Meninga honoured as Raiders finally pump fist against Storm

 

Roar Guru

By Alan Nicolea, 29 Jun 2009 Alan Nicolea is a Roar Guru

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 Cameron Smith, Canberra Raiders, David Shillington, Mal Meninga, Melbourne Storm, NRL, Rugby League, Terry Campese

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After the Raiders tremendous 26-16 win over the Melbourne Storm on Sunday afternoon, one could have been forgiven to think that Rugby League legend Mal Meninga was not the only one immortalised in bronze outside Canberra stadium.

Meninga was yesterday commended for his achievements with the Raiders with a sculpture that commemorates his last game with the club in 1994.

The sculpture shows Meninga pumping his fist after he led the green machine to a premiership victory against the Canterbury Bulldogs.

It was the fairytale end to a career that saw Meninga win three grand finals with the club, all as captain.

Although Meninga was on the sidelines for yesterday’s match against the Storm, the Raiders certainly played with the verve and skill that saw the side become a Rugby League benchmark throughout the late 80′s and early 90′s.

Indeed Canberra centre Joel Monaghan certainly rivalled the dominating effect of ‘big Mal’, scoring two tries and setting up two more in arguably his best performance of the season.

The NSW centre enjoyed his best period midway through the first half, scoring two tries in a four minute period that left Blues coach Craig Bellamy wondering why yesterday’s form was not present on Wednesday night against the Maroons.

Despite Monaghan dominating the limelight, Raiders forwards Bronson Harrison and David Shillington provided quality go forward on a consistent basis, to allow halves Mark Herbert and Terry Campese to offer quality ball to Monaghan and co.

With Meninga watching from the stands, it was evident that he was casting his eye on Shillington’s performance, considering the fact he is the most obvious replacement for injured QLD forward Ben Hannant.

Indeed Shillington played his part in a perfect Raiders first half that turned a little sour after Storm captain Cameron Smith burrowed over from dummy half to score his side’s first try right on halftime.

Despite the setback however, the Raiders were still very much in high spirits early in the second half and were rewarded when Justin Carney scored a try in the 50th minute to put the Raiders ahead 20-6.

Canberra’s spirit however was severely challenged from then on, with the Storm finding the necessary rhythm to put themselves back in the contest.

Back to back tries to Greg Inglis and Will Chambers put the Storm behind by just four points with fifteen minutes remaining until fulltime.

David Furner’s men however hang on brilliantly and had the last say, as Bronson Harrison scored a try right on fulltime to secure a victory that ended Melbourne’s fourteen match winning streak against the Green Machine.

Although the victory will hardly rival Meninga’s achievements with the club in his last game in 1994, at least the present crop of Raiders players can emulate the statue itself, and pump a fist that may just signal the start of Canberra’s bid to emulate last season’s run to the finals.

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