Roar Guru
The Melbourne Storm have picked up a six-point victory over the Canberra Raiders, but it came at a cost with both Billy Slater and Cameron Smith going off injured.
Final score
Canberra Raiders 14
Melbourne Storm 20
The Canberra Raiders will look to move into a top eight spot when they host competition leaders the Melbourne Storm. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary of the match from 5:30pm (AEST).
The once flashy and dangerous Raiders have looked like a shadow of their former selves in previous weeks. With one win in five coming into this match against the Storm, the Canberra outfit are low on confidence and struggling to secure crucial competition points.
The Raiders, while looking decent in attack have let themselves down in their defence, conceding more than 20 points in their recent games. Despite scoring a fair amount of points in their last few games the Raiders are clearly not as good as they can be, and they need to be better for the late season run in if they are to finish inside the top eight
However, Canberra can enter this match with some confidence after beating the Dragons 18-14 last weekend. Additionally, the Raiders seem to lift their game against the Storm in recent years, suggesting that we could see a greatly improved Canberra outfit this weekend.
The Storm have some familiar faces back in their line-up for this clash. The likes of inspirational skipper Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Tim Glasby all return after the Origin window as they look to strike back after a 16-point loss to Parramatta last weekend.
The Storm at their best are very likely the best in the competition, and they will look to return to the winners circle against an out-of-sorts Raiders outfit this Saturday afternoon.
Prediction
The Raiders should make a game out of this encounter but with Melbourne hungry to return to the winner’s circle and their origin players being back in the squad, I can only see a Storm victory.
Storm by 14 points.
Join The Roar for live coverage from 5:30pm (AEST).