It won’t come as any great surprise, but I am not particular impressed with the Raiders after Sunday’s game. I said last week that I was no longer going to accept ‘encouraging losses’ from the Raiders.

A win against the Bulldogs was crucial to avoid the Lime Green being sucked into a bottom of the table mêlée.

Henry Ford once said “whether you think can or you think can’t – you’re right.” This applies in sports as much as anything. If you do not believe that you can defeat an opposition then you probably can’t.

Unfortunately for the Raiders, nobody is scared of the team in 13th on the ladder.

Even more worryingly, the perception of Canberra Stadium as a ‘fortress’ for the Raiders is also fast evaporating.

Over many years, much of the (limited) success that the Lime Greens have enjoyed has come via strong performances at home. For a side that is low on experience in both the playing and coaching ranks, that psychological edge was crucial.

However, with a one and two record in the Capital, visiting teams will now begin to genuinely believe they can win on the Canberra Stadium permafrost.

This is not the time to despair, though, Raiders fans (now watch me pull a magic trick of talking about the positives whilst still not backtracking on my ‘not more encouraging losses’ policy).

There were some mitigating factors on Sunday afternoon. Foremost among them is the injury and illness of Terry Campese.

In what was probably his least effective game since Todd Carney passed him the reins of the team (presumably after urinating on said reins), Campese was unable to orchestrate any sort of coherent attack.

All too often the fifth tackle red zone option seemed to be limited to simply jacking up a bomb in the general direction of Joel Monaghan and hoping he would create points somehow.

Regrettably, the Bulldogs seem to have somehow picked up on this play from the thirty or so times the Raiders attempted it against the Titans and Sharks and were able to defend it every time.

But it is no wonder that Campese struggled given that he required an injection just to take the field. If we consider that he had barely trained and was limited by a foot injury and the flu, then his performance is slightly excusable.

The other mitigating factor we should give some small credence to is that Michael Ennis is really really good at the moment. Ennis is certainly the form hooker in the competition if not the form player in the game.

Sitting next to my mate, who is a Broncos supporter, and watching him cringe with every superb Ennis play was about the most satisfying element of the afternoon.

Mitigation aside, though, the Raiders are on the edge of the precipice and if there is not major improvement the Lime Green will find themselves in the wooden spoon debate very soon.

The Good
The return of Glen Buttriss was very encouraging.

Buttriss provides direction out of dummy half and his return allowed Alan Tongue to play his more natural role at lock. Indeed, once again, the Raiders forwards generally were strong, with Bronson Harrison and Queensland Origin hopeful David Shillington particularly effective.

In the backline, Jarrod Croker continues to come on in leaps and bounds.

According to Fox Sports statistics, Croker had six tackle busts on seventeen runs, which is an excellent conversion rate. Now, if he and Adrian Purtell could only develop some sort of vague understanding with each other the Lime Green might actually have some options down the left side.

The Bad
I have already touched on it but Terry Campese played poorly, and as Campese goes, so go the Raiders. I remarked to a friend at the game that with the electric performances of Jamie Soward and John Sutton over the weekend, Campese may well be playing himself out of NSW State of Origin contention at the moment.

He will need a strong performance against the Panthers this weekend to ensure that he doesn’t fall off the radar.

Also disappointing was the curious decision to again revert to starting Joe Picker on the bench.

It seems so palpably obvious to an average fan that Picker is an 80 minute workhorse. I struggle to understand why he doesn’t start every game.

Perhaps I do not understand the tactics at play (and despite the best efforts of Andy Raymond, Michael Hagan and Brett Kimmorley with the NRL Tactics programme to educate me, this is certainly a strong possibility), but saving Big Tom Learoyd-Lahrs and ‘Old School’ Josh Miller to be impact players late in the first half makes far more sense to me.

The Ugly
The sight of Josh Dugan failing to find the ground outside the in-goal area and thereby conceding a drop-out on more than one occasion was galling for Raiders fans.

Last weekend at Skilled Stadium, Dugan was forced in goal from five metres out and the Titans scored a try off the resulting set.

Dugan needs to get better of making it back to the field of play.

Mr Sports Verdict
Well, I said it last week and I’ll say it again now. There are no more encouraging losses. The Raiders needed to win this one and they failed. One more home loss and they will really be in the mire.

This week I give them five Victors.

Next up
Amongst the misery of recent performances, here comes a little sunshine, Raiders Fans. This week marks the return to Canberra of the Penrith Panthers. For those who need reminding, the Panthers’ last visit to Canberra did not end well for them, with the Raiders racking up a season high 74 points.

For the 5000 or so fans that sat in the wretched conditions that day, it was a day that will long be remembered.

However, this Panthers team is a little different to that one, I’m afraid. Fresh off a confident victory over the former competition leading Titans, and with reputed fastest man in league, Michael Jennings, in top form, it seems unlikely that this Panthers team will capitulate in the way they did last year.

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