The Canberra Raiders’ late season charge towards the finals remains on track courtesy of another strong 36-16 victory over the New Zealand Warriors in Auckland.
Although the Warriors threatened to get back into the contest at 18-10 in the second half, the Raiders found another gear and scored the last three tries of the match en route to a tough win.
The Raiders remain four points outside the top eight however, and must win their remaining three matches to stand a chance of making the finals, beginning next week in a blockbuster against the Panthers at home.
As for the Warriors, the effort was admirable, but the absence of Kieran Foran and Shaun Johnson hindered New Zealand’s attack and the Raiders simply had too much to play for this afternoon to let this game slip from their grasp.
Stephen Kearney certainly has a lot on his plate heading into next season as he aims to transform a Warriors side into genuine contenders in 2018.
Gary Harvey
Guest
Taree Raider, Ricky's use of the bench has at times certainly been puzzling. Big Dave Taylor got about 3 minutes at the start of the second half last weekend before being benched and I agree that Baptiste should be getting a lot more time. I reckon that one of the reasons behind our mid term slump was Stuart leaving the big boppers Boyd and Paulo out in the middle for way too long too. They got tired and holes opened up. Soliola had two awesome seasons with us but I don't think he has given us that much this year, especially when playing in the middle. I would still keep him in the team but use him on the edge. And I maintain that our forwards have played much much better since Sia's suspension, though this might be due to other factors. Losing Barnett for Bateman was a poor decision and must of been based on more than playing ability like with Vaughny. My forward pack would be the same as yours but with Lima instead of Bateman.
Taree Raider
Guest
I have been banging on & on about Wighton's obvious error rate @ fullback for the past 18 months, however the last two games he has played to an acceptable standard. Jack is playing well enough now to allow him to move to the left wing rather than play at the Mounties. Cotric needs to be put at fullback. Two reasons for that move, Cotric's a better fullback than a winger. He has been in the past & why would now be any different. It would keep him at the Raiders for life. His open market price would skyrocket & make him less attractive to other teams. Luke Bateman is a fringe NRL player at most, however remember Ricky plays favorites, he kept him & released Mitchell Barnett. In hindsight who should we have kept? The most important point with the Raiders is, when Boyd goes off. BRING DAVE TAYLOR ON. When Junior Paulo goes off 10 minutes later BRING BOYD BACK ON. For the first half at least. Those three are every other teams nightmare. They are great defensively & their strong running allows our halves & outside backs to have room to move. Ricky has to give Baptise much more game time. He is another player who any other NRL team would have. Lets utilise Kurt more. Garry Harvey, I'm glad your not in charge of Raiders retention. Sia Soliola along with Josh Papauli are the spine of the team, Sia is a brilliant team player who we are missing at the moment. Our best forward pack is Boyd, Hodgeson, Papauli, Taylor, Baptise, Paulo, Soliola, Tarpanie. Priest, Bateman backup's only.
Swannies
Guest
Can't see Raiders making the 8 now after Dragons big win but they'll finish the season strongly and look good for 2018.
Gary Harvey
Guest
Green machine starting to look like they might sneak into the 8. A few comments: Soliola was great at the Raiders for a few years but we have looked much better over the last few weeks without him out there. He just seems to have lost pace/impact this season. Wighton still looks as confused as a hungry baby in a topless bar when the ball is in the in-goal, and doesn't seem to have a clue when to knock the ball dead or not. Bateman tries his heart out but I would like to see Lima get a chance. On the plus side Austin had his best game all year, Paulo and Boyd looked like they are gobbling plenty of angry pills and Cotric looks 5 kilos bigger than the week before. The kid is a gun and I wouldn't be surprised if the sneaky Broncos try to lure him soon.
Mike Julz
Guest
What has the Warriors come to.smh.