Through green eyes 2022

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 2022

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: Overcoming the Brisbane blues

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The Canberra Raiders head back to Brisbane for the third time in 2022, to face a Broncos team that is shooting for its seventh victory in a row on Saturday night.

The Raiders don't have the best of records at Lang Park in recent years. They're on a five game losing streak against the Broncos at the stadium.

The last time that the Raiders beat the Broncos at the venue was way back in 2010, in the final round of the regular season.

The Broncos had to win by 15 points or more - or they would miss the finals for the first time since 1991. The Raiders, having climbed into eighth on the ladder, needed to win to keep the momentum into the finals. They were on a surge, having won seven games from their previous eight.

It was semi final football a week early in front of almost 39,000.



The Raiders were first to score, with Terry Campese putting in a perfect bomb to the corner in the 18th minute, allowing winger Daniel Vidot to knock the ball back in the in goal and then pounce on it for the try. Just a few minutes later, Campese produced another kick to the same corner - with a try to Josh Dugan the result. The Raiders led 12-0, but the Broncos fought back through an individual try to hooker Andrew McCullough.

Canberra seemed destined for a win when Daniel Vidot scored his second try in the 59th minute - pushing the Raiders to an 18-4 lead. But the Broncos came back again in the final stages, scoring two tries in the space of four minutes. The Raiders desperately scrambled in defence as the clock ticked down, ultimately hanging on for a very sweet 18-16 win.

I was at that game, and the large contingent of Raiders supporters at The Caxton in the aftermath were rightly excited about the finals campaign to come. But for a Terry Campese knee injury, I think the Raiders might have gone all the way that year. They had a hoodoo over the 2010 premiers, the Dragons.

But I digress.

While it may have been a while since the Raiders last beat the Broncos at Lang Park, it was just a month ago that the Green Machine had a win at the ground.

A very good, 30-10, victory over the Sharks in Magic Round.

The Raiders now have that to build on and will be hoping to take the feeling from that victory into Saturday night's clash with Brisbane. Hopefully this is the game where they can turn around those Brisbane blues.

****

Both the Raiders and Broncos have players backing up from Wednesday night's State of Origin match, won by the Maroons at Stadium Australia.

It was an epic game, played at helter skelter pace from the opening minute. An instant Origin classic.

The Broncos have confirmed today that prop Payne Haas, lock Patrick Carrigan and winger Selwyn Cobbo will all back up from Origin. Centre Kotoni Staggs, however, has been ruled out with a shoulder problem. He'll be replaced by former Raider Brenko Lee.

Carrigan had a breakout performance in his Origin debut for the Maroons. What a talent. Hopefully, he's still feeling a bit tired on Saturday night.

The Raiders had two players in action, Josh Papalii and Jack Wighton. Wighton was outstanding for New South Wales at centre, scoring the Blues' opening try. Despite being picked out of his regular position, he was one of the best players for the Blues, along with James Tedesco.

New Maroons coach Billy Slater replaced Josh Papalii early on Wednesday night. Big Papa came off after just 15 minutes.

Slater later explained that the plan was for Papalii to go as hard as he could in the opening stages - and the prop did perform well. But his replacement, Carrigan, went so well, Slater didn't see a need to bring Papalii back until the final five minutes.

It means Papalii should be relatively fresh for the Broncos.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart confirmed today that both Wighton and Papalii will be right to go on Saturday night.

"They're both pretty chirpy this morning," Stuart said of his Origin duo.

"They're in and they had recovery and a rehabilitation session yesterday. Both are in good spirits, so we'll train this morning and see how they both go. Papa didn't get as much game time as expected so he'll be fine, but Jack's still pretty sore."

"Jack played the game that we all know he's got in him."

"I said last week, him and Josh are both Origin players. The ingredient for Origin is you've got to be tough and they've definitely got that in bucket loads."

"I just congratulated them both on their performances at that level of football in our team meeting. They not only did themselves proud, but they've got a lot of players here who proud of them as well in regards to their performance."



Corey Horsburgh stood in for Papalii last weekend against the Roosters and had a fine game. Papalii has been named to start on Saturday, with Horsburgh on the bench. And even though Papalii played limited minutes in Orgin I, there is still a possibility Stuart might switch the two for the start of the Broncos clash.

"Corey Horsburgh's had a really good season. It comes off the back of a very good preseason," Stuart said today.

"In the past couple of years he's unfortunately had disturbances right through his preseason with injury. He was in more rehabilitation and recovery rather than in training. This year he had a full preseason and he's got his body back to good strength. That's helping his football."

The Raiders will be missing winger Jordan Rapana, who is serving a one week suspension. Stuart says the timing has been fortuitous. Rapana will be replaced by rookie James Schiller.

"Rapa's suspension, when you look at it, probably comes at a time which is going to help Rapa," Stuart said.

"He's got a couple of injuries where the week off will help him."

"To bring in a young guy like James who has had a really good start to the season is exciting. It's exciting for him. He brings a lot of energy to the team with the way he plays. It's good. I like to see young blokes get an opportunity early in their careers playing at this level."

Stuart confirmed today that Corey Harawira-Naera will play on Saturday night, after missing last week due to COVID protocols.

The Broncos are clear favourites, but there has been a slight shift in the odds towards the Raiders late this week.

Brisbane are on a six game winning streak, but four of those wins have been against teams in the bottom eight. The Raiders have had three wins over top eight sides in the past month. I think the Raiders can get the win.

****

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

Josh Papalii and Jack Wighton have been awarded points for the opening Origin match, so as to ensure they are not disadvantaged by missing the Roosters clash. I have scored Papalii a "6" and Wighton an "8". That might be a little harsh on Big Papa, as he played limited minutes, through no fault of his own. But it is the best adjustment I can make in the circumstances.

Total points

Joe Tapine 93
Josh Papalii 87
Corey Horsburgh 78
Tom Starling 77
Jack Wighton 76
Matt Timoko 74
Hudson Young 70
Jordan Rapana 63
Adam Elliott 62
Elliott Whitehead 62
Corey Harawira-Naera 61
Brad Schneider 59
Nick Cotric 57
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 50
Ryan Sutton 47
Sebastian Kris 40
Semi Valemei 38
Matt Frawley 31
Xavier Savage 31
Emre Guler 25
Zac Woolford 24
Harry Rushton 14
James Schiller 11
Jarrod Croker 6
Adrian Trevilyan 4
Trey Mooney 3
Josh Hodgson 1

Average points per match

Joe Tapine 7.2
Jack Wighton 6.9
Josh Papalii 6.7
Hudson Young 6.4
Corey Harawira-Naera 6.1
Corey Horsburgh 6.0
Jarrod Croker 6.0
Zac Woolford 6.0
Tom Starling 5.9
Brad Schneider 5.9
Ryan Sutton 5.9
Jordan Rapana 5.7
Sebastian Kris 5.7
Matt Timoko 5.7
Elliott Whitehead 5.6
Nick Cotric 5.2
Adam Elliott 5.2
Matt Frawley 5.2
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 5.0
Semi Valemei 4.8
Harry Rushton 4.7
Xavier Savage 4.4
Emre Guler 4.2
Adrian Trevilyan 4.0
James Schiller 3.7
Josh Hodgson 1.0

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greeneyed
Don Furner
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Joined: January 7, 2005, 4:21 pm

Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: As I saw it

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"It was a tough game. I thought we did a great job to get to 18-16 at half time and let a pretty cheap try there in the second half early. We stuck in the game. I've been around long enough to know that in those tight games you need a little bit of luck. We probably played without a bit of luck tonight. A couple of things just didn't come off for us. You do make your own luck but there's times when a bit of luck goes your way it's a massive help. We just played without a bit tonight. So I thought it was an even tougher grind and a tough effort by the boys to hang in it.

That was a good win for Kev. A couple of players out, a couple of key players injured during the game and had to go off. It was a good win for them. It would have been exactly the same for us. It would have been a great win for us if a couple of things went the other way.

Young Walters came on and did a good job, that's what you've got to do at this level. It doesn't matter who goes off. We've had to do it all year. The bloke who takes over that position, or that role, you practice it and he's been around long enough to know what he's got to do in that area. Definitely not on the ropes. They did a good job to hang in there and keep that lead, to keep us away.

We didn't get enough ball at their end of the footy field but that's all gone now. Just a couple of silly errors with the footy. That's just trying too hard. I love watching the group. They don't give up and we'll get a bounce, we'll get a little bit of luck and we'll win a game the other way.

We've been there before, we've played games with 11 men. Kevin is building a really good squad here now. He's shown them that culture comes before strategy. It's no good having all the strategy in the world if you've got no culture amongst your group. That's why I love coaching my blokes. We've got a wonderful camaraderie and culture and give Kevin a bit of time he's going to have the same. I can see that in them.

Xavier Savage is learning and improving every game. It's a tough job, fullback. A really tough job. Go and ask any of the guys you know that have been there for a long time and they'll tell you how tough a position it is to play. Each game he's learning and each game he's actually playing better. He's definitely improving very fast."

Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart


2022 Round 14. Brisbane Broncos 24 - Canberra Raiders 18. It was a another disappointing second half from the Canberra Raiders. It was the sixth time that the Raiders have failed to score a point in the second 40 this year, the eighth time they have failed to score a try after the break. It was probably a match the Raiders should have won, but didn't.



The Broncos went into the game without three of their Origin players, who were either rested or injured. Forwards Payne Haas and Patrick Carrigan were backing up from Origin. During the match they lost Haas (28th minute), halfback Adam Reynolds (60th minute) and centre Herbie Farnworth (61st minute). They were down to one man on the bench for the final 20 minutes. The Raiders had the momentum in that final quarter of the match, but could not score. They squandered opportunities through their own errors.

To be fair to the Green Machine, they had their own adversity to handle. There's well over a million of the salary cap sidelined, with three players having suffered season ending injuries. Jordan Rapana was out, suspended. Jack Wighton was backing up from a full 80 minutes of Origin football. Josh Papalii was backing up after 20. But there's little doubt, the Broncos showed a lot of character and resilience to overcome their woes.

The first half was played in a frenetic style by both teams. It was a case of you score, I score. The defences of both teams looked fragile, but the attack was also blistering at times. Canberra certainly did do well to go to the break with an 18-16 lead at the break. But the second half started in similar style, with poor red zone defence again evident from the Raiders. Herbie Farnworth crossed in the 43rd minute, probably off a forward pass, and that turned out to be the match winning try for Brisbane. But even if it was forward, the call was not critical to the loss.

Stats that mattered? The Raiders had plenty of possession and territory in the first half - 55 per cent of both. They also had 18 tackles in the Broncos' red zone, while the Broncos had 11 chances at the other end. Brisbane, however, were able to make some hay against the Raiders' right side defence. In the second half, possession share favoured Brisbane, and just shaded the Raiders in terms of field position. They had 16 red zone chances in the second half, the Raiders nine.

Overall, Canberra had a 51 per cent share of possession and 52 per cent of the territory. Red zone oppotunities were even (27-27). But Canberra completed at just 71 per cent (Broncos 86 per cent), and produced 11 errors (Broncos five). That error count is the stat that mattered most.

There was not much difference in the attacking statistics, in the end. The Broncos were slightly ahead in terms of running metres (1732-1712), post contact metres (419-405), metres per set (47-45) and line breaks (6-5). The Raiders made more tackle breaks (39-33) and offloads (21-12).

The Raiders forward pack more than held their own in the middle, with Joe Tapine leading the way with 240 metres gained. Corey Horsburgh (176), Adam Elliott (148), Hudson Young (125) also topped 100 metres. Tapine posted six offloads, Young five. But some of the Broncos forwards were also very damaging. Thomas Flegler was just short of the 200 metre mark (196). Patrick Carrigan ran for 169 metres - after producing 183 running metres in Wednesday's Origin match. And the Raiders missed the usual contribution of Josh Papalii (36 metres in 29 minutes).

While he was on the field, Adam Reynolds' kicking game put the Raiders under a lot of pressure with his swirling bombs. Brisbane also eked out some good territory with their long kicking (691 kicking metres, 545 for the Raiders). Canberra got three forced line drop outs (Brisbane none), but didn't take full advantage.

The Raiders produced the better effective tackle rate (88 per cent, 82 per cent for the Broncos), with Brisbane missing more tackles (39-33) and posting more ineffective tackles (34-18). However, as always, the most critical defensive statistic was tries conceded (Raiders four, Broncos three).

There is not a lot of difference in some of those numbers. But the bottom line was the Broncos were better, and they overcame their obstacles more effectively. A lack of luck was not the reason that the Raiders lost. Nor is it an acceptable excuse at this level of football. Wishing for a bit more luck for the future won't work either.

The Raiders are no doubt looking for every possible way of improving the mentality of the team. They were forming a circle and deep breathing after scoring tries last night - as the Warriors have been known to do. They are no doubt working hard as a team, coaches and players, every week. The platform being laid by the Raiders' pack is now a real strength. But the second half performances are clearly still a problem.

Some pretty difficult issues still need to be addressed. The cause of the defensive problems on the right, for a start. That is where almost half the tries conceded by the Raiders (47 per cent) are scored. It is also hard to avoid the conclusion that the team looks much better in attack with Zac Woolford at dummy half. He played the first 47 minutes last night. His minutes seem to be growing every week, and that might reflect his improving match fitness. Maybe he can't play much longer at this stage. His style has some limitations, but he gives good service and he is helping the spine to gel. If he needs to back up on the bench, I'm left wondering whether Adrian Trevilyan should now be given a shot in that role.

Memorable moments? The Raiders scored three tries, the first the result of a good bomb to the line from Jamal Fogarty and a nice take by Nick Cotric. The second saw Corey Horsburgh stretch out the arm and score, just when it looked like he might be held out by the Brisbane defence. He's really improved over the course of this season, and is clearly in the top three props at the club right now. The third try was the best. Cotric produced great offload, and Hudson Young another. Zac Woolford didn't mess around. He gave it straight out to Papalii, who produced another great offload. It gave Adam Elliott the space to skirt three or four Brisbane defenders for the try.

Best performers?

Joe Tapine. 23 runs for 240 metres, 64 post contact metres, one line break assist, four tackle breaks, six offloads, 33 tackles, 97 per cent tackle efficiency. Yet another man of the match performance. He produced a brilliant try saver at one point. That line break assist nearly produced another try.



Hudson Young. 17 runs for 125 metres, 37 post contact metres, three tackle breaks, five offloads, 37 tackles, 95 per cent tackle efficiency.

Corey Horsburgh. One try, 20 runs for 176 metres, 36 post contact metres, one line break, four tackle breaks, three offloads, 28 tackles, 90 per cent tackle efficiency. One error at the end, when the Raiders didn't need it, but things shouldn't have come to that.

Top tacklers: Elliott Whitehead 40, Hudson Young 37, Joseph Tapine 33
Most metres gained: Joe Tapine 240, Xavier Savage 232, Corey Horsburgh 176

A couple of final points. Xavier Savage is definitely improving every week. He was understandably targeted with bombs by Adam Reynolds and he made three errors. But there were some very impressive runs. Elliott Whitehead is targeted in defence and he has a high workload. But four missed tackles and two ineffective tackles are too many. There was at least one try cause in there.

My player ratings:

Xavier Savage 6
Nick Cotric 5
Matt Timoko 5
Sebastian Kris 4
James Schiller 5
Jack Wighton 6
Jamal Fogarty 6
Corey Horsburgh 7
Zac Woolford 6
Joe Tapine 9
Hudson Young 8
Elliott Whitehead 4
Adam Elliott 7

Josh Papalii 5
Tom Starling 5
Ryan Sutton 4
Corey Harawira-Naera 4

Do you agree with the ratings? Let us know!

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-PJ-
Mal Meninga
Posts: 24719
Joined: May 8, 2010, 1:58 pm
Favourite Player: Josh Papalii
Location: 416.9 km from GIO Stadium

Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by -PJ- »

Is Papa injured ?

Not playing a lot of minutes.
3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment..Old Faithful
#emptythetank :shock:
Billy Walker
Laurie Daley
Posts: 12395
Joined: April 29, 2017, 7:22 pm
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by Billy Walker »

GE I’ve been down on Cotric this season but thought he had a decent crack. Savage made a lot of errors some that led to tries. We need to keep picking him and he will come good. I’d have Savage a 5 and Cotric a 6 rather than the other way around
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greeneyed
Don Furner
Posts: 145095
Joined: January 7, 2005, 4:21 pm

Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: A new Canberra Stadium

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This week it was confirmed that the ACT had elected a new independent senator, former rugby union player, David Pocock. One of his key election promises was that he would push for the building of a new Canberra Stadium and convention centre in Civic - on the site of the old Olympic Pool.

The current Canberra Stadium was built at Bruce in 1977 for the Pacific Conference Games. It also hosted the World Cup in Athletics back in 1985, before the athletics track was torn up so that the Canberra Raiders could make the stadium their home in 1990.

The venue was substantially refurbished for the 2000 Olympics, converting it into an all seater stadium that could host Olympic soccer matches. But the Mal Meninga Grandstand was fundamentally left unchanged, while the eastern stand was extended and covered. At its core, it is still the stadium that was built in 1977.

It is now well behind the standards of modern stadiums in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne - even Townsville and the Gold Coast. It is at the end of its economic life. In the past 40 years or so, we've seen Parramatta Stadium built, demolished and replaced by Western Sydney Stadium. We've seen the Sydney Football Stadium built and demolished - and now the finishing touches are being put on a new 45,000 seat Sydney Football Stadium.

There has been talk of a new Canberra Stadium for many years. And that's all we've had. Talk.

A new stadium was mooted back in 2012, when Australia was bidding for the soccer World Cup. The idea then was to build a new 40,000 seat stadium beside the current stadium, which could convert back to a 30,000 seat facility after the World Cup. Of course, when the bid failed, the federal funding and the plan disappeared.

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The other plan, also first mooted in 2012, was to build a new covered stadium along the lines of New Zealand's Dunedin Stadium. It was promised by 2020... and in 2013, the plan was announced to build it in Civic as part of the "City to the Lake" plan. That plan has been repeatedly put on the back burner. The funding for the project was initially crowded out by "Mr Fluffy" - and since by other infrastructure projects, like light rail.

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More recently, there's been a new feasibility study. Thankfully it pretty much ruled out the ridiculous idea of a new Stadium in Mitchell at Exhibition Park. Not only is that site on the north eastern fringe of the city, it suffers from all the disadvantages of Bruce. No surrounding precinct. No bars, restaurants, hotels or life. But it also highlighted that it is difficult to fit a new stadium onto the available site in Civic. A 25,000 seater could be squeezed in if Parkes Way could be re-routed.

A couple of weeks ago, once the federal election was out of the way, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr decided it was the time to manage "everyone's expectations" on a new Canberra Stadium.

For a start, there is no money for a brand new stadium. Nothing will be happening until 2025-26 at the earliest. The site in Civic is not a goer, in practical terms only big enough to fit a 20,000 seat stadium. The feedback from major sporting organisations is that they need a 30,000 seat venue, if they're to bring major events, like Kangaroo Test matches to Canberra.

So, in a further shift in thinking, the Chief Minister revealed there had been discussions with the new federal government about building a new Mal Meninga Stand. It's a cheaper option, and can potentially increase the capacity of the current stadium to 30,000.

A decade of discussion and that's where we've got to. It is pretty unsatisfactory.

In my view, there's no point in building a new venue that has a lower capacity than the current stadium. The idea that 20,000 is acceptable, as the Raiders' crowds are rarely above that level, is short sighted.

Canberra is growing. The new stadium in Townsville has a capacity of 25,000, for a city that has a much smaller population base than Canberra and surrounds. If we build a new 20,000 seat stadium, we'd have no grounds for complaint when the NRL tells us that it is too small to host the Raiders' finals games. Let alone a Preliminary Final. If you're building for the future, it is sensible to plan for a 30,000 seat venue.

If that rules out the current Civic site, so be it. I'm not sure that all the options have been fully explored for another central site. One that has a more lively surrounding precinct and better transport links than Bruce.

But if Bruce is the best available site left, it is not enough to just build a new Mal Meninga Stand. We should not have a piecemeal approach. If redevelopment has to be done in stages, fine. But an overall vision is needed. A plan which produces a modern, integrated stadium, with seating close to the sidelines, with 21st century sight lines, with cover for the bulk of seats.

And a plan is needed to enliven the Bruce precinct. A plan for hotels, bars, restaurants and commercial spaces.

David Pocock, it looks like the ball is now back in your court.

One thing's for sure.

We can't afford another decade of inaction.

****

The Canberra Raiders slipped up against the Broncos last week in Brisbane.

It was a game they probably should have won, with the Broncos playing without their halfback and one man left on the bench in the final 20 minutes.

When they meet the Newcastle Knights on Sunday, a team one rung below them on the competition ladder, they can't afford any slip ups.

It's a worry, because in recent years, the Raiders have repeatedly slipped up when playing the Knights. The Raiders are on a three game losing streak against Newcastle, and have only won one of the past five contests between the clubs.

It is something Raiders coach Ricky Stuart acknowledged today.

"They've been a little bit of a bogey side for us over the last three games, so we've got a job on our hands," he said.

Stuart knows where the Raiders need to improve on last week's loss to Brisbane.

"I've said this a few times, when we haven't been on the right side of the scoreboard, but it is errors," he said.

"We made 13 errors to the Broncos' four last week. They were very good in that area, the Broncos."

"They squeezed us out of the game a bit by controlling the football better than us, and not making those errors, whereas we forced a few and that just doesn't help you."

The Raiders sit in 11th place on the ladder, today four competition points adrift of the eighth placed Dragons.

The Green Machine has had plenty of hurdles to overcome, in particular, injuries to key players. Departing hooker Josh Hodgson was ruled out for the season with a ruptured ACL, after playing just 10 minutes in Round 1. Halfback recruit Jamal Fogarty was unable to take to the field until Round 12 due to an knee injury suffered in a trial match.

With Fogarty now having played three games in green, coach Stuart is hoping for more stability in his spine in the back half of the season.

"We've had so much change," Stuart said today.

"Now with Jamal Fogarty back all he needs to do is get consistency. Getting consistency with Jack Wighton, consistency with our hookers, with Xavier Savage at the back there."

"We've had so much change right throughout the start of the year in our spine. It's been very much a disruption, but it's not an excuse."

"It's a matter now for a guy like Jamal, to try and string four, five, six games together. And then naturally his game will just progress."

"Just sitting down and doing a little bit of video work with him this week on his game, that was one of my biggest messages. He's a good footy player, he just needs to get some continuity into his game."

One of the Raiders' biggest problems this year has been their second halves. They have failed to score a point in six matches so far this season, and failed to score a try in eight.

I think the main reason for that is they have been missing some on field leadership and organisation at crucial times. Hopefully, with Fogarty now settling in, he can help fill that void.

****

Halfback Sam Williams announced this week that his playing days with the Canberra Raiders are over. It was sad news for me, and many other Raiders fans. He's the epitome of a good club man, and a good bloke.

Coach Ricky Stuart paid tribute to him today.

"Outside being a 100 game player with the Raiders, Sammy has enjoyed a wonderful career," Stuart said.

"He was a very reliable player. Not always No. 1 halfback here. But when he got his position, he was very much trusted and relied upon and he did a job."



"One memory I will have of Sam is the game he led a very young bunch of players out to play in the last game of the year against Cronulla."

"We had to win that game to make the top four. He led them with great pride. I know how proud he was to be the leader that day, our captain, and did a great job. We had our backs to the wall."

"People thought we were stupid doing what we did, but I wanted to rest some senior players for the semi finals. And we won in a very tight game on the back of Sam Williams."

"He leaves here as one of our favourite sons. He leaves here with a lot of great memories and a lot of great friends."

As Stuart said, Sam Williams was not always the No. 1 half at the club. But he was a good player. You don't play 100 NRL games without being a good player. Some of the best coaches in the game were not elite players, but they always had good footy brains. And Sam Williams has that. I won't be at all surprised to see him return to the club in the coaching ranks.

****

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

Total points

Joe Tapine 102
Josh Papalii 92
Corey Horsburgh 85
Jack Wighton 82
Tom Starling 82
Matt Timoko 79
Hudson Young 78
Adam Elliott 69
Elliott Whitehead 66
Corey Harawira-Naera 65
Jordan Rapana 63
Nick Cotric 62
Brad Schneider 59
Ryan Sutton 51
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 50
Sebastian Kris 44
Semi Valemei 38
Xavier Savage 37
Matt Frawley 31
Zac Woolford 30
Emre Guler 25
Jamal Fogarty 18
James Schiller 16
Harry Rushton 14
Jarrod Croker 6
Adrian Trevilyan 4
Trey Mooney 3
Josh Hodgson 1

Average points per match

Joe Tapine 7.3
Jack Wighton 6.8
Josh Papalii 6.6
Hudson Young 6.5
Corey Horsburgh 6.1
Jamal Fogarty 6.0
Jarrod Croker 6.0
Zac Woolford 6.0
Corey Harawira-Naera 5.9
Brad Schneider 5.9
Tom Starling 5.9
Jordan Rapana 5.7
Ryan Sutton 5.7
Matt Timoko 5.6
Elliott Whitehead 5.5
Sebastian Kris 5.5
Adam Elliott 5.3
Matt Frawley 5.2
Nick Cotric 5.2
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 5.0
Semi Valemei 4.8
Harry Rushton 4.7
Xavier Savage 4.6
Emre Guler 4.2
Adrian Trevilyan 4.0
James Schiller 4.0
Trey Mooney 3.0
Josh Hodgson 1.0

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Walter
David Grant
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by Walter »

While it seems it won’t happen I disagree with our views towards Exhibition Park. With the light rail it would seem to be an attractive location to get to and from a stadium both from the city and north and a development there would likely result in a permanent precinct of bars and restaurants given its proximity to North Canberra and Gungahlin.
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greeneyed
Don Furner
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Joined: January 7, 2005, 4:21 pm

Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by greeneyed »

Walter wrote: June 17, 2022, 5:38 pm While it seems it won’t happen I disagree with our views towards Exhibition Park. With the light rail it would seem to be an attractive location to get to and from a stadium both from the city and north and a development there would likely result in a permanent precinct of bars and restaurants given its proximity to North Canberra and Gungahlin.
But given the centre of population of the ACT is on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin at Yarralumla, it is quite remote from the bulk of the population of Canberra, not to mention Queanbeyan. The light rail serves relatively few people. Bruce is much more central.
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Walter
David Grant
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by Walter »

greeneyed wrote: June 17, 2022, 6:07 pm
Walter wrote: June 17, 2022, 5:38 pm While it seems it won’t happen I disagree with our views towards Exhibition Park. With the light rail it would seem to be an attractive location to get to and from a stadium both from the city and north and a development there would likely result in a permanent precinct of bars and restaurants given its proximity to North Canberra and Gungahlin.
But given the centre of population of the ACT is on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin at Yarralumla, it is quite remote from the bulk of the population of Canberra, not to mention Queanbeyan. The light rail serves relatively few people. Bruce is much more central.
Remote :roflmao
Bay53
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by Bay53 »

Walter wrote: June 17, 2022, 5:38 pm While it seems it won’t happen I disagree with our views towards Exhibition Park. With the light rail it would seem to be an attractive location to get to and from a stadium both from the city and north and a development there would likely result in a permanent precinct of bars and restaurants given its proximity to North Canberra and Gungahlin.
The EPIC site, whilst being far from perfect, actually gives a chance of having this happen.

Clearly the Civic Pool site is unsuitable without a massive cost to move Parkes Way. We would all love a stadium in the city but if it is not going to serve our needs we need to move on.

The Stage 88 site that GE talks about is a bureaucratic nightmare in that it is National Capital land and any attempt to reduce public green space will encounter huge opposition.

Arguably the national AIS at Bruce is an idea that has outlived its usefulness and that whole area could be used for other purposes.

That leaves EPIC at Mitchell. One great advantage is there is nothing much there, the facilities are very dated and really wouldn’t be missed. There is plenty of land so the stadium design is not compromised in any way. Also the other activities that take place at EPIC would be enhanced by the stadium and associated infrastructure.

I think we need to articulate what the problem is and focus on how we can overcome it rather than just banking on the perfect solution that will never come. As I see it, the problem we are trying to fix is we have an ageing stadium, that was not built for rectangular sports, in one of the coldest winter climates in the country.

The location of Bruce is not what is keeping people away, it is the facility. Similarly Mitchell, whilst not having the nightlife around it like Civic would, in my opinion is not going to dissuade people from attending if the stadium is attractive.

I reckon if we want any action on the in the next decade, we need to seriously consider the EPIC site.
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by Coastalraider »

Here’s a radical idea. Why not follow the middle eastern approach and simply reclaim land in lake burley griffin, and build on a purpose built site?
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by Walter »

greeneyed wrote:
Walter wrote: June 17, 2022, 5:38 pm While it seems it won’t happen I disagree with our views towards Exhibition Park. With the light rail it would seem to be an attractive location to get to and from a stadium both from the city and north and a development there would likely result in a permanent precinct of bars and restaurants given its proximity to North Canberra and Gungahlin.
But given the centre of population of the ACT is on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin at Yarralumla, it is quite remote from the bulk of the population of Canberra, not to mention Queanbeyan. The light rail serves relatively few people. Bruce is much more central.
Something, something, unconscious bias…I’m sure I’ve read something about unconscious bias on these pages recently. Perhaps you should check quite how central Bruce is compared to Epic before sprouting your opinions. Or find a site in Yarralumla to propose to the government.

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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by Bay53 »

Walter wrote: June 18, 2022, 8:19 pm
greeneyed wrote:
Walter wrote: June 17, 2022, 5:38 pm While it seems it won’t happen I disagree with our views towards Exhibition Park. With the light rail it would seem to be an attractive location to get to and from a stadium both from the city and north and a development there would likely result in a permanent precinct of bars and restaurants given its proximity to North Canberra and Gungahlin.
But given the centre of population of the ACT is on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin at Yarralumla, it is quite remote from the bulk of the population of Canberra, not to mention Queanbeyan. The light rail serves relatively few people. Bruce is much more central.
Something, something, unconscious bias…I’m sure I’ve read something about unconscious bias on these pages recently. Perhaps you should check quite how central Bruce is compared to Epic before sprouting your opinions. Or find a site in Yarralumla to propose to the government.


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I really don’t think the location is going to keep too many away one way or the other. A city location would be ideal mainly because of the things around it, but if that isn’t possible, Mitchell is not going to be any more difficult that Bruce and of course one major advantage is it is right on the entrance to Canberra from Sydney / Goulburn.
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by greeneyed »

Walter wrote: June 18, 2022, 8:19 pm
greeneyed wrote:
Walter wrote: June 17, 2022, 5:38 pm While it seems it won’t happen I disagree with our views towards Exhibition Park. With the light rail it would seem to be an attractive location to get to and from a stadium both from the city and north and a development there would likely result in a permanent precinct of bars and restaurants given its proximity to North Canberra and Gungahlin.
But given the centre of population of the ACT is on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin at Yarralumla, it is quite remote from the bulk of the population of Canberra, not to mention Queanbeyan. The light rail serves relatively few people. Bruce is much more central.
Something, something, unconscious bias…I’m sure I’ve read something about unconscious bias on these pages recently. Perhaps you should check quite how central Bruce is compared to Epic before sprouting your opinions. Or find a site in Yarralumla to propose to the government.

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If you live in Gungahlin I guess it seems central, but it’s not for those south of the lake. It’s much worse in terms of road access than Bruce, in my view.
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Bay53
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by Bay53 »

greeneyed wrote: June 18, 2022, 10:15 pm
Walter wrote: June 18, 2022, 8:19 pm
greeneyed wrote:
Walter wrote: June 17, 2022, 5:38 pm While it seems it won’t happen I disagree with our views towards Exhibition Park. With the light rail it would seem to be an attractive location to get to and from a stadium both from the city and north and a development there would likely result in a permanent precinct of bars and restaurants given its proximity to North Canberra and Gungahlin.
But given the centre of population of the ACT is on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin at Yarralumla, it is quite remote from the bulk of the population of Canberra, not to mention Queanbeyan. The light rail serves relatively few people. Bruce is much more central.
Something, something, unconscious bias…I’m sure I’ve read something about unconscious bias on these pages recently. Perhaps you should check quite how central Bruce is compared to Epic before sprouting your opinions. Or find a site in Yarralumla to propose to the government.

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If you live in Gungahlin I guess it seems central, but it’s not for those south of the lake. It’s much worse in terms of road access than Bruce, in my view.
I guess it all comes down to the problem you are trying to solve. I think the problem is we have an aging stadium that is not fit for purpose. Our primary aim should be to get out of that and into a modern stadium. I don't think there is any doubt we would all love for that to be in Civic but it doesn't seem possible without a suitable location. I don't think Canberra is big enough that any location is too difficult to get to.

The only way it will be built will be with federal money. Potentially the federal government freeing up the Bruce site potentially gives them revenue that could be then used to pay for a new stadium.

If we keep trying to search for the perfect solution, we will be having this same debate in 15 years time. That's if we have a club, considering we will be playing at the worst ground in the competition.
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: As I saw it

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"I've been involved in a lot of unlucky losses, where you probably think you could have got the two points. I'll definitely take it. We've had a really tough start to the first half of the season. So many disruptions, it started from when Josh Hodgson got injured. It's very hard when you keep getting disruptions to your four key positions on the field. It really hurts. That's why we're lacking cohesion, but I still think our game's moving in the right direction. Today was ugly. We made it very hard for ourselves. Errors, we were lethargic. We've been up for every game. But we played lethargic and played ugly today.

We weren't fluent in the way we got to 14-0. It was an ugly game. It was so slow and ugly on the ground. If those interpretations are the way we are going, it is not going to be attractive if that's the standard we are going to be setting, from an interpretation point of view, with the tackled player on the ground. It was just hard to attack off, but that's the reason teams do it.

We just need some luck. Keep some players on the field. We need some cohesion with our spine. We've got young players there, some haven't played double figures in games yet. Xavier Savage, he'll learn a lot from today. Some players there in our centres have played 20 odd games. When they've played 50, 60, 80 games, they're different footballers. We're not proud of how we won that game tonight, we played poorly. The break has come timely for us. We've got a few rep players going away and they'll enjoy representing their countries and their states, but we'll be able to have a nicer spell now knowing we've got two points.

I don't think Hudson Young would've liked to have heard what I said in the box when he kicked it on tackle three, but I did say good try straight away after it. I love coaching Hudson. He gets a bad rap for the way he plays. A lot of people think he's an angry man and what not. That couldn't be further from the truth. He's a really nice fellow, a good bloke to coach. He's a competitor, always in your face and he loves his footy. He's just a very passionate kid about rugby league. I'm happy for him at the moment because he is playing good footy. He's a mentally strong kid. I constructively give him criticism and he works on it. It's nice to be able to give him positive feedback, because he deserves it. If he's playing well or not, he's giving 100 per cent every game, every training session. He's a really good guy to have around the club. He's actually very skilful. Hudson practises that sort of stuff. I've got to try and stop him from flick passing and that sort of stuff.

The change in Joe Tapine is the reaction and change of speed in his game. I know our defence coaches have been working tirelessly on that with him on that, over the last three or four years. His maturity, and it's not just as a person, but maturity in getting games and getting really good minutes now - and he can handle it. He's doing really well. I think he's got the ability to lead New Zealand at some stage of his career. He's growing in regards to his leadership and the standards he's setting for himself, around a lot of our younger players. We've got a lot of good Under 21 players playing second grade at the moment and I know a lot those boys, especially the Polynesian boys, they look up to Joe. And this isn't anything new for Joe. I tell Joe this. I'm really excited for him the way he's playing.

I don't believe [Elliott Whitehead's sin binning] was a sin bin. It could have cost us. To answer that from an emotional point of view in regards to that decision, I believe [referee] Ashley Klein got it right. But then there's someone in his ear telling him he has got to get sin binned. So whoever the bloke is in his ear is that is telling him he has got to be sin binned is wrong. That's why I talked to you about the interpretation on the ground. I think it's messy and it is going backwards in regards to wanting to set a standard for the game from an attacking point of view. I think Ashley got it right where Elliott got pinged for that strip. Ashley was happy to play on because Anthony Milford fell into Elliott and gave him the ball. Ashley got that right, but I’m sure I could bet my bottom dollar, somebody was in his ear and said that was a strip. I think we have got to give the referees a little bit more ability to have their gut decisions, who are three to five metres away from the play. Give them the ability to make their decisions, because Ashley is one of the most experienced referees in the competition. He got those two calls right."

Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart


2022 Round 15. Canberra Raiders 20 - Newcastle Knights 18. The Canberra Raiders had done almost everything possible to lose against the Newcastle Knights on Sunday afternoon. A match in which they led 14-0 close to half time. With two minutes remaining, it looked like the Raiders would again fail to score a point in the second half - for the seventh time this year. Enter Hudson Young. With the Raiders trailing by four, he kicked ahead on the third tackle into a vacant in goal. He then steamed through the defensive line and grounded the ball himself. It was an audacious, stunning play from the second rower. The Fogarty conversion sealed the last gasp win for the Green Machine.



It was an emotional moment, one to savour, one that will be remembered for a very long time. The crowd burst into a spontaneous Viking Clap. But there's also no avoiding the fact that the Raiders had dug themselves into the hole in which they had found themselves.

Canberra should have led by more than 14-6 at half time. The home team had a pile of possession and territory - and opportunities to score more points. Just before half time, the Raiders invited the Knights back into the contest, opting for a short line drop out. That is the time to reef the ball as far downfield as you can. The Knights recovered the ball and promptly scored through lock Kurt Mann.

In the second half, the Raiders again had more possession and territory than the Knights. But they were even less fluent - to borrow the coach's word - than in the first half. The Raiders were missing Jack Wighton due to illness, and the spine was again disrupted. But halves Jamal Fogarty and Matt Frawley did not have the best of games - though the kicking from Fogarty was good. He set up the try for Xavier Sage with a bomb, and might have had one or two others from attacking grubbers. Things seemed to gel more effectively when Zac Woolford was on the field in the first half. When Tom Starling came on in the second half, the attack looked much more disorganised. It lacked threat. There were chances in the red zone that went begging.

With 25 minutes remaining, Elliott Whitehead conceded two penalties in a row. One for a strip on Anthony Milford, one for a late hit on Kalyn Ponga. He was sin binned for the latter. It looked like Milford simply released the ball in the first instance. In the second, it is arguable whether there was contact with the head. But today, he was charged with dangerous contact and I can't argue with the sin binning. Almost straight after Whitehead's departure, the Knights scored through Mat Croker, drawing within two. Then just after his return, Newcastle breached Canberra's defences again, taking the lead courtesy of an Edrick Lee try. I'm surprised that the obvious forward pass from Knights second rower Mitch Barnett has attracted so little comment. But it had proved to be a critical 10 minutes.

Fullback Xavier Savage had some errors in him again. In the 73rd minute, he saved a 40/20 kick from Adam Clunes, but knocked on in attempting to regather the ball - it looked like Edrick Lee had scored the try that would put the result beyond doubt. It would have seen the Knights lead by eight, maybe 10, points. Fortunately the bunker discovered a knock on Knights centre Enari Tuala after Savage's error. Savage, however, has so much potential, we need to put some of these errors in context. He scored a try and set up another in the match. He brings so much threat in attack, he needs to be given as much opportunity to develop in firsts as possible.

Joe Tapine was again a tower of strength in the middle. He looked like a half setting up the first try for Nick Cotric with a long, cut out pass. He again topped 200 running metres. He was the player who made the desperate in goal escape with just over two minutes left, which saw the Raiders go the length of the field to score the winning try. Hudson Young.. well I'm almost lost for words there. Speaking of heroes, what about James Schiller? He was sent on for the final 10 minutes, but broke his collarbone with around four minutes remaining. He couldn't leave the field, as there were no interchanges left. He battled on through the pain, one arm hanging by his side. What a courageous effort to play out the game.



This was a match that left me with mixed emotions. I was silently fuming through much of the second half, given how poorly the team was playing. The errors, the lack of intensity, the poor organisation. But then the surge of excitement. The disbelief when Young scored the match winner. The admiration for those who saved the day.

The Raiders had to win that game, otherwise the prospects of making the top eight would look fairly grim. They now sit in 11th on the ladder, alongside the Roosters and Sea Eagles on 14 competition points. They are two points adrift of the Rabbitohs (seventh) and Dragons (eighth). They are still close enough. But they'll have to improve significantly if they're to play finals football.

The Raiders' coaching staff will use the week off for Representative Round to review the season so far. I'd be surprised if they are not looking very closely at the form of some players. Elliott Whitehead and Tom Starling are well down in form in my view. Jamal Fogarty needs to be given more opportunity to settle in. But I would be considering the first grade claims of players like Trey Mooney, Harry Rushton and Adrian Trevilyan.

Stats that mattered? As mentioned, the Raiders had plenty of possession (56 per cent) and territory (62 per cent) in the first half. They had 18 tackles in the Knights' red zone, while the Knights had 12 chances at the other end. That swung back a little to the Knights in the second half. But the Raiders still finished the game with 54 per cent of the possession and 60 per cent of the territory. Five more minutes with the ball.

The Knights completed at just 66 per cent (Raiders 72 per cent), but Canberra made more errors in the end (14-12). Newcastle conceded eight penalties, the Raiders four. But the Green Machine also conceded three set restarts.

With all that possession, Canberra had the better of the attacking numbers. They made more runs (193-164), running metres (1669-1445), post contact metres (594-486) and tackle breaks (41-23). However, both teams made three line breaks. Canberra's offloading was down (seven, Knights six). The Knights produced more kicking metres (560-477) and they needed to do so. But the Raiders got four line drop outs (Knights one), three of them to Jamal Fogarty.

The Knights missed 41 tackles (Raiders 23) and posted 11 ineffective tackles (Raiders six). That meant the Raiders had the better effective tackle rate (92 per cent, compared with 88 per cent for the Knights). But one last gasp try conceded by the Knights was the key difference at the end.

Memorable moments? Hudson Young's try. It will be one of the most memorable moments of the Raiders' season.

Best performers?

Joe Tapine. 20 runs for 203 metres, 75 post contact metres, one try assist, one line break assist, three tackle breaks, 26 tackles, 93 per cent tackle efficiency.

Hudson Young. One try, 20 runs for 139 metres, 48 post contact metres, one line break, nine tackle breaks, one offload, 33 tackles, 92 per cent tackle efficiency.

Adam Elliott was close to points.

Top tacklers: Adam Elliott 41, Elliott Whitehead 36, Hudson Young 33
Most metres gained: Joe Tapine 203, Josh Papalii 177, Xavier Savage 150

Tapine, Papalii, Young, Corey Horsburgh (137), Adam Elliott (134) all broke 100 metres gained in the forwards, while Savage, Jordan Rapana (121), Matt Timoko (111) and Sebastian Kris (101) did so in the backs.

My player ratings:

Xavier Savage 6
Nick Cotric 5
Matt Timoko 6
Sebastian Kris 5
Jordan Rapana 6
Matt Frawley 4
Jamal Fogarty 6
Josh Papalii 7
Zac Woolford 6
Joe Tapine 8
Hudson Young 8
Elliott Whitehead 4
Adam Elliott 7

Tom Starling 5
Ryan Sutton 5
Corey Horsburgh 7
James Schiller 2 *

* Played very limited minutes.

Do you agree with the ratings? Let us know!

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Plus follow us on Facebook: The Greenhouse Forum and Instagram: @TheGHRaiders

If you can put some sentences together and you'd like to write a regular column for The Greenhouse, let us know! We are keen to have more contributing writers!
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by dubby »

good write up, Fergus.

The break will do the team the world of good. I hope they come back after the bye refreshed and ready.
The spiral of silence refers to the idea that when people fail to speak, the price of speaking rises. As the price to speak rises, still fewer speak out, which further causes the price to rise, so that fewer people yet will speak out, until a whole culture or nation is silenced. This is what happened in Germany.

If you do not speak, you are not being neutral, but are contributing to the success of the thing you refuse to name and condemn.
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by -PJ- »

dubby wrote: June 20, 2022, 3:14 pm good write up, Fergus.

The break will do the team the world of good. I hope they come back after the bye refreshed and ready.
The break will do us the world of good.

It’ll give time for the heart medication to kick in.
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: A wet, wild, windy, woolly Wollongong

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UPDATED 8 MIN READ

The Raiders are heading to what promises to be a wet, wild, windy and woolly Wollongong - for a meeting with the Dragons on Sunday afternoon.

The forecast conditions are awful, with 150-200mm of rain and winds of up to 45kms per hour predicted for Sunday. That follows a forecast of 100-150mm of rain on Saturday.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart knows that his team will not only have to adjust to the conditions, but they will have to take advantage of them.

Last year's clash between the two teams in Wollongong was played in an absolute gale - and it was the Dragons that took advantage.

The Raiders led 14-6 at half time, running with the wind at their backs. A try to Joe Tapine inside the first five minutes of the second half saw Canberra go to a 20-8 lead.

But the Dragons used the wind much more effectively in the second 40, running in the final three tries. In the end, the home team won, 22-20.

"It seems as though we're going to get a lot of rain and it's going to be very windy, coming of the ocean," Stuart said on Friday.

"I remember the game we had last year was the same... without the wet. It was very windy. I remember running left to right there, running into the southerly, both teams were putting balls up and it was coming back to you."

"It's going to be a different dynamic of strategy and a big challenge for both teams. So the team that can handle the conditions best will be a big chance of winning."

Ricky Stuart is happy with this week's preparation, coming after a week's break for most of the players due to Rep Round. In a further boost, the Green Machine's representative players have returned injury free.

Joe Tapine and Jordan Rapana were outstanding in New Zealand's Test victory over Tonga in Auckland last Saturday. Josh Papalii played just 26 minutes in Sunday night's Origin clash - so he should be fresh.

"I thought we were pretty lethargic when we played [the Knights in Round 15]," Stuart said.

"We just couldn't put Newcastle away in the first half and made it hard for ourselves in the second. We just looked lethargic and looking forward to the break."

"The boys bounced back this week into a highly energetic week. You can see they enjoyed a bit of time off and we've got our rep players back as well, so it's a stroke of good luck this time around."

"Jordan Rapana and Joe Tapine are in good form, have come back injury free and they're playing with a lot of pride and making the club proud of them."

Stuart says he hasn't spoken to anyone in the Queensland camp about why Papalii is being given such limited minutes in Origin this year.

Papalii has started both games, but was pulled off after just 15 minutes in Origin I. He later came back on for the final seven minutes. In Origin II he was replaced in the 17th minute, and returned with less than 10 minutes remaining - despite the fact that the Maroons were out on their feet in the second half.

"He's not playing a lot of minutes. It's on Papa's mind as well," Stuart revealed today.

"He wants to show that he can still play at that level of intensity. I've got no doubt he can."

"Josh is a senior member of the Queensland team and I'm sure they're discussing that with him at the moment. He comes back fresh for us, so that's a bonus for us."

Five eighth Jack Wighton is also back for the Raiders this week after missing the last gasp win over the Knights - and Origin II - due to a bout of COVID. Stuart says he's recovered well.

"He was back in doing a little bit of work over the weekend, transitioning back in from seven days out with isolation," he said.

"I think [the break has] done him good. He's had a big start to the season. He looks fast, he looks strong and he's had a really good week at training."

"When your senior players training with that energy and they're training with that intensity, it rubs off onto the players, especially the younger boys around them."

"That's why you call them leaders. They're leading in the right direction and with the right standards. All those senior boys of mine are at the moment and they're doing a really good job for us."

Stuart believes that Jack Wighton should slot straight back into the New South Wales centres, alongside Matt Burton, in Origin III.

Burton had an impressive debut for the Blues in Origin II, after Wighton was sidelined. There has been media speculation that Wighton might be shifted to No. 14 in the Origin decider - or miss out altogether.

"I think they can move Burton across to the other side, and pull Jack into the left hand side there," Stuart said.

"I don't think that's a tough decision at all. I think that makes the team stronger to be quite honest."

Fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad also returns on the bench this week, after recovering from a hamstring problem. Stuart was keeping his options open on how CNK would be used against the Dragons.

"Let the game flow and see what happens," Stuart said. "It's a great position to be in having Charnze there. He gives a lot of utility value. We're very fortunate to be able to have him back in the 17."

****

The Dragons are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Illawarra Steelers on Sunday. Illawarra was admitted to the "Sydney competition" at the same time as the Raiders, back in 1982. The Steelers disappeared in 1999, when Illawarra merged with St George.

But the Illawarra contingent will probably fondly remember their first clash with the Raiders in Wollongong back in 1982. Wingers Peter Kirkland and Lee Pomfret both scored hat tricks. The Raiders were held scoreless in a 45 point defeat.

The Raiders turned that around against the Steelers later that year at Seiffert. They produced their third, and final, win of the season, beating Illawarra, 26-19. Chris O'Sullivan got a double, while Craig Bellamy, David Grand and Jay Hoffman were among the try scorers for Canberra.

Here's hoping the Raiders can get a little bit of revenge for that 45-0 defeat on Sunday.

****

The Greenhouse has recently been voting, survivor style, to find the top ten greatest ever Canberra Raiders of all time. In the year of the club's 40th anniversary celebrations, it is an appropriate time to update the list that was determined by a series of polls back in 2007.

This time the process started with the list of the top 30 players of all time, selected for the 40 Year Dream Team earlier this year. That's an exercise that The Greenhouse has been undertaking every five years, since the club's 25th anniversary. It's an exhaustive process, a series of polls to select the best of the best, position by position.

To find the top 10 players of all time, the members of the site have been voting players "off the island" so to speak. It's a brutal process, as there have been so many wonderful players who've turned out in green over 40 seasons. I can understand why some don't like it. But it is a process that forces you to think hard.

After four polls, there is now a list of 10. Each week from here, one more player gets voted "off the island", to determine the top 10 in order. It's a pretty good list. As is always the case with these things, it has already proved to be a little controversial. it is easy to poke holes after the event, without participating. To say, "what about" this player or that player?

When the latest process started, I wasn't sure of my own list. But I think the process has crystallised my own thoughts. So here it is, my top 10.

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My list is close to the list of 10 selected by the voters this time around. The only difference is I have included Glenn Lazarus, instead of Josh Papalii. For mine, it is too early to consider Big Papa. Once his already illustrious career is done, we can look back at his record and assess it properly, without the risk of recency bias.

I know some fans believe that because Lazarus and John Ferguson spent a good part of their careers at other clubs they shouldn't be in the top 10. But in my view, their record at the Raiders is so strong, that they are very worthy inclusions. Lazarus played in three grand finals and won two premierships with the club. Ferguson won two premierships in two attempts while at the Raiders. He was also Dally M Winger of the Year and Dally M Top Tryscorer while in green. He was an absolute magician with the ball in hand, his stepping and evasion a sight to behold.

Brett Mullins is the name a lot of people mention when asking "what about"? Mullins and Lazarus were the last two players to be voted "off the island" this year by the readers of the site. Mullins was a mercurial player, blessed with pure speed. What he could do on the field was freakish at times. The double kick and chase against the Broncos, the four tries against the Knights. Gary Belcher was a different sort of player, but in my view, was the better player over a longer period. A silky smooth runner with great footwork, who knew where to inject himself into the attack. Two premierships, three times Dally M Fullback of the Year, twice the Raiders' Player of the Year. I think his record is underappreciated by some.

The order of the top five is without doubt in my view. What a list of players. An Immortal, some of the best players in their positions of all time.

Of course, others will have different views. These sorts of lists are always controversial. I try to be as objective as possible in such debates, but ultimately, there is an element of subjectivity. May the debates rage on. Because remembering and recognising the players of the past, the history of the club, is something that binds us together as supporters. And because a football club is nothing without those who have gone before.

****

Every week I rate the Raiders players on a scale of 0-10... and here is the latest points tally. Tell us what you think of the ratings!
Total points

Joe Tapine 110
Josh Papalii 99
Corey Horsburgh 92
Tom Starling 87
Hudson Young 86
Matt Timoko 85
Jack Wighton 82
Adam Elliott 76
Elliott Whitehead 70
Jordan Rapana 69
Nick Cotric 67
Corey Harawira-Naera 65
Brad Schneider 59
Ryan Sutton 56
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 50
Sebastian Kris 49
Xavier Savage 43
Semi Valemei 38
Zac Woolford 36
Matt Frawley 35
Emre Guler 25
Jamal Fogarty 24
James Schiller 18
Harry Rushton 14
Jarrod Croker 6
Adrian Trevilyan 4
Trey Mooney 3
Josh Hodgson 1

Average points per match

Joe Tapine 7.3
Jack Wighton 6.8
Hudson Young 6.6
Josh Papalii 6.6
Corey Horsburgh 6.1
Jamal Fogarty 6.0
Jarrod Croker 6.0
Zac Woolford 6.0
Corey Harawira-Naera 5.9
Brad Schneider 5.9
Tom Starling 5.8
Jordan Rapana 5.8
Matt Timoko 5.7
Ryan Sutton 5.6
Sebastian Kris 5.4
Adam Elliott 5.4
Elliott Whitehead 5.4
Nick Cotric 5.2
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 5.0
Matt Frawley 5.0
Xavier Savage 4.8
Semi Valemei 4.8
Harry Rushton 4.7
Emre Guler 4.2
Adrian Trevilyan 4.0
James Schiller 3.6
Trey Mooney 3.0
Josh Hodgson 1.0

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greeneyed
Don Furner
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: As I saw it

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2022 Round 16. St George Illawarra Dragons 12 - Canberra Raiders 10. This was a match the Raiders put themselves in a position to win, but somehow found a way to lose. It ended in refereeing controversy, but the responsibility for the loss lies with the team, not the officials. They Raiders produced errors at key points in the game - and failed to execute the strategy needed to win in the atrocious conditions.





At times there was heavy rain and a gale blew off the ocean from the south east. The Dragons chose to run with the wind at their backs in the first half and to repeatedly kick early. Yet Canberra looked to be the better team for much of the first half. They had only 45 per cent of possession, and conceded six penalties, yet they were able to make big metres up the middle with the ball in hand. They had almost 60 per cent of the territory. But the Dragons produced points as a result of Canberra's mistakes.

Twice the Raiders attempted short line drop outs, into the face of the gale. It is a tactic that the Raiders have adopted relatively recently. It is not going well. It requires, first, the kicking skill to ensure the ball travels 10 metres. Ideally, the skill to recover the ball. It also requires an ability to defend in the red zone, should the opposition regather the ball. In the Raiders' last match, they invited the Knights back into the contest just before half time, as a result of a short drop out. The Knights promptly scored from the opportunity offered up. Against the Dragons, short drop outs into the teeth of the gale were just asking for more trouble.

The first short drop out, in the 18th minute, was judged to have gone 10 metres, to have broken the imaginary plane. But the wind blew the ball back. Jack Wighton was there just inside the 10 metre zone, and elected to bat the ball back... to Dragons half Talatau Amone. It couldn't have been more perfect... for the Dragons. Another short drop out in the 25th minute failed to go 10 metres. That resulted in a penalty in front of the sticks. The classic gift two points. An impressive run from 10 metres out from Xavier Savage produced a good try - and saw the Raiders trail by just two points.

If Canberra had gone to the break down 6-4, it would have been a very good result. But just before half time, Nick Cotric dropped a bomb and Jack Wighton picked the ball up from an offside position. Errors like that were always going to happen in the conditions. But a defensive error from Elliott Whitehead then led to a Dragons try to Moses Suli - and that earned the home team a 12-4 half time lead.

Even an eight point deficit for Canberra wasn't too bad, considering the advantage offered by the wind. An advantage on offer to the Raiders in the second half. An advantage the Raiders failed to take. Ben Hunt's kicking game into the wind was much more effective, repeatedly pinning the Raiders on their own line. It seemed like there were no early kicks from Canberra. At one critical point, with five minutes remaining, Jack Wighton failed to find touch from a penalty. Then there were the handling errors. The Raiders lost the ball on the first tackle after a scrum win, twice. A good Hudson Young try in the 54th minute brought Canberra within two points. But that was as close as they could get. It was a long, frustrating final 20 minutes, with the Raiders' play makers unable to orchestrate the win.

The Raiders should not have found themselves in the position of depending on a refereeing decision at the end of the game. The Raiders had one final shot in the Dragons' red zone, after Cody Ramsey dropped a bomb. With seconds remaining, Ben Hunt deliberately arrived late and lay in the ruck - and the referee called "six again". It was a clear professional foul, in my view, and a penalty certainly was warranted. It was right in front of the posts and the goal would have forced golden point. But it was not to be. It hurts, it's frustrating and the officials should be held accountable. But the Raiders also need to be accountable for a performance which was not up to scratch.

This was a "four point game". Of course, there's no such thing, but we perceive it that way. The Raiders have next week's points in hand, still. All of the teams in the bottom half of the eight have had their bye. The Raiders are currently four points adrift of the eighth placed Dragons, but two when you throw in the bye. The trouble is, the other teams knocking on the door of the eight, the Sea Eagles and Roosters, also have two points coming from the bye next week.

And the bottom line is this. If the Raiders hope to make the top eight they can't afford to let games against teams like the Dragons slip. The draw from here is relatively favourable. But given the way the team is playing, I can't say I'm confident that there won't be more slip ups to come.

Stats that mattered? The Dragons ended the match with 52 per cent of the possession and the territory. They completed slightly better than the Raiders (76-70 per cent) and made fewer errors (10-15). When you add up penalties and set re-starts, they produced slightly fewer infringements (7-8).

The Raiders made more running metres (1329-1259), line breaks (4-3), tackle breaks (29-27) and metres per set (32-29). Some of those numbers are pretty close to equal. The Dragons made more offloads (10-7). Both teams forced three line drop outs, while the Dragons made slightly more kick metres (678-623). The Raiders had the slightly better effective tackle rate (90-89 per cent).

All the numbers indicate a very close game. And it was. Two tries apiece, two points the difference. The Raiders had opportunities, but it was the Dragons who had the edge in game management, leadership and organisation. Ben Hunt was probably the difference.

Memorable moments? The Raiders' two tries were well executed. But this game is one to try and forget, really.

Best performers?

Joseph Tapine. 18 runs for 156 metres, 70 post contact metres, one line break, five tackle breaks, one offload, 46 tackles, 92 per cent tackle efficiency. Stood tall yet again.

Hudson Young. One try, 14 runs for 69 metres, 22 post contact metres, one line break, one line break assist, two tackle breaks, two offloads, 36 tackles, 88 per cent tackle efficiency.

Adam Elliott. 15 runs for 136 metres, 44 post contact metres, five tackle breaks, two offloads, 26 tackles, 96 per cent tackle efficiency.

Top tacklers: Joseph Tapine 46, Elliott Whitehead 37, Hudson Young 36
Most metres gained: Joseph Tapine 156, Xavier Savage 148, Jordan Rapana 141

Only Tapine and Elliott made more than 100 running metres in the forwards. Corey Horsburgh was close (98), but Josh Papalii made only 83 metres from 11 runs. I'm not sure if Papalii is carrying some sort of injury. But ever since Origin I, his form has been down.

My player ratings:

Xavier Savage 7
Nick Cotric 5
Matt Timoko 4
Sebastian Kris 5
Jordan Rapana 6
Jack Wighton 4
Jamal Fogarty 4
Josh Papalii 5
Zac Woolford 5
Joe Tapine 8
Hudson Young 7
Elliott Whitehead 4
Ryan Sutton 5

Adam Elliott 7
Tom Starling 5
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 1*
Corey Horsburgh 6

* Played very limited minutes.

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The Nickman
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by The Nickman »

Jack should easily have the worst score
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greeneyed
Don Furner
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: Time to simplify the rules

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"Almost all quality improvement comes via simplification of design... processes, and procedures." - Tom Peters

Two weeks ago, the Canberra Raiders were denied an opportunity to force the clash with the Dragons into golden point, in the final minute.

The NRL admitted the next day that Dragons half, Ben Hunt, should have been penalised, not once. Not twice. But three times. For being off side. For a flop. For not standing square at marker. And each infringement merited a sin binning for a professional foul.

So if the Raiders had been awarded a penalty in front of the sticks, and kicked the goal, they would have been playing a 12 man Dragons outfit in golden point.

All the referee did was to once wave "six again".

It was infuriating. It is impossible not to wonder, "what if". To wonder what two competition points - four competition points if you include the last minute error from the officials in the loss to the Warriors - might mean for the Raiders' finals chances.

But refereeing decisions are outside the control of football teams. The Raiders had plenty of opportunity during the Dragons game to put the result beyond a poor refereeing decision or three. They had dug themselves into that hole.

The best thing that football teams can do is to focus on the things that they control and take accountability for that. Blaming the officials for the outcomes of matches is very difficult to avoid in the heat of the moment. But it is ultimately not productive. Focussing on the things you can control. Accountability for performance. That's the productive thing to do.

The officials too need to be accountable for their own performance. At least, in this case, the NRL's head of football, Graham Annesley publicly admitted the refereeing errors. And the referee concerned found himself running the line the next week.

We all thought that was pretty much the end of it. But this week, the news leaked that the NRL was considering a rule change for 2023 to discourage teams from deliberately conceding set restarts in the dying moments of a game - as the Dragons did while defending a two point lead in their own red zone.

The idea is to allow teams to play out their set of six, even if 40 or 80 minutes have been completed.

It has been suggested that this would give teams a genuine shot at scoring, in the face of professional fouls from the opposition.

I suspect the proposal has not got legs because of an outbreak of concern for the Raiders. Origin I finished with the Blues attacking the Queensland line, with two tackles remaining. The Blues trailed by six at the time.

My reaction to this latest proposal? Stop already!

Those in power at NRL headquarters seem to have an almost insatiable desire to tinker with the rules and interpretations.

Sometimes, a controversy around the officiating reveals a need for a rule change. Like "Trainergate" in the 2019 Grand Final. In that case, the Roosters were advantaged because their own trainer interfered in the play. That's a patently ridiculous outcome. That sort of thing needs to be fixed.

The controversy that emerged from the Raiders' loss to the Dragons was due to a refereeing error. A mistake. The rule wasn't the problem.

But even if we accept that teams deliberately conceding six again calls is a problem, maybe we need to look at the real source of that problem.

During the off season, it was decided that teams had been deliberately conceding set restarts when they were defending in the opposition half. The response was to add another layer of complexity. Award penalties to attacking teams when they are at the own end of the field. Once they cross the opposition's 40 metre line, set restarts come back into play.

So now we have two rules, one for 60 per cent of the field, another for 40 per cent of the field. No wonder the referees make mistakes. We make it too hard for them. The rules are just too complex.

The answer is not to further tinker. The answer is not more complexity. The answer is in simplification.

We don't need an "innovation committee" this off season. We need a "simplificaton committee".

Time to throw out some unnecessary, dud rules, like two points for long range field goals and 20/40 kicks.

And it is time to admit that the "six again" experiment has been a failure. Time for some at NRL headquarters to swallow some pride. Let's go back to penalties for ruck infringements and off side in 100 per cent of the field.

****

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

Total points

Joe Tapine 118
Josh Papalii 104
Corey Horsburgh 98
Hudson Young 93
Tom Starling 92
Matt Timoko 89
Jack Wighton 86
Adam Elliott 83
Jordan Rapana 75
Elliott Whitehead 74
Nick Cotric 72
Corey Harawira-Naera 65
Ryan Sutton 61
Brad Schneider 59
Sebastian Kris 54
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 51
Xavier Savage 50
Zac Woolford 41
Semi Valemei 38
Matt Frawley 35
Jamal Fogarty 28
Emre Guler 25
James Schiller 18
Harry Rushton 14
Jarrod Croker 6
Adrian Trevilyan 4
Trey Mooney 3
Josh Hodgson 1

Average points per match

Joe Tapine 7.4
Hudson Young 6.6
Jack Wighton 6.6
Josh Papalii 6.5
Corey Horsburgh 6.1
Jarrod Croker 6.0
Corey Harawira-Naera 5.9
Brad Schneider 5.9
Zac Woolford 5.9
Jordan Rapana 5.8
Tom Starling 5.8
Jamal Fogarty 5.6
Matt Timoko 5.6
Ryan Sutton 5.5
Adam Elliott 5.5
Sebastian Kris 5.4
Elliott Whitehead 5.3
Nick Cotric 5.1
Matt Frawley 5.0
Xavier Savage 5.0
Semi Valemei 4.8
Harry Rushton 4.7
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 4.6
Emre Guler 4.2
Adrian Trevilyan 4.0
James Schiller 3.6
Trey Mooney 3.0
Josh Hodgson 1.0

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Seiffert82
Mal Meninga
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by Seiffert82 »

Agreed on the rules issue.

The new rules have added nothing to the game other than confusion and unnecessary complexity. It's becoming like Rugby Union.

Nobody will convince me that half a dozen random "6 again's" in a game improves the product. Nor the 20/40 or 2 pt FG.

What comes out of an infraction in the attacking 20 is an absolute crapshoot. ....6 again, penalty, penalty plus sin-bin, quick chat with the offending captain.... now we are considering the option of playing out the full set of 6 after the siren? Let's see a ref call that one when a team is 4 or 6 behind.

C'mon now. Ridiculous scenes.


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greeneyed
Don Furner
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: As I saw it

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"We had a big challenge, similar to Craig Bellamy's team. They've got a lot of injuries too. That was a challenge for both teams today and I think both teams bounced into a bit of form. It was a tough game, physically tough. We’re in the hunt. There’s no doubt about that. I just need us to play with that type of spirit and they do. That’s why I love coaching them because they are a tough bunch of blokes. They’re spirited. That was a really good game of football, that either team could have won.

It was a great performance by James Schiller, he’s a young bloke and he scored a double. That try he scored in the second-half, of his grubber kick, that was a very good try. It was handy for us. Whether it was try of the year, I’m not too sure. But I'm sure that you'll see it again on a couple of replays. It was great individual skill. He's still a very young boy. He can still play in Under 21s. We gave him an opportunity this year. He's taken it with both hands and he's done well."

Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart


2022 Round 18. Canberra Raiders 20 - Melbourne Storm 16. The Melbourne Storm had not lost three games in a row since 2015. The Storm are the biggest bogey team in the competition for the Canberra Raiders. The Green Machine had won just 14 of the 50 matches played between the clubs. Canberra lost Elliott Whitehead, Nick Cotric and Corey Horsburgh to injury and illness on the eve of the match. A tough assignment. Yet it was the Raiders that walked off the field in Melbourne, with their fourth win in a row at the ground. And the Storm posted their third straight loss.



The Raiders clearly came with some plans. To match Melbourne in the middle, to attack with some shape, to target the Storm's right edge, and to spread the ball to get around the compressed Storm defence. It paid off, in the end, with the Raiders producing an impressive victory in one of the most hostile environments in the NRL.

The match didn't start well for Canberra. Melbourne five eighth, Cameron Munster, having missed Origin III due to COVID, was a bundle of energy. The Storm had plans of their own, to target Canberra's right side. It nearly produced a Melbourne try in the opening minute. The Raiders' defence seemed be lacking in intensity, and Munster and Ryan Papenhuyzen made big inroads. It soon produced dividends, with Storm winger Nick Meaney scoring after just five minutes.

An intercept try to Sebastian Kris in the 10th minute helped to steady the ship. And the Raiders began to find some rhythm, to get into the grind. When they got some possession, they found that Melbourne had their own vulnerabilities, some brittleness in defence. When James Schiller crossed in the 23rd minute, the Raiders took an almost improbable 12-6 lead. Melbourne had seemed to have all the opportunities, but their mistakes had cost them. The early departure of fullback Papenhuyzen with a fractured knee cap didn't help.

As they do, the Storm continued to challenge right until the end. After Jordan Rapana was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on Marion Seve, the Storm took back the lead, thanks to a Harry Grant try. At that stage, there was just over 20 minutes remaining. But the Raiders were not finished. James Schiller produced an incredible try, one that will be in contention for the try of the year. He kicked ahead for himself, down the touch line, left the field of play, ran around the corner post and somehow grounded the ball, just inside the touch line and the dead ball line. It had looked like Xavier Savage had sealed it with five minutes remaining, chasing a kick to the in goal from Jack Wighton. But no, he had knocked on.

Even after the siren had sounded the result was in doubt. Referee Ashley Klein somehow found a penalty against Josh Papalii for obstructing the run of Tyran Wishart. The Raiders challenged - and the bunker correctly found Papalii had simply stood his ground and Wishart had run straight at him. Milking, milking, always milking.



The Raiders' victory was much needed after the disappointing loss to the Dragons two weeks ago. It has kept them in the race for a finals spot, just. They are one of three teams sitting on 18 competition points, two points adrift of the eighth placed Sea Eagles. The Raiders' draw is relatively favourable, with seven matches remaining. Five of the seven opponents are below the Raiders on the ladder. We can expect a loss to the Panthers, but six games are winnable. There can now be no further slip ups.

Stats that mattered? The Storm had a 54 per cent share of possession and 51 per cent of the territory. The Storm had almost four minutes more with the ball. The Raiders produced one more error (12-11), while penalties were level (8-8). The Raiders, however, were not awarded a single set restart, the Storm six. Most casual observers of the game would find that disparity difficult to comprehend.

The Storm had the better of most of the attacking statistics. They made more runs (198-161), running metres (1763-1523), kick return metres (172-110), line breaks (6-4), tackle breaks (43-32) and offloads (13-6). The Storm had 40 tackles in the Raiders' red zone, while the Raiders had 19 tackles in the Storm's 20 metres. The Raiders were forced to kick long and early at times (634 kicking metres gained for the Raiders, 400 for the Storm). But it was an effective counter tactic.

The Storm had the better effective tackle rate (87 per cent, Raiders 84 per cent). Canberra had to do much more tackling, but also produced more missed tackles (43-32) and ineffective tackles (22-13).

So when it seemed like the Storm had a lot more opportunities than the Raiders, indeed they did. Yet tries scored were level, at three apiece. That says a lot about the Raiders' scramble in defence at key points in the game. And it also says a lot about Jamal Fogarty's goal kicking. He kicked four from four. It proved to be the difference.

Memorable moments? The Schiller try, the Schiller try, the Schiller try. The second one. The most memorable moment of the game. His first was pretty good too, with a Corey Harawira-Naera offload allowing the right edge to show their wares. It was great to see Sebastian Kris in open spaces as well. He ran 85 metres for his four pointer. But the second Schiller try was no doubt the best.

The best moment in defence came inside the final five minutes, with the game on the line. Storm half Jahrome Hughes drove himself over the line, low. Jack Wighton's attempted tackle missed. But Xavier Savage got in under Fogarty and somehow forced the error out of Hughes. Hughes tried to milk a penalty, laying down after the tackle - and the referee asked the bunker to look at the possibility of a penalty try. But there was no question of any illegal contact. It was just great defence.

Best performers?

James Schiller. Two tries, 11 runs for 69 metres, 20 post contact metres, two line breaks, two tackle breaks. Sadly, he had to leave the field early with an ankle injury.

Joseph Tapine. 17 runs for 171 metres, 81 post contact metres, three tackle breaks, three offloads, 26 tackles, 79 per cent tackle efficiency. Four missed tackles and three ineffective tackles were the main blot. He is human after all.

Adam Elliott. 16 runs for 136 metres, 57 post contact metres, five tackle breaks, 37 tackles, 88 per cent tackle efficiency.

Top tacklers: Corey Harawira-Naera 38, Jamal Fogarty 38, Adam Elliott 37
Most metres gained: Sebastian Kris 176, Joseph Tapine 171, Jordan Rapana 146, Adam Elliott 136

My player ratings:

Xavier Savage 7
Jordan Rapana 5
Matt Timoko 6
Sebastian Kris 7
James Schiller 7
Jack Wighton 6
Jamal Fogarty 6
Josh Papalii 6
Zac Woolford 5
Joe Tapine 7
Hudson Young 7
Adam Elliott 7
Corey Harawira-Naera 6

Ryan Sutton 6
Tom Starling 5
Emre Guler 6
Albert Hopoate 2 *

* Very limited minutes

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Billy Walker
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by Billy Walker »

Maybe a touch harsh on Zac Woolford GE? Otherwise pretty spot on i’d say.

Assume Jack’s dropped ball gave him a 6 when a 7 was on offer. I think the same could have been applied to Savage. The kid is getting very close to a top shelf game but still a few errors to iron out. It will come - he’s class!
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Seiffert82
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by Seiffert82 »

After a shakey start, this was one of our better performances of the season. As the coach said after the game, it's hard to cop some of our losses this year when you know the team is capable of playing decent football.

Our edge defence is still suspect, but to be fair, Munster and Papenhuyzen are the two players who will test any laziness on the inside, or players without the quickness to react. It could have been a different result if Paps wasn't injured, but in saying that, Melbourne had their fair share of advantage in those ruck decisions.

This game highlighted, yet again, the absolute stupidity of the "7 tackle set" rule for knock-ons in the in-goal. The rule was introduced to stop teams deliberately kicking the ball dead. Now we have a situation that the defending team gets a ridiculous leg up if the attacking team happens to knock the ball on when attempting to score a try. A knock on 1 metre from the line is an infinitely better result for the attacking team. Why is the punishment so different?

Why on earth should the defending team get a 20 m restart and 7 tackles in that situation.

It's an absolutely ridiculous rule...in any game.

Almost as bad as the "6 again" lottery system.


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zim
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by zim »

Tyran Wishart is going to be a Melbourne long stay. Several milks during the game.
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gerg
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by gerg »

Good write up as usual GE. This felt a bit like the Eels game last year where the team put in a really good performance and I mistakenly thought it was a sliding doors moment. Season slipping away and then back on track and a push for the finals. Instead we reverted to our ordinary form from earlier in the season. While it was a really good win yesterday it means nothing if it isn't a turning point.
Shoving it in your face since 2017
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greeneyed
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: A bit of consistency

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Stacey Jones made 261 appearances for the New Zealand Warriors between 1995 and 2009. One of New Zealand's greatest ever players, the halfback was awarded the "Golden Boot" in 2002. The best player in the world of rugby league.

As a player, Jones faced the Canberra Raiders in 20 matches. He was often the fly in the ointment for the Green Machine. No more so than in 2003.

That season, the Raiders had been the surprise packets of the competition. The Green Machine opened the season with a seven game winning streak and were in the top two for much of the year. They finished in fourth, having won 16 matches.

A loss to the Storm in week one of the finals, set up a finals clash between the Raiders and Warriors at the Sydney Football Stadium.

The crowd of 30,000 was dominated by Warriors fans, who had been given 10,000 free tickets to the match by sponsor Vodafone - after fears that two 'out of town' teams would draw a poor crowd.

Facing a hostile reception, the Raiders were brilliant in the opening stages. Mark McLinden made a clean break in the first set, streaking downfield before the cover defence caught him. From the ensuing set, the Raiders were awarded a penalty which allowed Clinton Schifcofske a penalty goal to open the scoring. Soon after, an inspired run from captain Simon Woolford led to a try under the posts, and after another penalty goal the Raiders were flying at 10-0.

The Warriors, beaten grand finalists from the previous season, demonstrated their ability to step up a gear and produced two quick tries to even the match up at half time, the weight of possession strongly in New Zealand's favour.

Early in the second half, the Warriors scored again to take the lead for the first time, and many thought they would run away with the game. However the Raiders would not lie down. In a ferocious forwards battle, Ryan O'Hara and Luke Davico were devastating, as was Ruben Wiki who was playing out wider. Numerous big hits dominated the second half and the Raiders managed to pressure the Warriors into mistakes. A no-nonsense barge over try from Luke Davico had the game tied up at 16 all, and it stayed that way for 20 tense minutes.

The final stages will live in Raiders infamy for many a year. With only minutes on the clock, the Raiders in their best field position for most of the half and a field goal beckoning, Mark McLinden decided to grubber instead for Jason Bulgarelli. The ball sat up beautifully for the centre, who just needed to hold the ball and fall over for a try. But he could not keep it in his grasp and dropped it forward.

Enter Stacey Jones. The Warriors worked the ball up field, giving Jones field position to drop the winning one pointer, three minutes from the end.

A frenetic final few seconds did not allow the Raiders to square the match, leaving thousands of Green Machine fans in the stands heartbroken, but proud. Proud of how a team that was written off before the season had performed.

Today, Stacey Jones is preparing the Warriors for their Round 19 clash with the Raiders at Canberra Stadium. In early June, he took the head coaching reins of the Auckland outfit, after Nathan Brown was unable to commit to the club long term.

Jones is an interim coach, with the head coaching role to be taken over by Penrith assistant, Andrew Webster next year.

Hopefully, however, he doesn't have one final trick left up his sleeve for the Green Machine on Saturday.

2003 Finals Week 2 - New Zealand Warriors 17 (Henry Fa'afili, Logan Swann, Clinton Toopi tries, Brent Webb 2 goals, Stacey Jones field goal) defeated Canberra Raiders 16 (Luke Davico, Simon Woolford tries, Clinton Schifcofske 4 goals) at the Sydney Football Stadium. Crowd: 31,616.

Canberra Raiders: 1. Clinton Schifcofske 2. Joel Monaghan 3. Jason Bulgarelli 4. Adam Mogg 5. Jamahl Lolesi 6. Michael Monaghan 7. Mark McLinden 8. Ryan O'Hara 9. Simon Woolford 10. Luke Davico 11. Ruben Wiki 15. Terry Martin 13. Tyran Smith

14. Sean Rutgerson 17. Michael Hodgson 18. Brad Drew 19. Michael Weyman

Coach: Matt Elliott


****

The NRL took steps at the start of this year to improve the match review committee (MRC) and judiciary process - after concerns about consistency of outcomes.

A bit of consistency is all the fans expect. I acknowledge that is hard to achieve and different people make different judgements.

In any case, in March, the NRL simplified the range of charges and penalties. The membership of the MRC and judiciary was expanded to include former referees and coaches.

The poor refereeing in last Sunday's clash between the Raiders and Storm was one thing. Thankfully, a captain's challenge and the bunker corrected a blatantly incorrect call - after the hooter - that Josh Papalii had obstructed Tyran Wishart. Most people found it baffling that the Storm received six set restarts in the game and the Raiders none. Many found it baffling that Jordan Rapana was sin binned for high contact, while Nelson Asofa-Solomona was not.

But the referees have to make calls quickly during a game.

The match review committee does not.

On Monday, the MRC came up with a grade two high tackle charge for Rapana, and only a grade one for NAS. I didn't see much difference in the severity of the two incidents. The MRC also found a shoulder charge from Rapana in a separate incident - which resulted in a fine. They seemed to have completely missed a shoulder charge from Justin Olam on James Schneider. It was a try saver.

The NRL ought to be reviewing the effectiveness of the changes they made to the processes carefully at the end of the season. I'm still not sure they've got this consistency thing right.

****

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

Total points

Joe Tapine 125
Josh Papalii 110
Hudson Young 100
Corey Horsburgh 98
Tom Starling 97
Matt Timoko 95
Jack Wighton 92
Adam Elliott 90
Jordan Rapana 80
Elliott Whitehead 74
Nick Cotric 72
Corey Harawira-Naera 71
Ryan Sutton 67
Sebastian Kris 61
Brad Schneider 59
Xavier Savage 57
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 51
Zac Woolford 46
Semi Valemei 38
Matt Frawley 35
Jamal Fogarty 34
Emre Guler 31
James Schiller 25
Harry Rushton 14
Jarrod Croker 6
Adrian Trevilyan 4
Trey Mooney 3
Albert Hopoate 2
Josh Hodgson 1

Average points per match

Joe Tapine 7.4
Hudson Young 6.7
Jack Wighton 6.6
Josh Papalii 6.5
Corey Horsburgh 6.1
Jarrod Croker 6.0
Corey Harawira-Naera 5.9
Brad Schneider 5.9
Zac Woolford 5.8
Jordan Rapana 5.7
Tom Starling 5.7
Jamal Fogarty 5.7
Adam Elliott 5.6
Matt Timoko 5.6
Ryan Sutton 5.6
Sebastian Kris 5.5
Elliott Whitehead 5.3
Xavier Savage 5.2
Nick Cotric 5.1
Matt Frawley 5.0
Semi Valemei 4.8
Harry Rushton 4.7
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 4.6
Emre Guler 4.4
James Schiller 4.2
Adrian Trevilyan 4.0
Trey Mooney 3.0
Albert Hopoate 2.0
Josh Hodgson 1.0

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greeneyed
Don Furner
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: As I saw it

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It's very pleasing. If we had have prepared the way everybody was talking all week in regards of 'You'll beat Warriors, you've just beaten Melbourne.' It's hard. It's hard for players because they get patted on the back about beating Melbourne and then told that 'You'll beat the Warriors'. Stacey Jones is doing a good job there. He had a good footy team there for 40 minutes. We had to handle a lot of pressure. If we had have prepared the way people were talking they would have scored more points in the first half. I said to them at half time 'We have been challenged now'. I said 'We just turned this into a long game and if you are patient and don’t get frustrated and over try, we can still win this game'. To Elliott and a few of the senior boys, their maturity and experience really helped in those scenarios.

[Jack Wighton's 40/20 kicks were] massive. They're game-changers. And that's what you want your big players doing. Jack's couple of contributions there turned the game. It's just what it does to the whole team. It just turns momentum. That's what you want big players to do and Jack did it today.

His combination with Jamal is just improving more and more. It's their fifth game together. We need a bit of stability and continuity in the halves. That was our biggest problem right throughout the year. Not the boys that were playing there, but the way we had to keep changing our spine through disruption and injuries and COVID. That little bit of stability is helping us. You can't keep changing your halves and your fullback. You can't keep changing your nines. It's been really hard. There's not too many teams who have had their halfback out for 14 weeks and had their number one nine out for the season and be where we are. You were all asking me 'What's going on' halfway through the year. It sounded like an excuse. But it's showing you now that it's not an excuse. I wouldn't talk to you in regards to giving you an excuse. I never have. We're getting stability around our team now. It's evidence that's just there to be seen."

Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart


2022 Round 19. Canberra Raiders 26 - New Zealand Warriors 14. It was the classic "game of two halves". The Warriors started fast and went to a 12-0 lead inside the first 10 minutes. They had all the ball, but the Raiders contributed to that through their own negative plays. And that didn't get any better as the first half wore on. The home team just did not seem to have their heads in the game. Even when breaks were made, by the likes of Joe Tapine and Adam Elliott, there were no players in support. Or they were followed up by errors. It was one of the worst halves of football we've seen from Canberra this season. The Raiders failed to score any points in the first 40. But in the second half, it was all the Raiders. They piled on 26 points, with Jack Wighton and Jamal Fogarty turning the game with key plays.



Jack Wighton produced two booming 40/20 kicks - well, technically one - both of which produced tries. The first kick, in the first minute of the second half, was touched by Warriors winger Marcello Montoya before it went over the sideline. Soon after, Albert Hopoate got his first try in first grade, taking advantage of a very good offload from Matt Timoko. The second Wighton 40/20 led to the first of two tries for Corey Harawira-Naera. Jamal Fogarty played his part in that one, setting it up with a very good flat ball. That saw the Raiders take the lead for the first time in the game, with 15 minutes remaining. Fogarty was at it again soon after, a good grubber setting up another CHN four pointer. It sealed the win.





It was a victory that was much needed. It has ensured that Canberra is level with the Roosters, Sea Eagles and Dragons on 20 competition points. The Roosters are in eighth, on points differential, the Raiders in 10th. At the moment, it is looking like there is only one spot up for grabs in top eight. Eighth. So the Raiders can probably only afford to lose one more game this year, if they are to make the finals. They meet the ladder leading Panthers in Canberra in two weeks time - and that's going to be a very tough game to win. Slip ups against teams that are below Canberra on the ladder - like the Warriors, like next week's opponents, the Titans - simply can't happen.

Stats that mattered? The difference between the numbers in the first and second halves is stark.

In the first half, the Warriors had 55 per cent of the ball and 50 per cent of the territory. The Warriors completed 18 of 23 sets, the Raiders just 10 of 16. Canberra made seven errors, the Warriors five. Canberra conceded four penalties and two set restarts. The Warriors conceded three penalties only.

In the second half, the Raiders had almost 70 per cent of the possession and 75 per cent of the territory. Canberra completed 22 of 22 sets, the Warriors nine of 10. Canberra had 23 tackles in the Warriors' red zone, while the New Zealand outfit had just two tackles in the Raiders' 20 metre zone. The Warriors conceded three penalties and two set restarts, the Raiders just one penalty.

Overall, the Raiders finished with a 57 per cent share of possession and completed at 85 per cent (Warriors 77 per cent). Canberra made more runs (192-136), running metres (1642-1166), post contact metres (543-428), metres per set (41-33), line breaks (7-3), tackle breaks (35-23) and offloads (15-4). There was not much difference in the kicking metres, but the Raiders forced three line drop outs, the Warriors one. And the Raiders got one 40/20. The Warriors missed more tackles (35-23) and posted more ineffective tackles (26-5).

Given those numbers, the Raiders probably should have been more dominant on the scoreboard. They weren't as they didn't turn up in the first half with their heads switched on. But credit where credit is due. There was reportedly calmness at half time. And the coach and team had what it took to turn it around in the second half.

Memorable moments? The Jack Wighton 40/20s. The Harawira-Naera tries. And let's forget the first half.

Best performers?

Joseph Tapine. 18 runs for 189 metres, 77 post contact metres, one line break, six tackle breaks, three offloads, 28 tackles, 93 per cent tackle efficiency. If only he had some support players following him.

Jamal Fogarty. 11 runs for 107 metres, two line breaks, two try assists, one line break assist, two tackles breaks, 18 tackles, 95 per cent tackle efficiency, 13 kicks for 321 kicking metres, one forced line drop out. It was his best game in green.

Jack Wighton. 15 runs for 94 metres, four tackle breaks, 13 tackles, 81 per cent tackle efficiency, 10 kicks for 317 kicking metres, one forced line drop out, one 40/20. Three errors were the blot on the copybook, but he effectively got two 40/20s which changed the game.

Corey Harawira-Naera a little unfortunate to miss the top three. He nearly had a hat trick. Albert Hopoate was terrific in his starting debut in green. I've been watching him in NSW Cup and I have to admit, I had not been impressed until the past month or so. He's really lifted.

Top tacklers: Adam Elliott 35, Elliott Whitehead 31, Joseph Tapine 28, Josh Papalii 28
Most metres gained: Joseph Tapine 189, Xavier Savage 149, Albert Hopoate 144

Apart from Tapine, only Josh Papalii (118) and Emre Guler (113) topped 100 metres gained amongst the forwards.

My player ratings:

Xavier Savage 7
Nick Cotric 5
Matt Timoko 7
Sebastian Kris 6
Albert Hopoate 7
Jack Wighton 7
Jamal Fogarty 7
Josh Papalii 6
Zac Woolford 5
Joe Tapine 7
Hudson Young 6
Elliott Whitehead 5
Adam Elliott 7

Ryan Sutton 5
Tom Starling 6
Emre Guler 6
Corey Harawira-Naera 7

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zim
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by zim »

Might be remembering wrong but Jack would have had 3 40/20s with a better bounce as well?
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greeneyed
Don Furner
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by greeneyed »

zim wrote: July 24, 2022, 12:24 pm Might be remembering wrong but Jack would have had 3 40/20s with a better bounce as well?
Yes I think that's right.
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Billy Walker
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by Billy Walker »

Think you’re pretty close GE but a little high on Savage. Great pass for a try and a couple of good returns but he put us under a lot of pressure with a bad loose carry on zero tackle and trying to defuse a bomb with his head. I think we all see the talent there and expect he live up to expectations but I think we are all a little high on him at the moment. Don’t want to see him dropped and not in anyway suggesting the hype isn’t justified but I do think we are being a little kind about what we choose to see and what we choose to overlook in his current game.
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greeneyed
Don Furner
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: All that glitters is not gold

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The Gold Coast was admitted to the ARL premiership in 1988, but the glitter strip proved to be a tough market to crack. First known as the Gold Coast-Tweed Giants, they became the Gold Coast Seagulls, Gladiators and Chargers in quick succession. Club colours revolved as well.

The Canberra Raiders played 17 games against that incarnation of the Gold Coast, winning 15 of them. In the first clash between the clubs, the Raiders scored 50 points, with the likes of Gary Belcher, Laurie Daley, Peter Jackson, Steve Walters and Glenn Lazarus in the side. The 50-6 margin was then the biggest in club history. In 1995, the Raiders put on 56 points and 10 tries against the Seagulls. That was with a team very close to the side that won the 1994 Grand Final.

The Chargers were a victim of the decision to rationalise the size of the competition after the ARL-Super League "war". They were cut after just a decade. It was a short sighted decision, despite the lack of financial and on field success. More than one club was needed in south east Queensland. And that was recognised in 2007 when the Gold Coast Titans were admitted to the NRL.

The Raiders found that this Gold Coast outfit was much tougher to handle. Canberra's glory days had long passed.

There were still some big scores. In 2007, the Raiders had just lost to the Dragons, 58-16. In the lead up to the next clash with the Titans, Alan Tongue spent two straight nights icing a knee, just to take the field. And while the Titans led 10-6 at one stage in the first half, the Raiders then piled on 50 unanswered points. In 2015, the Raiders scored 10 tries in a 56-16 win in Canberra. Jarrod Croker and Blake Austin both got doubles.

Then there was this great moment against the Titans, when prop Josh Papalii chased and ankle tapped Gold Coast half Jamal Fogarty. It was the tackle of the year, one of the greatest in club history.



But in the time of this latest incarnation of the Gold Coast, the fortunes of the two clubs have been almost evenly divided. The Raiders have won 15 games, the Titans 13.

Some days have been days to forget. How about that day at Canberra Stadium in 2011, when the Raiders led the Titans, 22-16, with a minute left on the clock? Titans forward Ryan James knocked the ball on in a tackle, one metre from the Raiders' goal line. All the Raiders had to do was win a scrum and hold the ball for one set, to take the game. However, Matt Orford knocked on at the base of the scrum. Then on the very last play, with time expired, Gold Coast second rower Anthony Laffranchi crossed - forcing golden point time. Forty seven seconds after the re-start, winger Blake Ferguson took a kick near his own goal line... and dropped it cold. Next play, off the scrum win, Greg Bird kicked the winning field goal. Titans 23 - Raiders 22.

Or how about Round 4 of 2016? Again at Canberra Stadium. The Raiders led 20-6 at the 55 minute mark. The Titans then mounted a late comeback, with former Raider, David Shillington, scoring one try. With five minutes left, a Zeb Taia try saw the visitors draw within two points, trailing 20-18. Then from the kick off, Frank Paul Nu'uausala decided to shoulder charge Ryan James, who was without the ball, on the chase downfield. What was he thinking? Cue a penalty and John Olive's winning try with two minutes remaining. Titans 24 - Raiders 20.

But the Raiders' best win and worst loss against the Titans may well have come in the past two clashes between the clubs.

Last year, the Raiders lost 44-6, after a dismal performance in Round 16 at Canberra Stadium. The home fans started streaming out well before the end, in droves. Then earlier this year, in Round 3, it was another poor performance from Canberra in the nation's capital - in the first half. The Raiders trailed, 22-0, until a minute before half time. But the Green Machine then put one of the greatest comebacks in club history. They scored five unanswered tries. A four pointer from Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad in the 75th minute - and a Brad Schneider conversion - sealed the 24-22 victory. It matched the record comebacks against the Tigers in 2015 and the Knights in 2016.





Another chapter is to be written on Saturday on the Gold Coast.

The Titans have only won three matches this season. They sit in 15th place on the ladder. The Wests Tigers and points differential is the only thing saving them from the wooden spoon spot at this point. They have lost the last eight matches in a row.

It will be a homecoming for former Titans captain Jamal Fogarty, now with the Green Machine. Will it be a happy one?

It should be. It must be if the Raiders are to keep themselves in contention for the finals.

But the Raiders often seem to play to the standards of their opponents, for some strange reason. Hopefully, that's not the case on Saturday.

****

Last week I wrote about the need for the NRL to simplify the rules. The rules have become so complex that we're making it too hard for the officials. The debacle on Sunday, which cost the Wests Tigers a win against the North Queensland Cowboys, only reinforced my view.

The NRL's head of football, Graham Annesley, had to come out the next day and admit that an obstruction call from the bunker, which gave the Cowboys a penalty shot at goal, was wrong. The Cowboys won by a point as a direct result.

It was even more concerning that Mr Annesely said that the NRL was comfortable that a Cowboys captain's challenge was permitted. Just as comfortable as a decision to overturn a six again call in the 2019 Grand Final, despite the rules saying that is not permitted, I guess.

The NRL's rules on a captain's challenge state that a challenge must state the element of a referee's decision that is being challenged. The referee didn't make a decision to challenge. At best, you could say his decision was to stop play with a short whistle when time expired. He then permitted a challenge on the basis of an illegal escort. Which can't possibly be an element of a non decision, or a decision to stop play.

It would be a shame if the NRL were to respond by adding more complexity in the off season. Hopefully, they think seriously about ways to make things easier for the officials.

****

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

Total points

Joe Tapine 132
Josh Papalii 116
Hudson Young 106
Tom Starling 103
Matt Timoko 102
Jack Wighton 99
Corey Horsburgh 98
Adam Elliott 97
Jordan Rapana 80
Elliott Whitehead 79
Corey Harawira-Naera 78
Nick Cotric 77
Ryan Sutton 72
Sebastian Kris 67
Xavier Savage 64
Brad Schneider 59
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 51
Zac Woolford 51
Jamal Fogarty 41
Semi Valemei 38
Emre Guler 37
Matt Frawley 35
James Schiller 25
Harry Rushton 14
Albert Hopoate 9
Jarrod Croker 6
Adrian Trevilyan 4
Trey Mooney 3
Josh Hodgson 1

Average points per match

Joe Tapine 7.3
Hudson Young 6.6
Jack Wighton 6.6
Josh Papalii 6.4
Corey Horsburgh 6.1
Corey Harawira-Naera 6.0
Jarrod Croker 6.0
Brad Schneider 5.9
Jamal Fogarty 5.9
Tom Starling 5.7
Jordan Rapana 5.7
Adam Elliott 5.7
Matt Timoko 5.7
Zac Woolford 5.7
Sebastian Kris 5.6
Ryan Sutton 5.5
Xavier Savage 5.3
Elliott Whitehead 5.3
Nick Cotric 5.1
Matt Frawley 5.0
Semi Valemei 4.8
Harry Rushton 4.7
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 4.6
Emre Guler 4.6
Albert Hopoate 4.5
James Schiller 4.2
Adrian Trevilyan 4.0
Trey Mooney 3.0
Josh Hodgson 1.0

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Seiffert82
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by Seiffert82 »

Firstly, I clearly remember Chicka scoring 4 tries when we beat them at Seiffert in 1988. The Giants looked completely out of their depth.

Secondly, the NRL should absolutely review some of these ridiculous new rules. The 6 again is a shambles.

What also really pisses me off is the 7 tackle set. Time and time again I see an attacking team be good enough to get into position to knock the ball on in the in-goal, only to be penalised with a 20 metre restart and 7 tackles against them.

It's an absolutely ridiculous penalty to be incurred for an error in attack. Why does the defending team deserve a leg up in that circumstance?

Sent from my CPH2021 using Tapatalk

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greeneyed
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Re: Through green eyes 2022

Post by greeneyed »

Through green eyes: As I saw it

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"It's a good little bit of momentum. The last two weeks playing the Warriors and Titans, respectfully with their positions on the table with nothing to lose, they are tough games to play. That game out there tonight was just real chaotic, fast, throwing the ball around, it was going side to side. And we knew it was going to be like that. So we had to do everything we possibly could to get as much football at their end of the field.

Joe Tapine, he's the best front-rower in the game and backed up by a wonderful forward pack and Papa. For the life of me, I don't know why Papa didn't play more time in Origin, but he's supporting Taps as well as any front-rower in the game.

Jack Wighton took control in attack on that left edge. He's big, powerful and his running game is as good as any five eighth in the game. When he decides to take on the line, he's a real threat. Jack and Jamal Fogarty's combination is getting so much better because they're getting some continuity. You can't have it in your spine if you haven't got games under your belt playing together. I think it's their fifth or sixth game together now. Then all of a sudden you've got your back rowers on the edges, they start to get more cohesion with your halves, and all of a sudden, things become a bit easier. Still, we just need to win games of football. We're not there yet.

We've got a good draw, but we haven't had these teams at the start of the year. If we had these teams at the start of the year, we might've been in the top six or top four now. We had a real tough start to the year, we lost Jamal Fogarty for 12 weeks. We did start a little bit slow. But you take your halfback and your hooker out of the game, and I only had one hooker there for a while, it's tough.

I don't care who the Panthers have got playing for them and who not, and all week that'll be the talk. The beautiful thing I've got about these blokes is they won't listen to it, they don't hear it. It's just a matter of getting out there and doing what we do best. When we focus on us we play our best football."

Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart


2022 Round 20. Canberra Raiders 36 - Gold Coast Titans 24. It was a match the Canberra Raiders had to win and they did. They scored more tries, more points, than they have all season. There were some outstanding moments in attack. But the performance was by no means perfect, particularly in defence. Four tries conceded. Even though the Titans are on the bottom of the ladder, they have some exciting attacking players. But the Raiders will know that there are still some things to work on.



The Raiders forwards again stood tall. Joe Tapine made 172 metres with the ball in hand, while Josh Papalii made 160, Adam Elliott 141 and Hudson Young 118. Tapine spent 10 minutes in the sin bin for punching, after an incident flared in the 33rd minute. Tapine believed he was the victim of a cannonball tackle, and while the tackle was passed as legal by the officials, the NRL really ought to look at whether that sort of tackle is safe. Being held by two players while another drives in with force at the tackled player's legs doesn't seem safe to me. While the Titans scored a try when the Raiders were reduced to 12 men, Tapine made up for it with a try of his own. Somehow he just kept pushing through defenders until he got over the line.

The platform laid by the forwards helped create plenty of space for the backs. All of the back five broke 100 metres gained. Both Nick Cotric and Sebastian Kris scored doubles, while Matt Timoko also crossed. Jack Wighton was outstanding, creating chances with his dangerous running and passing. His pass to set up the Timoko try was perfect. Hudson Young wasn't too bad in the play making department either. He produced two try assists, brilliant flick passes to Nick Cotric and Sebastian Kris. He also scored himself, chasing a Jamal Fogarty kick. He's been in some terrific form.

Two tries to Jayden Campbell in the final 20 minutes were a little disappointing. Beau Fermor was given too much latitude by the right side defence - and while Corey Harawia-Naera offers good things in attack, his defence is too often found wanting. For those who want CHN to start the game, yesterday's game showed why coach Ricky Stuart has resisted.





The Raiders next face the ladder leading Panthers at Canberra Stadium. Penrith will be without five eighth Jarome Luai due to injury and halfback Nathan Cleary due to suspension. Canberra can probably still afford to lose one game among those remaining - and still make the finals. I have been penciling in a loss to the Panthers, but no Cleary or Luai opens up a much better chance of a Canberra win next Saturday. The Panthers will still be very tough. They've shown they can get by with key "outs" already this year. But there is a real opportunity now on offer to the Raiders. Hopefully they can take it.

Stats that mattered? The Raiders finished with a 54 per cent share of possession and 61 per cent of the territory. Things were even better for the Raiders in the second half. They had 60 per cent of the ball and almost 70 per cent of the territory. The Titans made 15 errors (Raiders 10), but the Raiders were less disciplined, conceding six penalties and two set restarts (Titans a total of five infringements). Xavier Savage will be facing a lot of bombs at training this week (three errors).

The Raiders dominated all the attacking statistics. They made more runs (188-164), running metres (1750-1556), kick return metres (204-107), post contact metres (622-472), metres per set (43-38), line breaks (8-5), tackle breaks (50-44) and offloads (20-5). Canberra's kicking game was also good - producing more kicking metres (599-453) and two forced line drop outs (Titans one).

The Raiders posted an 86 per cent effective tackle rate (Titans 81 per cent). Both teams missed a lot of tackles (Titans 50, Raiders 44), while the Titans made way too many ineffective tackles (30-7). Ricky Stuart said a few weeks ago that he isn't concerned about missed tackle statistics, but he is concerned about missed tackles that create chaos. Conceding six line breaks involves a fair bit of chaos. It is why the margin was 12, when it probably should have been larger.

Memorable moments? There were seven tries for the Raiders, and as I've already mentioned, some were very slick. The Tapine try showed a lot of determination. But the most memorable moments for me were the two flick passes from Hudson Young that set up tries for Cotric and Kris.

Best performers?

Hudson Young. One try, 15 runs for 118 metres, two try assists, one line break assist, one line break, five tackle breaks, three offloads, 31 tackles, 92 per cent tackle efficiency.

Jack Wighton. 12 runs for 124 metres, one try assist, three line break assists, six tackle breaks, one offload, 21 tackles, 84 per cent tackle efficiency, eight kicks for 294 kicking metres.

Joseph Tapine. 18 runs for 189 metres, 77 post contact metres, one line break, six tackle breaks, three offloads, 28 tackles, 93 per cent tackle efficiency. If only he had some support players following him.

Top tacklers: Hudson Young 31, Joseph Tapine 29, Jamal Fogarty 29, Ryan Sutton 28
Most metres gained: Joseph Tapine 172, Xavier Savage 167, Albert Hopoate 167, Josh Papalii 160

My player ratings:

Xavier Savage 6
Nick Cotric 7
Matt Timoko 7
Sebastian Kris 7
Albert Hopoate 5
Jack Wighton 8
Jamal Fogarty 7
Josh Papalii 7
Zac Woolford 5
Joe Tapine 8
Hudson Young 8
Elliott Whitehead 4
Adam Elliott 7

Tom Starling 6
Ryan Sutton 5
Emre Guler 5
Corey Harawira-Naera 4

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