Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy has declared Canberra the hottest team in the NRL after the Raiders turned in one of their best defensive performances of the year in a 22-8 win on Monday.
The Raiders limited the league’s leaders to just one try at GIO Stadium despite giving up a remarkable 51 plays inside their own 20m zone compared to just 16 down the other end.
It was a defensive wall that prompted Bellamy to label the Raiders, who moved to third with the win, the team to beat heading into the final three weeks of the regular season.
“We all know Cronulla got beat on the weekend, we all know the Cowboys got beat, we all know now we got beat. We’ve plataeued a bit in the last couple of weeks,” Bellamy said.
“We need to find a way to get better. At the moment, the Raiders are the team that’s lifting their execution, they’re all-around game.
“They’re the team at the moment to be quite honest, without a doubt.”
One week after handing Cronulla their first loss since March, the Raiders became just the second team in 30 years to beat the competition leaders in back-to-back games.
In front of 15,707 fans – the biggest Canberra crowd since 2012 – the home side claimed arguably their best victory of the year to announce themselves as a genuine premiership threat.
The win ramps up hopes of the club’s first title since 1994, while the Storm remain in first.
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart was proud of his team’s defensive effort.
“The defence was very pleasing. We’ve worked hard at it. We were consistent with it tonight and I was very pleased with them because we’ve been working hard at it for a long-time,” he said.
The 16 plays down the Storm’s end was all the Raiders needed, crossing for three tries to become the first team to score more than 20 points against the best defensive team in the competition this season. Centre Joey Leilua grabbed two first-half tries in a standout effort, while Elliot Whitehead and Josh Papalii were also prominent in the win.
Canberra stunned the visitors with a try in the first set of the match, Leilua putting Blake Austin into the backfield before backing up to score the quickest try of the season.
Storm halfback Cooper Cronk replied when he ran the ball in the 17th minute, however Leilua returned by ploughing through three defenders seven minutes later.
Jarrod Croker’s penalty goal gave Canberra a six-point advantage at halftime before Shannon Boyd crashed through under the posts in the 54th minute and Croker sealed the win with a 76th minute penalty goal.
Leilua came off late in the game with what appeared to be a bad cut to his leg.
Hooker Josh Hodgson could find himself in trouble for a possible grapple tackle in the first half.
macho
Guest
A month ago Cronulla were going to be premiers - its a lottery especially with the refs and the bunker
pronto
Guest
Matt Ccechin after a brilliant effort in trying to get the Storm back in against the raiders on Monday night gets a Sunday free to air game as a reward...
Oingo Boingo
Guest
Just a joke Kaks , Smith and Co just leaving their arm wrapped around guys necks and just generally taking forever to move out of the way , and the forward passes , there must have been at least three or four howlers. NRL must be feeling the pinch in Melbourne and need to keep them in the race .
The Barry
Roar Guru
Tim Sheens?
Armchair expert
Guest
Matt Elliot coached Canberra about 10 years ago.....he built the platform.
Armchair expert
Guest
Yeah, I thought Haynes first up tackle on Bodene was nearly the tackle of the year, Crokers was just as good
Armchair expert
Guest
What about what sticky has done with Croker and Leilua? Croker up to mid last year was a turnstile in defence and BJ wasn't causing any defences any head aches. Kudos also to Dean Pay who is the defence coach, try line defence has been awesome the last 3 weeks.
MAX
Guest
Turbo, Last week I was curious enough to go to raiders.com.au and there, like no other club in the NRL,was the Canberra Raiders Coaching Staff for any one to read and digest. It would appear that Peter Mulholland and Ezra Howe are the gentlemen in question.
turbodewd
Roar Guru
Whoever the Raiders talent scouts are, they are certainly earning their salary!
Kaks
Roar Guru
I tried to enjoy the game - which should have been easy as the Storm lost - but I just couldnt while watching the Storm's 'tactic' in the ruck, again. I dont know why referee's dont do it, but Cameron Smith can honestly never be penalised for infringing in the ruck, can he? And when are they going to penalise a tackler for lying down behind the tackled player and interfering with the play the ball?!?!? Congrats Canberra, they are the real deal this year, but my god - fix up the ruck infringements!
The Barry
Roar Guru
No. It's all Graham Murray and Phil Gould...
Joe
Roar Rookie
Yes, I thought that the kick for Vunivalu would have been a good option as they had a lot of attacking sets in the 20. They only went there once and even than it nearly paid off as Suli was well above Branko but mistimed his jump. I think they will have to have a rethink on attack. Also been a bit disappointed with Chambers return ad combo with Vunivalu but he's only a few games in so hopefully picks up the pace. Vunivalu's try's have dried up since his return which is odd.
matth
Guest
Yep and I admit I was a Sticky doubter. He certainly has this team humming at the right time.
Busty McCracken
Guest
Remember reading so many scathing comments regarding sticky on these sites over the years, the silence is deafening. He can be arrogant, stubborn & over the top but I always the criticisims levelled him were way out of line. Glad to see his having some success after copping so much and doing it with a team I love seeing successful.
Dan
Guest
I thought the same thing about Hampton (not just for this match but all Storm games). He's an odd fit. Not good enough of a ball player to be a fill-in half or hooker. Not a good enough line runner to play centre or be a game breaker. Too small for the forwards and too short for the wing. Not a good enough defensive coordinator for fulllback. At the moment he's an odd choice to include in the 17-man team as he's not really suited anywhere.
Dan
Guest
Interesting game plan from both teams—they were happy to die with the ball on the fifth attacking the line. The Storm in particular never kicked for a repeat set intentionally, the only attempts came from broken play. They also didn't kick for Vunivalu. Interesting change that I think Bellamy will retool should they meet again. Definitely not a form slump for the Storm. They played very well, Canberra just played out of their skins. Will be interesting to see if they can maintain the intensity.
johnnyball
Guest
As an avid Storm supporter may I say, well done Raiders. We were outplayed on the night but what a game it was
Joe
Roar Rookie
Yep, that's for sure. Finucane holds his own every week. Just a really tough hombre who puts in the hard yards every game. He is one of the few hitters in the Storm team and Maclean is the other and Nelson is good for the occasional big hit. That was what was needed last night. Finucane and K.Bromich did pull of a couple of great hits though. Raiders weren't holding back either. Was just one of those really good hard games. I don't know whether it will help them though as they both have short turnarounds this week and Storm are travelling again.
PNG Broncos fan88
Guest
Finucane held his own, was punishing in defence and churned vital metres that first half.
CALM CHEEN
Guest
PMSL