Shaun Johnson has kicked two field goals in the last three minutes to allow the Warriors to snatch an incredible 20-19 victory over Canberra at GIO Stadium.
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Final score
New Zealand Warriors 20
Canberra Raiders 19
The Canberra Raiders will be looking for their first win of the season when they host the unbeaten New Zealand Warriors at GIO Stadium in Round 3. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match from 3pm (AEDT).
Despite scoring 56 points in their first two games, the Raiders’ defence has let them down in 2018.
Twin losses of 30-28 to the Titans and the Knights in the opening two rounds has left them stranded with five other winless teams at the bottom of the ladder.
Raiders’ coach Ricky Stuart has named Aidan Sezer at five-eighth with Blake Austin on the bench. Centre BJ Leilua is in doubt with an ankle injury, while Liam Knight has been named on the bench in place of former Warrior Charlie Gubb, who is out with a groin injury.
The Warriors, on the other hand, have won their opening two matches for only the third time in the club’s 24-year history. They upset Souths in Perth in Round 1 and beat the Titans at home last week.
Coach Stephen Kearney has been forced to make one change to his 17 this week. Young prop Isaiah Papali’i is out with a knee injury and his place in the starting line-up has been taken by Leivaha Pulu. Agnatius Paasi comes onto the bench.
Prediction
There are no issues with the Raiders’ attack, and Ricky Stuart will surely have them fired up for a big defensive performance.
Canberra by 4.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match from 3pm (AEDT).
DP Schaefer
Guest
Sham, every Knights, Dragons and Warriors and Tigers fan shares your pain. It's been one or all of those over the past few years. After 2017 and the first three rounds of this year, tranquilising medication must be running short in the ACT. Hope you get through it.
DP Schaefer
Guest
Duncan Smith, genuine thanks for my Sunday morning laugh.... that was funny...
Scar82
Guest
They lose softly in the end. I don't know why havili never returned. Sezer was playing well at halfback. Williams defence was lacking at times. But he probably has a good kicking game. His roatation of the bench was poor. Havili needs more game time. I didn't see him in the second half. I'm a sad raiders fan and hard to back them every week watchm them lead then lose so badly. I'd rather see them thrashed then lose the way they are losing. Ricky needs to make some harsh criticism and axe some of them if he wants to keep his job.
Hunty
Guest
Stuart complains after losses all the time. He have destroyed other teams in the past (Roosters, Eels, NSW), when will Raiders management wake up and remove Stuart. Stuart leaves Canberra and new coach brings in leadership they will go close to making the top 8. Stuart days are numbered.
Sylvester
Guest
Yeah, that is laughable. Raiders were living on penalties and that obstruction call was prob the most straightforward of the year.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Guest
Apparently Ricky was blaming the refs for the loss in his presser with the try disallowed for obstruction. Seriously? The guy is delusional. It was a blatant obstruction. No one in the crowd batted an eyelid when it was overturned. I can't even watch Ricky and Croker in press conferences anymore. Same old garbage from two sad sacks. Its like Groundhog Day revisited. Stuart's days as a coach have to be numbered. I can't see him lasting out the year at this rate. And no one else would want him.
Nzprodigy
Guest
Commiserations raiders fans.a similar position, the warriors lost to manly last season.it dosnt mean you team is capitulating going down by 1 point.the warriors are a better team this year,solid reliable forwards.great spine by any standards.now ' to boot' they are fitter and have a better culture.to underrate them is neglible !!.
Swannies
Guest
Raiders season on the line next week...0-4 will make it near impossible to make finals. I think they will string together a few wins very soon though.
Jon
Roar Rookie
Since the Tigers came last year anything short of 20 point lead with 2 mins to go and I'm not confident of the Raiders holding out. The fact that they are looking to hold out to win rather than playing to win speaks volumes. This is just typical of the Raiders now that I'm no longer even disappointed. It's just a normal weekend by the team. How many years is left on Sticky's contract?
maximillian
Guest
The Warriors are now top of the table (albeit with more games still to play this round). When was the last time they were up there?
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
Tim Gore, I hope you're not going to blame the loss on that obstruction call by the refs. Raiders should not have allowed Johnson to kick two field goals in three minutes.
sham
Guest
It is not easy being a Raiders fan. You sort of know that they will lose as they just seem mentally weak. I don't know what Ricky says to them but he often speaks negatively about avoiding errors. Sports psychologists work hard to help people not to think about mistakes and to play positively but Ricky seems to do the opposite. The Raiders get to a lead and try to shut up shop which is itself a negative tactic. They will only win if they play positively for 80 minutes
Col in paradise
Guest
Exactly...last 3 minutes their kept back peddling on defence and standing off Johnson and they made easy yards from their own line in the two set of six to pop the field goes, what type of tactics that from the defence coaches when you just had to trap them to around halfway and pressure no field goals...pathetic
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Guest
He shouldn't but he probably will. The Raiders board and management are too gutless.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Guest
Records are there to be broken Baz but I have zero confidence in this team at the moment. Maybe they need to go to the bottom of the well before they can climb out. Its not as though they have been flogged. But that could happen next week against Manly. Thankfully I won't have to go.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Guest
The defence in that final 4 minutes was diabolical after being pretty good up to that point. They just backed off and allowed Luke to score a try and Johnson to do whatever he wanted. I think they were too scared to go up and challenge Johnson just in case he jinked and went past them. If a couple of defenders went up together they could have snuffed him out but it was just one on one defence. If you look at Johnson's kick for a field goal there is hardly a Raiders player in sight. I was thinking of having a bet on the Warriors myself but just couldn't do it.
Joe
Roar Rookie
I hedged bet them as everything I had got Warriors....turns out they paid out since Raiders led by 12.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Guest
Ricky will probably go soft on them again. "The players are hurtin in there". There is no accountability in this team. And no leadership. It stinks from the head down. Stuart and the senior players needs to show ownership for this. I have no idea how they are going to turn it around.
sham
Guest
I made some good money on this game backing the Warriors despite being a Raiders fan. The Raider’s defence was better this week but they still managed to let in some soft tries. The last one was partly the fault of Sezer but I in no way blame him. He should not be playing at hooker — Ricky has other options that he just doesn’t want to take. And in the last 5 minutes the Raiders just failed to move up in defence and they allowed Johnson to play in a dinner suit. It was as if they were inviting him to kick field goals. Ricky really seems to think that errors are key — they are not. The Raiders often fail to attack in their defence as they seem so scared of conceding penalties which is the opposite of what good sides like the Storm do. They are either coached to move up very slowly at the end of games or they are too unfit — I am not sure what it is.
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
There's only one reason the Raiders lost today - because I bet money on them to win. That's the power of my betting. It can stop any team, no matter how far ahead they are.