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Right now, Canberra are the most important team in the NRL – and Terry Campese the most important player.
The Raiders are the X-factor side in this competition – loose as all hell in many ways but capable of tearing it apart.
I’m not saying they’re going to win the premiership, but I’m not saying they won’t, either.
I’m saying watch this space, because they are quite likely going to fill it with something exciting.
Ask yourself which team you most want to see play this weekend. I want to see Canberra when they take on Cronulla at Sharks Stadium on Sunday.
I’m hoping their 44-14 win over Newcastle last Sunday was their breakout game, the one where they really began to understand themselves and a result on which they genuinely build.
There have been a few false dawns for the Raiders in recent years.
They have turned it on for periods of time only to slip back into the also-ran category.
It must have been extremely frustrating for their fans to witness those thrilling ups followed by those distressing downs.
But the fact that potential to do something special has always been there will have kept the supporters hanging in there.
Hopefully, Campese’s horrible luck with injury is over, because he holds the key to them making a genuine impact on the competition.
He is the voice of reason in a team that sometimes still does things on a whim, the experienced hand among a bunch of young blokes who sometimes can’t help but just try their luck.
Campese has spent so much time off the field in the past few years that even though he has remained part of the club he has probably had to get used to his teammates all over again on the field – and them to him.
But you can see the association getting better each week.
We know that South Sydney have taken a step up from last season, and have the attacking weapons to go with a strong defence and high level of discipline.
And we know Sydney Roosters are reborn with the addition of Sonny Bill Williams, James Maloney and Michael Jennings, and under new coach Trent Robinson.
Melbourne, after being the last team to lose a game this season, have suddenly lost a bit of their aura – not so much because they have lost two games in a row, but because opposing teams have hit on the best way to play them and are showing the courage to do it.
Manly refuse to go away, and Canterbury are staging a recovery after struggling through the early rounds due largely to the unavailability of some of their most important players.
And then you’ve got the rest of the competition. Some other teams are going to have to fill top-eight spots, but which of them can honestly threaten to do something in the finals, based on the form we’ve seen so far this season?
The Raiders are the team about which, I reckon, you’ve got to have that must-watch brief.
They are sitting seventh, with five wins and four losses. Their season is delicately poised, and I suppose that – because of their record in recent years – there is the chance they could stumble and fall again.
But I hope it doesn’t happen, and I don’t think it will.
I want them to at least be the team that other sides don’t want to have to play in the finals.
The statistics show that there are only three teams with a worst defensive record than Canberra this season, and those three teams – Parramatta, the Warriors and Wests Tigers – fill the last three spots on the competition table.
Imagine if the Raiders cleaned up their act in defence, how much pressure it would take off their explosive attack.
That is one hell of a proposition right there.
How could you not get excited about terrific young attacking players like Blake Ferguson, Jack Wighton, Edrick Lee, Reece Robinson and Sandor Earl in the backs, and Josh Papalii in the forwards?
And what about Anthony Milford, whom the Raiders are gradually introducing to first grade? He’s still only 18!
The experienced core of players that includes Campese, Josh McCrone, who is approaching 100 first-grade games now, Brett White, Shaun Fensom and Dane Tilse are the glue.
It’s another test for Canberra on the road against a Sharks side that has had a rejuvenation over the last couple of weeks, and it’s going to be very interesting to see how the Raiders go.
I’ll be compelled to watch.
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