239 kicking metres from eight kicks, one forced line drop out, no errors. Four missed tackles the only blot on the copy book.

Corey Harawira-Naera. 13 runs for 124 metres, 25 post contact metres, two tackle breaks, two offloads, 44 tackles.

Curtis Scott. 11 runs for 104 metres, one line break, five tackle breaks, three offloads. Critical in setting up the Raiders' two tries.

Top tacklers: Corey Harawira-Naera 44, Elliott Whitehead 41, Tom Starling 40
Most metres gained: Bailey Simonsson 129, Corery Harawira-Naera 124, Ryan Sutton 117

My player ratings:

Caleb Aekins 5
Bailey Simonsson 6
Sebastian Kris 5
Curtis Scott 7
Semi Valemei 5
Sam Williams 7
George Williams 6
Dunamis Lui 5
Tom Starling 5
Emre Guler 5
Corey Harawira-Naera 7
Elliott Whitehead 6
Ryan Sutton 7

Brad Schneider 2*
Hudson Young 5
Corey Horsburgh 5
Ryan James 5

* Played very limited minutes

Do you agree with the ratings? Let us know what you think!

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LastRaider
John Ferguson
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by LastRaider »

GE, thoughts on the use of Brad Schneider? I think it was pretty disappointing how Stuart injected him into the game for his debut
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Leebola
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by Leebola »

LastRaider wrote: May 23, 2021, 1:40 pm GE, thoughts on the use of Brad Schneider? I think it was pretty disappointing how Stuart injected him into the game for his debut
Can't speak for GE, but I think his usage was appalling. Why not give the kid a chance to show what he can do, before the air is taken out of the game?
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-TW-
Mal Meninga
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by -TW- »

Exactly, to chuck him on with 10 to go in junk time is garbage

Shouldnt expect any less from Stickys rubbish bench use though

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greeneyed
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by greeneyed »

LastRaider wrote: May 23, 2021, 1:40 pm GE, thoughts on the use of Brad Schneider? I think it was pretty disappointing how Stuart injected him into the game for his debut
I was a bit disappointed in it. The team was crying out for some sort of spark, something a bit different, long before the 70th minute.
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T_R
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by T_R »

greeneyed wrote: May 23, 2021, 3:06 pm
LastRaider wrote: May 23, 2021, 1:40 pm GE, thoughts on the use of Brad Schneider? I think it was pretty disappointing how Stuart injected him into the game for his debut
I was a bit disappointed in it. The team was crying out for some sort of spark, something a bit different, long before the 70th minute.
I'll dissent. Putting a rookie half in behind a forward pack that was in tatters isn't doing anyone any favours.
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Son, we live in a world that has forums, and those forums have to be guarded by Mods. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Nickman? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Lucy, and you curse GE. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know -- that GE’s moderation, while tragic, probably saved lives; and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, keeps threads on track and under the appropriately sized, highlighted green headings.
You want moderation because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that forum -- you need me on that forum. We use words like "stay on topic," "use the appropriate forum," "please delete." We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very moderation that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather that you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you get a green handle and edit a post. Either way, I don't give a DAMN what you think about moderation.
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Leebola
Brett Mullins
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by Leebola »

T_R wrote: May 23, 2021, 4:01 pm
greeneyed wrote: May 23, 2021, 3:06 pm
LastRaider wrote: May 23, 2021, 1:40 pm GE, thoughts on the use of Brad Schneider? I think it was pretty disappointing how Stuart injected him into the game for his debut
I was a bit disappointed in it. The team was crying out for some sort of spark, something a bit different, long before the 70th minute.
I'll dissent. Putting a rookie half in behind a forward pack that was in tatters isn't doing anyone any favours.
Fair enough, but maybe the kid has the sort of football brain that figures out we make 20m a run every time we go wide, and that gives our forwards a breather from the relentless bashing.
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by -PJ- »

Stick has a lot to think about.
3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment..Old Faithful
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greeneyed
Don Furner
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by greeneyed »

T_R wrote: May 23, 2021, 4:01 pm
greeneyed wrote: May 23, 2021, 3:06 pm
LastRaider wrote: May 23, 2021, 1:40 pm GE, thoughts on the use of Brad Schneider? I think it was pretty disappointing how Stuart injected him into the game for his debut
I was a bit disappointed in it. The team was crying out for some sort of spark, something a bit different, long before the 70th minute.
I'll dissent. Putting a rookie half in behind a forward pack that was in tatters isn't doing anyone any favours.
There's truth in that too.
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gangrenous
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by gangrenous »

I think people might be open to that interpretation if the bench ‘strategy’ didn’t bring virtually every single debutante (or even just whoever he considers to be #17 in the team) on for 10 minutes at the end of games regardless of what has gone before in the prior 70 mins.
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by hobbsy »

gangrenous wrote: May 23, 2021, 4:54 pm I think people might be open to that interpretation if the bench ‘strategy’ didn’t bring virtually every single debutante (or even just whoever he considers to be #17 in the team) on for 10 minutes at the end of games regardless of what has gone before in the prior 70 mins.
This. Stuart was only ever going to play him that way.
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hrundi89
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by hrundi89 »

My 11yo was screaming for him to come on from the 50min mark.

I was doing the same.

Beaten pack or not he may as well be out there. If that's the decider he's not getting much time any time soon.
You may remember me from such forum usernames as hrundi99 and... hrundi99.
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-TW-
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by -TW- »

Probably should've come on when Starling went down, even if it was for him to have a break and get strapped up then.

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greeneyed
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: Stewardship

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For sixty years now, I've been going to the footy. It is a story often told in my family. My first trip to a game of rugby league was when I was just weeks old. Langlands Park in Brisbane. My uncle was the coach of the Eastern Suburbs Tigers reserve grade team, and after their game, I was taken into the sheds and passed around from player to player. I've been going ever since.

When I moved to Canberra as a 21 year old in 1982, I went to the first trial played by the Canberra Raiders at Seiffert Oval, to their first game, to their first win. I've been following the team that became known as the Green Machine ever since.

I have to admit, this week, I have rarely felt so disillusioned with the game. It is a strange feeling of alienation and sadness.

The way that the NRL is running the game these days is one reason for the sadness. I've written a lot this year about the damaging effect of ill considered rule changes, changes in interpretations, a lack of consultation and shoot from the hip decisions. I won't go through it again. But I feel like I'm in danger of losing something about the game I love.

The other reason for the sadness is what is happening to the club I love. I don't know all the ins and outs of what's going on at the moment. We might never know the full story. As the Japanese film Rashomon vividly taught us, there may be more than one version of the "truth".

But there is enough in the media to know that there is something very wrong at the club. The very fact that some things are in the media is a sign of it. It is little wonder that the team is performing so poorly - and below the standards that should be being delivered by this squad.

Given we don't really know the ins and outs, I'm not going to say much more.

I will say one thing though. Anyone who is ever involved in a football club are the stewards of the club.

What is stewardship? It is all about taking care of something, something entrusted to you to nuture and protect.

A football club reflects the contributions of all the individuals who have ever been involved in it over time. The way that individuals contribute is how they are remembered. But a football club is something more than the sum of those individual contributions.

In the case of the Raiders, it is a part of our city's soul. The club is something that is deep in the hearts and in the psyche of Canberrans. It is the result of our collective experiences and our collective memories.

It is something I'm certain that coach Ricky Stuart knows. He reportedly recently told his team that the club is bigger than any individual. He understands the importance of stewardship of a football club, the importance of a football club to the community.

Whatever happens from here, I hope that everyone understands and remembers that.

***

The Canberra Raiders head to Gosford for a clash with the Roosters on Saturday. I fear what might happen, given the events of the last week, the past months. I've tipped with the head, not the heart. I'd love to think that the tip is very wrong... and that we can see the club bond together... and get a famous, backs to the wall victory. The sort of backs to the wall victory we saw last year, when the Raiders, ravaged by injury, travelled to the SCB for the Grand Final re-match. Here's hoping.

****

Every week I rate the Raiders players on a scale of 0-10... and here is the points tally after the Round 11 clash with the Storm. Tell us what you think of the ratings!

Total points

Elliott Whitehead 69
Ryan Sutton 68
George Williams 65
Hudson Young 63
Jack Wighton 63
Jordan Rapana 62
Josh Papalii 59
Bailey Simonsson 56
Sebastian Kris 54
Curtis Scott 52
Tom Starling 52
Ryan James 49
Josh Hodgson 44
Siliva Havili 44
Joe Tapine 41
Caleb Aekins 37
Sia Soliola 36
Emre Guler 33
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 31
Corey Horsburgh 29
Corey Harrawira-Naera 28
Jarrod Croker 26
Dunamis Lui 25
Semi Valemei 11
Sam Williams 7
Brad Schneider 2

Average points per match

Sam Williams 7.0
Jordan Rapana 6.9
Ryan Sutton 6.8
Josh Papalii 6.6
George Williams 6.5
Hudson Young 6.3
Jack Wighton 6.3
Josh Hodgson 6.3
Elliott Whitehead 6.3
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 6.2
Caleb Aekins 6.2
Joe Tapine 5.9
Corey Horsburgh 5.8
Curtis Scott 5.8
Tom Starling 5.8
Bailey Simonsson 5.6
Corey Harrawira-Naera 5.6
Emre Guler 5.5
Semi Valemei 5.5
Ryan James 5.4
Sebastian Kris 5.4
Jarrod Croker 5.2
Sia Soliola 5.1
Dunamis Lui 5.0
Siliva Havili 4.9
Brad Schneider 2.0

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Leebola
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by Leebola »

greeneyed wrote: May 27, 2021, 12:24 pm Through green eyes: Stewardship

Image

For sixty years now, I've been going to the footy. It is a story often told in my family. My first trip to a game of rugby league was when I was just weeks old. Langlands Park in Brisbane. My uncle was the coach of the Eastern Suburbs Tigers reserve grade team, and after their game, I was taken into the sheds and passed around from player to player. I've been going ever since.

When I moved to Canberra as a 21 year old, in 1982, I went to the first trial played by the Canberra Raiders at Seiffert Oval, to their first game, to their first win. I've been following the team that became known as the Green Machine ever since.

I have to admit, this week, I have rarely felt so disillusioned with the game. It is a strange feeling of alienation and sadness.

The way that the NRL is running the game these days is one reason for the sadness. I've written a lot this year about the damaging effect of ill considered rule changes, changes in interpretations, a lack of consultation and shoot from the hip decisions. I won't go through it again. But I feel like I'm in danger of losing something about the game I love.

The other reason for the sadness is what is happening to the club I love. I don't know all the ins and outs of what's going on at the moment. We might never know the full story. As the Japanese film Rashomon vividly taught us, there may be more than one version of the "truth".

But there is enough in the media to know that there is something very wrong at the club. The very fact that some things are in the media is a sign of it. It is little wonder that the team is performing so poorly - and below the standards that should be being delivered by this squad.

Given we don't really know the ins and outs, I'm not going to say much more.

I will say one thing though. Anyone who is ever involved in a football club are the stewards of the club.

What is stewardship? It is all about taking care of something, something entrusted to you to nuture and protect.

A football club reflects the contributions of all the individuals who have ever been involved in it over time. The way that individuals contribute is how they are remembered. But a football club is something more than the sum of those individual contributions.

In the case of the Raiders, it is a part of our city's soul. The club is something that is deep in the hearts and in the psyche of Canberrans. It is the result of our collective experiences and our collective memories.

It is something I'm certain that coach Ricky Stuart knows. He reportedly recently told his team that the club is bigger than any individual. He understands the importance of stewardship of a football club, the importance of a football club to the community.

Whatever happens from here, I hope that everyone understands and remembers that.
This nails it perfectly. I hate this feeling. Winter weekends and Rugby League are almost synonymous to me. But why invest your money, and something far more precious, your time, into a sport that is somehow morphing into something plastic and less appealing? Coupled with a club that is impervious to change at the top, when that is exactly what is needed, yet the one thing the fans can't do, leaves you with that word you use - alienation.

I'll never swap RL for another sport, nor the Raiders for another team, but maybe it's time RL was truly shunted to the fringes and something else more worthy fills the time.
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Don Furner
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by T_R »

My feelings exactly.

Plus bonus points for the Kurosawa reference - relatively rare in rugby league media.
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Son, we live in a world that has forums, and those forums have to be guarded by Mods. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Nickman? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Lucy, and you curse GE. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know -- that GE’s moderation, while tragic, probably saved lives; and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, keeps threads on track and under the appropriately sized, highlighted green headings.
You want moderation because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that forum -- you need me on that forum. We use words like "stay on topic," "use the appropriate forum," "please delete." We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very moderation that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather that you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you get a green handle and edit a post. Either way, I don't give a DAMN what you think about moderation.
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greeneyed
Don Furner
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by greeneyed »

T_R wrote: May 27, 2021, 1:30 pm My feelings exactly.

Plus bonus points for the Kurosawa reference - relatively rare in rugby league media.
"relatively" :)

Maybe next week a "Seven Samurai" reference!
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gangrenous
Laurie Daley
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by gangrenous »

Like Kurosawa I make mad films
The Nickman
Mal Meninga
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by The Nickman »

gangrenous wrote:Like Kurosawa I make mad films
‘kay I don’t make films, but if I did they’d have a samurai!
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greeneyed
Don Furner
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: As I saw it

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"I thought we were, again, in control of that game, right up to about 30 minutes and then it got away on us again. There's some run of play there and some patches of play where things aren't bouncing our way at the moment. There's a try off a bomb, Jordan Rapana getting stripped and a try. Such soft tries that we are letting in. I probably shouldn't use the word soft, but tries that we shouldn't be leaking. Easy tries that are breaking our back. When you're in this type of a rut, it's very easy to find that lack of confidence again. We're starting well, we're getting into the game, we're leading, and then passages of poor play, bad luck, seem to be breaking our spirit.

It is very disappointing. I really feel bad for all the coaches, the players. I feel sorry for them because they really are trying hard. But you talk about making your own luck - and that's true - but at the moment we're making our own bad luck and it's really hurting us. You can't keep getting to good leads, you can't take control of a game as we are, and then some passages of play go against us, and all of a sudden... it just broke our back. It used to be the complete opposite. It was only just yesterday - the last couple of years - that we had been so resilient and so tough and yet it just seems to be sucked out of us at the moment.

If I could have pinpointed why it's the case, I would have fixed it.

It was a tough week. I'm not going to sit here and lie to you. It was a tough week. But I think we showed you when we got to the game, there was a lot of energy and good play - as I say I thought we had good control of the game for 30 minutes and then it falls away. If we didn't start that way, I'd say it's really affected us - but it hasn't. It didn't affect us because the boys got here, they were upbeat.

I think you could only imagine how disheartened they are. We all are."

Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart


2021 Round 12. Sydney Roosters 44 - Canberra Raiders 16. It was a humiliating loss to the Roosters at Gosford, capping off a week from hell for the Raiders. Another horrible second half fade. The Raiders had players missing, big names like Josh Papalii, Joe Tapine, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and Jarrod Croker. Half George Williams was released during the week, after he did not attend training and withdrew from this game. But the Roosters were even more affected by injury and suspension. The Raiders have now won one match from their past eight matches. The only match they have won was against the last placed Bulldogs - by two points.



Ricky Stuart made a late switch, starting Josh Hodgson at dummy half, rather than from the bench. It looked like it had it had helped early, with Hodgson scoring the first try and setting up the second. The Raiders controlled possession and maintained good field position. They led 10-0 at the 30th minute. They then conceded 28 unanswered points in the space of 20 minutes. The only joy in the second half came in the 52nd minute, when Hodgson put Ryan James over. It was a brief interruption to the flow of points for the Roosters.

The match was an all too familiar story.

In the last eight games, the Raiders have scored 100 points in the first half, their opposition 84. In those eight games, the Raiders have produced just 26 points in the second half, while they have conceded 161. They have not scored a point in the second half in half of those games.

Overall this year, the Raiders have outscored their opposition by 51 points in the first half, holding three teams scoreless. In their second halves this season, the Raiders have conceded 205 points, while scoring just 64. They have been held scoreless after the break five times.

Coach Ricky Stuart has gone through matches, through the team's preparation, with a fine tooth comb. He admits, however, that he cannot pinpoint the problem. The morning after every game, I've searched for explanations myself. I won’t go through all the problems again. But last night, the demons of the mind seemed to be the biggest problem. They team doesn’t respond to or handle adversity well.

After the game, Cooper Cronk, who now works with the Roosters as a consultant, said this on Fox League:

"I think this is down to Ricky Stuart to fix. I believe Ricky Stuart. I think he's the spirit of the Raiders for a long, long period of time. There's way too much noise off field in terms of issues going on for them to continue and fix this thing quickly."

"I believe Ricky Stuart has the team there. It's proven. Grand Final '19, 80 minutes away from another one last year. There's a majority of players that buy into Ricky's spirit and there's a couple there at the moment that obviously haven't, because where there's smoke there's fire."

"He makes the call. He is the spirit of the Raiders. He knows exactly. He went back there to reinvigorate that whole football club. It was on its knees until Ricky came back there. He makes those decisions, the football fixes itself. He knows this. They start the game red hot. The last eight weeks they've been in every contest... They get the start of the game right. It's the second half when the little man on your shoulder says 'oh it's getting a bit tough'. He needs to choose the tough people to fight out of it and if the tough people aren't there, he needs to make that decision."

This morning, I'm still finding it hard to disagree with much of that.

The Raiders have a bye next week. It is probably a break that players and coaches - and supporters - desperately need. I know I'm looking forward to a week off.

Stats that mattered?

At around the 30 minute mark, the Raiders had had 57 per cent of the ball and 18 tackles in the Roosters' 20 metre zone. The Roosters had had less than a handful of opportunities inside the Raiders' red zone. But then Canberra barely touched the ball for 10 minutes, while Raiders prop Ryan James was sin binned. At half time, the Roosters had posted a 52 per cent possession share and an even share of the territory. In the second half, the Roosters had just over 60 per cent of possession and territory. At one stage late in the second half, the Roosters were sitting on 70 per cent possession. Rugby league has always been about controlling the ball and field position, but it is even more crucial in the current version of the game.

Overall, the Roosters had 58 per cent of the ball, almost eight minutes more than the Raiders. The Raiders' completion rate was poor (Raiders 60 per cent, Roosters 81 per cent). Both teams conceded a whopping 10 penalties and four set restarts.

The Roosters dominated almost all the attacking statistics. They made more runs (188-150), running metres (1736-1251), post contact metres (604-414), kick return metres (162-98), metres per set (41-35) and line breaks (6-3). Only two Raiders players broke 100 metres gained, while eight Roosters did it. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves ran for 230 metres, while Siosiua Taukeiaho made 201 metres. The Raiders made more tackle breaks (32-26), while offloads were even (7-7).

The Roosters kicked more (15-11) and made more kicking metres (336-272). The Raiders defused just 36 per cent of the Roosters' kicks, while the Roosters had a 100 per cent kick defusal rate. The Raiders produced one forced line drop out, the Roosters none.

The Raiders missed fewer tackles (26-32) and posted fewer ineffective tackles (12-18) - and had an effective tackle rate of 91 per cent (84 per cent for the Roosters). They still conceded eight tries, three due to poor kick defusals. Caleb Aekins dropped a bomb which led to Joseph Suaalii's first try in the NRL, while he and Bailey Simonsson did not defuse Joseph Manu's kick ahead for himself.

That is all certainly disheartening.

Memorable moments?

The memorable moments were few and far between for the Raiders. The first try was the result of a good kick from Elliott Whitehead, while Hodgson made a good cut out pass to Corey Hosburgh for the second. Ryan James played his part in that second try, by running in support and holding himself back at the right moment. They probably won't be on the best tries of the year list.

Best performers?

Corey Harawira-Naera. 13 runs for 146 metres, 48 post contact metres, one line break, nine tackle breaks, two offloads, 42 tackles, 93 per cent tackle efficiency.

Josh Hodgson. One try, six runs for 31 metres, one line break assist, one try assist, two tackle breaks, 41 tackles, 100 per cent tackle efficiency.

Ryan Sutton. 14 runs for 116 metres, 43 post contact metres, one tackle break, 28 tackles, 90 per cent tackle efficiency.

Top tacklers: Corey Harawira-Naera 42, Josh Hodgson 41, Elliott Whitehead 30, Dunamis Lui 30
Most metres gained: Corey Harawira-Naera 146, Ryan Sutton 116, Corey Horsburgh 97

My player ratings:

Caleb Aekins 5
Bailey Simonsson 5
Sebastian Kris 5
Curtis Scott 6
Jordan Rapana 5
Jack Wighton 6
Sam Williams 6
Dunamis Lui 6
Josh Hodgson 7
Emre Guler 6
Corey Harawira-Naera 7
Elliott Whitehead 6
Ryan Sutton 6

Tom Starling 5
Sia Soliola 4
Corey Horsburgh 6
Ryan James 5

Do you agree with the ratings? Let us know what you think!

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gangrenous
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by gangrenous »

Relatively they’re pretty right, just need to take a point off everybody.
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T_R
Don Furner
Posts: 17276
Joined: August 4, 2006, 9:41 am
Location: Noosa

Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by T_R »

I think GE had an attack of the generouses.
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Son, we live in a world that has forums, and those forums have to be guarded by Mods. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Nickman? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Lucy, and you curse GE. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know -- that GE’s moderation, while tragic, probably saved lives; and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, keeps threads on track and under the appropriately sized, highlighted green headings.
You want moderation because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that forum -- you need me on that forum. We use words like "stay on topic," "use the appropriate forum," "please delete." We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very moderation that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather that you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you get a green handle and edit a post. Either way, I don't give a DAMN what you think about moderation.
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-TW-
Mal Meninga
Posts: 35369
Joined: July 2, 2007, 11:41 am

Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by -TW- »

Aekins a 5? Please...

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

LastRaider
John Ferguson
Posts: 2383
Joined: March 31, 2018, 9:30 pm

Through green eyes 2021

Post by LastRaider »

gangrenous wrote:Relatively they’re pretty right, just need to take a point off everybody.
Yep agree. These ratings reflects the coaches view in that we were unlucky and didn’t get the bounce of the ball. They were terrible last night, even more than the others
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greeneyed
Don Furner
Posts: 145096
Joined: January 7, 2005, 4:21 pm

Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: Mid season report card

Image

The Canberra Raiders are at the half way point of their 2021 season. It's been bitterly disappointing so far. The Raiders sit in 13th place on the ladder today. After a Grand Final appearance in 2019, and a Preliminary Final appearance in 2020, expectations were still high for the Green Machine in 2021. But now all the talk among commentators and fans is about a premiership window slamming shut and about another rebuild.

One positive is that the Raiders are just two competition points outside the top eight. But that is partly illusory. The Raiders are two wins shy of the teams at the bottom of the eight - the Sea Eagles, Cowboys and Dragons. And the top five teams are a clear class above the rest.

The club has been beset by off field issues. To some extent, that comes with losing games and it disappears with some wins. But there has been too much noise coming out of Raiders HQ from players, even partners. Homesick English half George Williams has now been released after a messy couple of months. Josh Hodgson stood down as captain after he was dropped to the bench. There's clearly some discontent in the camp. This week, Curtis Scott was stood down, after he was allegedly involved in a nightclub incident two Sunday's ago.

Coach Ricky Stuart has done much to reestablish the club culture. But it is looking fragile at present.

On field, four wins and eight losses is the tally so far. The second half fades have been disturbing. In the last eight games, the Raiders have scored 100 points in the first half, their opposition 84. In those eight games, the Raiders have produced just 26 points in the second half, while they have conceded 161. They have not scored a point in the second half in half of those games.

Overall this year, the Raiders have outscored their opposition by 51 points in the first half, holding three teams scoreless. In their second halves this season, the Raiders have conceded 205 points, while scoring just 64. They have been held scoreless after the break five times.



What's the reason for that? Sadly, the Raiders seem to have been left behind by changes to the game - changes produced by new rules and interpretations, designed to speed up the game. The grinding, defensive game plan that was so successful in 2019 no longer works. The fitness of the squad is probably not where it needs to be, given the new rules. The team looks gassed as the game wears on. The composition of the squad probably isn't where it needs to be either. It is ageing and there hasn't been enough injection of new blood. Speed is lacking. Mental demons must be playing a role, as losses and the manner of them impact the confidence of players. It's hard to imagine that the apparent discontent in the camp isn't having an impact.

Attack: While the Raiders have been able to put on some points early, they now sit in the bottom four teams in attack. They're averaging 18 points and three tries per game. They're only ahead of the Knights, Broncos and Bulldogs. The Storm and Panthers are averaging over 30 points per game - with the Storm at the top of the tree with six tries scored per match.

One thing we know about rugby league. You can't score without the ball. The Raiders rank 15th for possession share, ahead of only the Broncos. They also rank second last for completions and fifth for errors. It's not that the Raiders have an adventurous attack, leading to error. They rank 15th for general play passes, 11th for offloads and fourth for one pass hit ups. They're in the top six teams for dummy half runs.

The Raiders are in the bottom four teams for running metres gained and kick return metres. Part of the problem there has been the kicking game. The Raiders are in the middle of the pack for kicking metres gained. But it seems like the kicks rarely find the grass or the opposition red zone. It's a little bit like the chicken and the egg. Far too often, the Raiders don't make the hard metres out of their own end. The kicks that get put in end up on the opposition 20 or 30 metre line. The opposition kicks end up on the Raiders' goal line - and the Raiders again struggle to get out of their own end.

The Raiders don't do too badly with tackle breaks (ranked eighth) and post contact metres (sixth). But line breaks don't come often enough (ranked 11th). And far too often, the Raiders lose the battle for territory. They've posted more than 50 per cent of the territory just three times this season - against the Tigers, Cowboys and Bulldogs.

One statistic that doesn't quite mesh with that story is tackles in the opposition red zone. The Raiders rank fourth in that department, behind the Eels, Tigers and Panthers. But for the Raiders, that's not translating into points. There are not enough questions being asked when they're in that part of the field. Attacking kicks are not a feature of the Raiders game, where they rank second last. That's by choice. The Raiders often would rather die with the ball on the last than concede a seven tackle set due to a kick error.

Defence: Comparatively, the defence has been better - and the Raiders are around the middle of the pack in that department. They've conceded 25 points and four tries per game (ranked ninth). They've also conceded five line breaks per game (ranked seventh). But the bottom line is that's far too many points and tries and line breaks conceded. The Panthers are the benchmark and they've conceded just nine points and 1.5 tries per game so far. That's kind of insane, but to a significant extent, they defend well because of their attack. In today's game, it's important to get momentum and never let it go. And that's what the likes of the Panthers and Storm do.

The Raiders give up metres easily. They have conceded an average of 1516 metres per game (ranked fifth for most metres conceded). That compares with 1200 for the Storm. The Raiders used to be able to give up metres, confident that they could defend their own goal line. That's much tougher to do under the new rules and interpretations.

The Raiders also used to be good at stopping offloads. But in 2021, they have conceded 11 per match (fourth most in the league). That translates into an ineffective tackle count of 18 per match (also ranked fourth). They rank sixth for missed tackles (32 per game), meaning they have a tackle efficiency rate of 88 per cent (ranked seventh). Make of that what you will - given that there is not a great correlation between that statistic and tries conceded. For instance, the Panthers have the best defence and rank second in tackle efficiency. The Storm have the second best defence and rank 12th in tackle efficiency. Missed and ineffective tackles can still give other players the chance to shut down the play. However, the increase in missed and ineffective tackles for the Raiders this year is certainly consistent with a poorer defensive record.

Backs: The Raiders are lacking the speed and physical presence needed in the outside backs in the modern game. Jordan Rapana is not the player he was and he's lost pace. But he's still been the standout in the three quarter line. He's been one of the best players in the team, full stop. He's the club's top try scorer (eight) and has the most line breaks (10) and tackle breaks (53). The Raiders have been hampered by the loss of co-captain Jarrod Croker to injury (shoulder and knee) for most of the season. He's only made five appearances this year and he was well below his best when he did play. His knee, in particular, seems to be hampering him. Seb Kris looked strong at the start of the season, while Curtis Scott has improved in recent games. But Scott is now in danger of having his contract terminated. The fact that the Raiders are now targeting Dragons speed demon Matt Dufty shows that they see the lack of pace in the backs as a real problem.



Forwards: Prior to the clash with the Penrith Panthers, Elliott Whitehead said that he believed the Raiders have "the best pack in the whole league". Unfortunately, they have gone on to show otherwise. Lack of go forward in the pack is one reason the team so regularly loses the battle for territory. We've seen big name forwards like Josh Papalii and Joe Tapine rested or dropped. Veterans like Dunamis Lui and Sia Soliola have found themselves outside the top 17. For mine, Papalii hasn't been poor. He's still been one of the best Raiders forwards. But his form is definitely down on 2020, when he was named Dally M Prop of the Year. Some of the young middle forwards like Corey Horsburgh and Emre Guler have shown the signs of not having full pre-seasons. However, 25 year old English prop Ryan Sutton has been a stand out. There have been issues on the edge as well. Hudson Young started the year well, but he's found himself in NSW Cup more recently. Corey Harawira-Naera is showing some good signs, but his defence at times is a problem.



Spine: Things have gone most dramatically wrong in the spine. Fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad suffered a season ending neck injury in the Round 5 loss to the Panthers. His ability to organise the Raiders' defence is being sorely missed. Caleb Aekins performed pretty well in attack in the No. 1 jersey, but he's been dropped this week to NSW Cup, with Bailey Simonsson now being given a shot in the role. The return of Josh Hodgson from an ACL injury did not go smoothly. He did not gel well with the halves, and Tom Starling was eventually given an opportunity to start. Starling's strengths are his nippy running from dummy half, and crisp service to the first receivers. Hodgson has now forced his way back into the starting team, with Starling on the bench. Hopefully, that hooking duo can work - as Starling's hooking duo with Siliva Havili worked in the second half of 2020. Starling still deserves significant minutes in my view. Jack Wighton was the Dally M Player of the Year in 2020, but his form has been down in 2021. Part of the reason for that has been the lack of combinations in the spine. But even when Starling started at dummy half, impact in the halves was still found wanting. George Williams has now left the club, with Sam Williams taking over. Hopefully his organisational skills will help.

It is possible that the Raiders can still make the finals, with an easier draw in prospect in the second half of the season. However, it is difficult to see them challenging the top five teams. I'd love to think that's wrong. But I believe the rebuild must start now. We need to see what some of the good young prospects in the club can deliver. Recruitment efforts are already underway. I suspect the club might still be rebuilding in 2022.

Mid season report card

Attack: D
Defence: C
Backs: D
Forwards: C
Spine: D
Overall: D

Best back: Jordan Rapana
Best forward: Ryan Sutton
Best playmaker: George Williams

***

State of Origin I was a shellacking for the Maroons last night, wiih the Blues recording a 50-6 win in Townsville. It completely lacked Origin intensity. I'm a passionate Maroons fan, so to say it was a disappointing performance from Queensland is an understatement.

What we saw was another blow out in a scoreline, this time in one of the game's premier events of the season. No doubt if you're a Blues fan, it was great to watch. But was it a good football game? A good contest? Definitely not. And I'd say at least part of the reason for that are the new rules and interpretations that have been introduced by the NRL in the past two seasons.

As regular readers would know, I don't think the rule changes are producing a better product - and they played their part last night. The Blues also have some outstanding players, who were perfectly suited to taking advantage of the way the game is played under the Peter V'landys regime.

It was interesting to see that the sin bin crackdown completely disappeared last night. There were a number of incidents that would have produced sin bins in a club game the last few weeks - and I have to admit, Queensland was the team that was advantaged by that. The NRL swore that there would be no change in interpretations for Origin - but that didn't turn out to be the case.

If it is a sign that the officiating is starting to return to normal - and that the NRL is privately accepting they've gone about reducing concussion in the wrong way - that's a good thing. I guess we'll see when the club games resume this weekend.

It was also good to see that Peter V'landys went on record this week, saying that, with hindsight, the NRL "probably" should have consulted the players about their sin bin "crack down". For that to happen, it took the stirrings of a player revolt, and reports that some senior players wanted the Chairman to stand down due to the lack of consultation on a wide number of issues. But at least it has happened.

Hopefully, V'landys' admission signals the start of a less impulsive and reactive NRL administration. And hopefully, we see some proper evaluation of the changes to rules that have been rushed through over the past couple of years. And some careful thought about how we best promote player welfare and what we want the game of rugby league to look like.

****

Every week I rate the Raiders players on a scale of 0-10... and here is the points tally after the Round 12 clash with the Roosters. Tell us what you think of the ratings!

Total points

Elliott Whitehead 75
Ryan Sutton 74
Jack Wighton 69
Jordan Rapana 67
George Williams 65
Hudson Young 63
Bailey Simonsson 61
Josh Papalii 59
Sebastian Kris 59
Curtis Scott 58
Tom Starling 57
Ryan James 54
Josh Hodgson 51
Siliva Havili 44
Caleb Aekins 42
Joe Tapine 41
Sia Soliola 40
Emre Guler 39
Corey Harrawira-Naera 35
Corey Horsburgh 35
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 31
Dunamis Lui 31
Jarrod Croker 26
Sam Williams 13
Semi Valemei 11
Brad Schneider 2

Average points per match

Ryan Sutton 6.7
Jordan Rapana 6.7
Josh Papalii 6.6
George Williams 6.5
Sam Williams 6.5
Josh Hodgson 6.4
Hudson Young 6.3
Jack Wighton 6.3
Elliott Whitehead 6.3
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 6.2
Caleb Aekins 6.0
Joe Tapine 5.9
Corey Harrawira-Naera 5.8
Corey Horsburgh 5.8
Curtis Scott 5.8
Tom Starling 5.7
Emre Guler 5.6
Bailey Simonsson 5.5
Semi Valemei 5.5
Ryan James 5.4
Sebastian Kris 5.4
Jarrod Croker 5.2
Dunamis Lui 5.2
Sia Soliola 5.0
Siliva Havili 4.9
Brad Schneider 2.0

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afgtnk
Laurie Daley
Posts: 10712
Joined: April 7, 2007, 1:45 am
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Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by afgtnk »

That rating for CHN looks quite low. He's been one of our best IMO.

Most impressive player for me so far this season is easily Ryan Sutton. Gives everything he has every game, gets us going forward time and time again. His form is particularly impressive given how much every other middle has regressed. Makes me wonder how good he'd be going if the team around him were much better and taking some of the load off him.

Most disappointing for me would be Jack. Hodgson's had plenty of moments, George had plenty of moments, hell even Aekins has had his moments. Jack though has barely had any. IMO he's been outperformed by the Williamses in every game bar one. He's just not influencing games at all, and being on the contract he is, an established rep player, Dally M medallist.... it's not good enough. We're not paying him 900k just to make tackles.
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T_R
Don Furner
Posts: 17276
Joined: August 4, 2006, 9:41 am
Location: Noosa

Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by T_R »

When you see all those stats, you realise that luck has not been a factor at all this year - we're right where we deserve to be, and the problems are both structural and deep.
Image

Son, we live in a world that has forums, and those forums have to be guarded by Mods. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Nickman? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Lucy, and you curse GE. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know -- that GE’s moderation, while tragic, probably saved lives; and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, keeps threads on track and under the appropriately sized, highlighted green headings.
You want moderation because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that forum -- you need me on that forum. We use words like "stay on topic," "use the appropriate forum," "please delete." We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very moderation that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather that you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you get a green handle and edit a post. Either way, I don't give a DAMN what you think about moderation.
LastRaider
John Ferguson
Posts: 2383
Joined: March 31, 2018, 9:30 pm

Re: Through green eyes 2021

Post by LastRaider »

I think last nights game (SOO) really showed how much we have been left behind. Grinding defensive games played out by forwards is outdated. Backline speed and attack is now the way!

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