The Canterbury Bulldogs have added another win to their ledger, defeating the Canberra Raiders by six points.
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Final score
Canterbury Bulldogs 16
Canberra Raiders 10
Both the Canterbury Bulldogs and Canberra Raiders will be hunting returns to the winners circle before representative round. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage of the match from 5:30pm (AEST).
After slow starts to the season, both the Bulldogs and Raiders put up three-game winning streaks before coughing them up in tight encounters last week.
Des Hasler’s side launched into their winning run off the back of their forward pack, eventually finding quality metres, as well as the return to form of five-eighth Josh Reynolds.
They clinched wins over the Broncos, Knights and Rabbitohs, before a besieged Tigers outfit pipped them at the post on Sunday when winger Kevin Naiqama snaffled a deflection to cross in the dying stages.
It means the ninth-placed Bulldogs are now tasked with overcoming the Raiders in order to get back into the top eight.
The Raiders’ winning run was ignited by electric right-edge pair Joey Leilua and Jordan Rapana, improvements on the error front and their forward pack making more metres.
The trio of wins saw the green machine claim wins over Parramatta, the Gold Coast and Warriors, before a Dylan Walker penalty goal in golden point delivered Manly a two-point victory in the nation’s capital last Friday night.
The loss meant the Raiders have slipped to seventh on the ladder.
In line-up news, the Bulldogs’ Matt Frawley is expected to move into the final 17 again and start on the bench, while Will Hopoate has been named on an extended bench and has a slim chance of returning from injury.
For Canberra, forward Clay Priest has been named on the Raiders’ bench ahead of his return from injury and Canberra are expected to be unchanged.
One of the most anticipated match-ups ahead of this clash is that of Bulldogs backs Josh Morris and Kerrod Holland and the Raiders’ Leilua and Rapana.
The size, strength and speed of the Canberra duo have made them the most potent backline pair in the competition, meaning Morris and Holland are set to have their hands full defending.
As the statistics stood ahead of Round 9, Rapana (equal-first with eight) and Leilua (equal-fifth with six) were both sitting in the top five for tries scored.
Rapana was also sitting clear in first for line-breaks with nine, while both occupied top-seven spots for tackle breaks, Rapana with 58 and Leilua with 34.
Prediction
Both forward packs are expected to continually boulder their respective sides into quality field territory, meaning the outcome of the match will depend largely on which side capitalises best in attack on the opposition’s try-line.
The Raiders are perched in second for points scored this season (200), while the Bulldogs are equal at the bottom with the Knights (122), meaning the visitors will likely have too many points in them. Expect the Raiders to prove too strong this evening.
Raiders by 14.
Join The Roar for live scores and coverage of the match, starting from 5:30pm (AEST).
Remo Shankar
Roar Pro
This match underlined why Josh Jackson is almost the first back rower picked for Origin and that as tempting as it is to pick Joey Leilua in the centres, the question mark on him got a little bigger...
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
It all comes back to the fact the Raiders seem to be simply incapable of winning a game when their attack doesn't click. They have not won a game in the Sticky era while scoring less than 20 points.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Well, Jake Trbojevic got a run in the 4 Nations so he's presumably next cab off the rank, with a the injury to Woods in the late game there might well be another spot open -- James Tamou would likely be the easiest choice to avoid any international wrangling (Fifita has declared for Tonga and McGuire for Samoa), other options would involve coaxing Gal out of rep retirement or bringing in a player from well outside the structure. Depending how bad his injury is, Boyd might still play; no real info yet AFAIK.
Zachary Gates
Roar Guru
Fifita should have been in the squad from the get-go. The fact he wasn't selected in the original squad tells me he won't earn a call-up now. Seems to be something going on politically behind the scenes, like there clearly was when he was robbed of the Clive Churchill Medal last year.
Zachary Gates
Roar Guru
Well gritted out there. Hasler must be very proud. The Dogs' most impressive game all year.
Zachary Gates
Roar Guru
I agree, The watcher. If you dig below the surface, the Raiders' recent three-game winning streak came through ordinary wins - Parramatta at home, the Titans, who at the time were running second-last, and the Warriors, who can't play away from home.
Zachary Gates
Roar Guru
The Barry, that is a great point regarding life at the Dogs without Reynolds and potentially Graham.
Zachary Gates
Roar Guru
The Raiders were highly disappointing tonight. They really should have run away with the game with Graham and Reynolds not on the park. As they say, though, beware the wounded warrior! I thought the Raiders were very sloppy in attack. Rapana and Leilua didn't get a lot of the ball and Josh Morris, one of the best centres defensively in the game, did a great job of containing them on the Dogs' left edge. The Dogs' forwards made great metres and the Dogs threw the ball around a lot which really troubled Canberra.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
They did a great job of shutting down Leilua and Rapana -- Raiders didn't get a lot of yardage from those two like they usually do, coupled with the loss of Boyd it let the Bulldogs middle hold even without Graham.
Skippy Dolittle
Guest
Interesting to see who Meninga calls on next.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Ankle injury.
Worlds Biggest
Guest
Very gutsy win by the Dogs sans Reynolds and Graham. That said the Raiders were awful in the second half, so much dropped ball and never looked like scoring.
Skippy Dolittle
Guest
What's up with Shannon Boyd? Only played 24 minutes.
The eye
Guest
j.jackson was king.
The watcher
Guest
There's something missing about the Raiders this year. It's not injuries it's attitude. They're pushing passes and just not closing down sides in defence at all. They really are in a spot of bother as the top 4 is slipping away
Jono
Guest
I'm a supporter and the doubts are starting to creep in.
Swannies
Guest
I've said it before and will say it again...Raiders are the great pretenders for 2017.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Good win by the Dogs. Raiders were a bit off but the Dogs got it done with 15...maybe a glimpse of life post Graham and Reynolds. I thought Jackson was outstanding again and Hopoate had his best ever game in a Dogs jersey. Mbye, Lee and the Morris' were strong.
souvalis
Guest
Dogs had too much heart..some really low performances from individual raiders today..flaccid..Ricky should be putting his hand up that's his responsibility.
Zachary Gates
Roar Guru
» Click here to read the full match report What do we make of the game, Roarers?