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Canberra Raiders vs North Queensland Cowboys: NRL live scores, blog

Roar Guru
14th July, 2018
Where: GIO Stadium
When: 7:35pm AEST
TV: Fox League
Betting: Raiders $1.54, Cowboys $2.50
Nick Cotric of the Raiders, in green - and blue. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
Roar Guru
14th July, 2018
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Match result:

The Canberra Raiders proved far too prolific for last year’s grand finalists the North Queensland Cowboys, winning by 26 points.

Final score
Canberra Raiders 38
North Queensland Cowboys 12

Match preview:

Round 18 of the NRL continues as the Canberra Raiders host the North Queensland Cowboys in our nation’s capital. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match from 7:35pm (AEST).

What do you do with a team like the Raiders?

A fairly significant stat did the round last weekend, in that Canberra are the top of the table team if games were 60 minutes long. The Raiders have been in front at the hour mark in 12 games this season. Yet they only have 7 wins.

Now, a coach as meticulous as Ricky Stuart would be pulling the rest of his hair out with stats like that, particular for a coach who, as a player, gave 110 per cent of his heart and soul into everything he did, above and beyond the 80 minutes of the game.

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So it was something of a true surprise when the Raiders came back from the dead last week to beat the Bulldogs in those last bizarre moments of their round 17 clash.

And then there’s BJ Leilua. Oh dear BJ. So much raw talent, so much untapped potential.

A true rocks and diamonds player if ever there was one, simultaneously near costing his team the game and then winning it for them, only to have the spotlight shone straight on him with his post-match-winning try antics.

Joey Leilua is lucky to still be named in the side this week, but perhaps he more than anyone is emblematic of the season the Raiders are having.

Which brings us to the Cowboys. Wow.

Premiers one season, grand finalists not long after the next, and now? Running 14th this season. That is truly astonishing.

Long may Jonathan Thurston wonder if he played on a season too long, but that contemplation is for another day. He is in fact still playing, and while the Cowboys’ season is likely long gone, there is still pride.

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Thurston will be hoping that the likes of Gavin Cooper will be coming back on a high from Origin 3, and try to inspire the northerners to an unlikely, though not imporobable, victory.

This game really is anybody’s guess: the 60-minute champions versus the under-achievers. Each gives the other hope, as quickly as they take that hope away from themselves.

Prediction
Hard game to tip, so I’m going with the Raiders purely on the basis that they are last start winners, it’s in Canberra, and it should be cold. But I can’t remember the last time I had so little faith in one of my tips. Could really go any way.

Raiders by 2.

Join us at The Roar for live scores and updates from 7:35pm (AEDT), and don’t forget to add your comments.

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