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Five talking points from Canberra Raiders vs Penrith Panthers NRL semi-final

18th September, 2016
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Jack Wighton was a key man for the Raiders in their NRL semi-final. (AAP Image/ Action Photographics, Jonathan Ng)
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18th September, 2016
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The Canberra Raiders are through to the NRL preliminary finals after a commanding ten-point victory over the Penrith Panthers in Saturday’s NRL semi-final.

It wasn’t all one way traffic but there were no questions about who the better side was as the Raiders led from the first points all the way until the final siren, with their creative masterminds standing up and defence locking in well.

While the Panthers are now out of the competition, they can keep their heads high after a big win last weekend and a run into the finals after that looked shaky during the season. With a youthful squad they will be back next season and among the contenders.

The Raiders now move onto face the Melbourne Storm away from home next weekend.

Here are The Roar‘s talking points from the second NRL semi-final.

Can the Raiders hope to beat Melbourne in Melbourne?
The short answer is yes – absolutely. It was only a few weeks ago we must remember when the Raiders actually beat the Storm, albeit during a regular season game at their home ground.

Nonetheless, it was a win for the Raiders over the premiership favourites and was the match that really announced Canberra as contenders. There was almost a change in attitude after they matched the Storm in the middle of the park physically from ‘hey look, the Raiders’ to ‘hang on a minute. The Raiders could go all the way.’

But the long-winded answer to this all-important question is not if they were to play the way they did on Saturday Evening against the Penrith Panthers, or indeed the way they played against the Cronulla Sharks last week.

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It’s almost like the pressure of finals is getting to the side at times as they look like a shell of the team they were running up massive scores every weekend in the regular season.

While most of their game is holding solid, there are plenty of flaws to iron out before next weekend if they hope to rattle the Storm away from home.

Everything from attack to last tackle options, kicking game and some defensive issues plus consistency for 80 minutes must be worked on and improved.

What was up with the Panthers fifth tackle options?
The longer the game went on, the more you had to questions the Panthers motives and gameplan for their fifth tackle and attacking options. While it has worked for them throughout the season at various points, including last weekend against the Bulldogs, their refusal to kick the ball cost them against Canberra.

Every single time down the field they were looking to run, pass and keep it alive for some sort of miracle play that might have led to a try.

As most of you will correctly point out, it worked twice in the space of a couple of minutes during the second half but that was after 55 minutes of pain really.

It’s not that running the ball doesn’t work – it does, but you need to have some sort of unpredictability about it and the Panthers didn’t have that in the slightest.

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What makes it even more baffling is that they have the best up and coming half in the game with Nathan Cleary, and he refuses to take over the team and guide them through with a strong kicking game.

It simply doesn’t add up and the Panthers needed to address that at some point during the game if they were ever going to turn around their fortunes.

The Panthers will be a force next season
No matter how you viewed their last tackle options against the Raiders, there is no question the Panthers are building very nicely for next season and are going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Give Nathan Cleary another 12 months of maturity and a full pre-season with the side, plus bring back the outrageously talented Te Maire Martin from injury and they have a halves combination that will be a force to be reckoned with.

What they do with Bryce Cartwright is a question but he is fantastic to have around the team. The competition for front row spots will only escalate with James Tamou arriving, and their young pack will have another year of experience under the belt.

Add the likes of Josh Mansour and Matt Moylan to gel the whole thing together and this is one scary looking Panthers side that could be incredibly entertaining to watch if they get it right.

Canberra’s right hand side is just phenomenal
Did you see it? Did you see Jordan Rapana’s try at the back end of the first half? Wow! The amazing thing is though, that is a weekly occurence for the Raiders right side and with Blake Austin back on the park they looked all the more dangerous agains the Panthers.

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Every time the Raiders shift the ball that way you get the feeling something is just moments from happening, and whether it is a simple tackle bust or a try something normally does happen between Joseph Leilua and Jordan Rapana.

If they are to beat Melbourne next week, both of those guys will be amongst the best five on ground.

Josh Hodgson is possibly the most important hooker in the NRL
Hodgson didn’t have his best performance last night, but the difference between when he is on the field and playing hooker for the Raiders, against when he is either on the bench or playing second fiddle to Kurt Baptiste is absolutely incredible.

For most other teams you look at their dummy half and half think, yep they can get over that. The Storm without Cameron Smith would still go just fine, as would the Cowboys without Jake Granville.

The Cronulla Sharks with Michael Ennis is maybe the only other hooker that rivals Hodgson in terms of the value brought to a team.

Simply put, if Hodgson isn’t on the park the Raiders attack ends up looking slow and unorganised. They couldn’t have even cracked Newcastle’s defence.

Without him, as shown last weekend against Cronulla after he gets injured the Raiders simply don’t look like a finals side and therefore having him on the park against Melbourne next week, and for a potential grand-final appearance will be vital no matter what little niggle he might be carrying.

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There you have it Roarers – our talking points from the second NRL semi-final. What did you make of the game? Did I miss anything? Let us know in the comments below.

Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde

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