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Canberra coach Ricky Stuart has vowed to remain patient with his team after watching another two NRL points slip from their grasp on Sunday.
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Final score
St George Illawarra Dragons 25
Canberra Raiders 18
After putting in their worst performance of the season last week, the St George Illawarra Dragons need to get back to basics against an inconsistent, but defensively strong Canberra Raiders. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 2pm (AEST).
The Dragons hold a record of eight and two after the first ten rounds of action, but there were some worrying signs last week in their loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
With a 2017 collapse still fresh in their minds after a similarly brilliant start to the season, they were beaten badly through the middle last week. They spent a lot of time camped on the South Sydney line, but simply couldn’t find a way to score with their attack putting in its worst performance of the season.
The same attack which beat the Roosters and Storm in the previous weeks with relative ease and smoothness couldn’t hold a candle to the Bunnies.
They will be out to prove the loss was just a blip on the radar though, which, given their form through the first two months should be true enough.
Ben Hunt and Gareth Widdop have been among the competition’s form players, but life has been made easier for them by a forward pack who have been having their way, with the whole backrow – Tyson Frizell, Tariq Sims and Jack de Belin – all in contention for the New South Wales Origin team.
Canberra, on the other hand, started the season poorly, but have turned things around in the last month or so, building their game on the back of some brilliant defensive work.
Keeping the North Queensland Cowboys to just eight points at home seemed to be the high point of their run, which has seen them win four of their last six. Despite that, they still sit 11th on the table and need to keep winning on a consistent basis.
While their defence has been strong, their game management has been a bit off the money at times. The Raiders have plenty of attacking weapons with Blake Austin and Aiden Sezer leading the way, but they have had a tendency to play negatively with the lead at times, and nowhere was a better example made than in their loss to the Sharks last week.
The sooner hooker Josh Hodgson is back the better, but the Raiders are hanging on more often than not in the last six weeks.
If they get a lead against the Dragons and try to put the cue in the rack though, things will end badly.
Prediction
The Dragons are a strong side and while it’s hard to predict what you’ll get out of the Raiders, the Red V should pick up a win here. They have been far too good to lose two in a row at this point.
Dragons by 10.
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