Brisbane’s winning start has come to an end against a fired up Raiders outfit that fought them into the ground and came out as 20-14 victors.
It was a superb showing from Canberra, who toughed it out early and clung on late to grab a much-deserved win.
They had come in for mountains of criticism in the week after a humbling at home to Penrith and a disappointing start to the year, but were clearly well up for the challenge of facing the unbeaten Broncos on their own patch.
The sight of Jordan Rapana, covered in his own blood after copping a Marty Taupau knee to the head following the bravest of brave catches, was symbolic of the commitment on show.
“That is how I expect us to play every week, even with so many players out,” said Ricky Stuart, while absolving Taupau of intent in the late incident.
“I feel sorry for Marty Taupau – it was an accident. He didn’t mean to do that. He came looking for Jordy and spoke to his parents which is really nice of him. It was an unfortunate collision. These accidents happen in these games.”
The hosts were shell-shocked. Brisbane threw plenty at Canberra but were met with a wall of white and lime green jumpers. Adam Reynolds twisted an ankle early and, while he stayed on, was clearly less than full fitness. He passed up kicking duties late in the game, which perhaps told its own tale.
This was a bounce back to earth after a superb start to the year. The Broncos had dispatched all comers so far in 2023, but they were out-fought and out-enthused here. Their attack, which has flowed against poorer defences, failed them in the face of excellent Raiders tackling.
“We just weren’t good enough,” said Kevin Walters. “They outmuscled us. We weren’t in the fight from the start and we lacked a bit of energy.
“The Raiders are a well-coached side and they played very well. I said to the guys winning becomes a habit. We expected they would be hurting, we just weren’t quite up to the challenge. It’s disappointing but that’s the way it is.
“Right from the kick-off we were a bit hesitant. We learnt a lesson tonight about playing footy.”
It was clear from the start that the Raiders meant business. For the first 15 minutes, the hosts were rattled by a Canberra side that turned up to play and play hard.
Brisbane responded with grit and were met with more of it. The Raiders are among the toughest teams out there, and though that hasn’t always been on full display this year, it was tonight.
Down Jack Wighton and Joseph Topine, arguably their best two players, and with a Ricky Stuart spray ringing in their ears from last week, Canberra produced the sort of committed and competitive performance that Sticky has built a career on.
The manner in which Rapana burrowed in for his second try, batting Jesse Arthars out of the way and then spraying him on the deck, was exemplary of the style of footy that Canberra had come to play.
With 20 minutes to go, they withstood a serious glut of Broncos possession on their line and were barely troubled, shuttling across to force an error while staying diligent, before advancing 60m untroubled and making Brisbane come again.
There’s a lot to be said for tactics and coaching philosophies, but Stuart hasn’t really ever been one of those coaches. Canberra don’t have a discernible style of play in a footballing sense, but have a very distinct attitude.
It’s why they can look terrible one week and brilliant the next, or indeed, why they can fluctuate so wildly within individual games. Tonight, they were on and proved that they can be a match for anyone.
What is the mark of a champion team? Plenty would tell you that it is the ability to win when not at your best. If that’s true, then Brisbane might have an issue.
Last week was Brisbane at their sparkling best, but it was hard to avoid thinking that they had been allowed to look good; the Wests Tigers are a clown car at the best of times and last Saturday night was close to their worst.
Despite putting 46 points on the Tigers, there was still a feeling that the Broncos left tries out there. The week before against the Dolphins, too, and in the first half against the Dragons, there was deficiencies in the performance that were masked by ultimately positive results.
Tonight that came home to roost. Canberra’s relentless pressure deeply unsettled Brisbane, and they managed it without putting on anything particularly special: just hard, intense, aggressive footy.
Adam Reynolds sent kicks long and out on the full, impacted by pressure from Raiders players. Reece Walsh and Payne Haas tried hard, but were shut down effectively.
When faced with an opposite that threw back, a few of the softer parts of Brisbane’s play in recent years came back. Notably, the Raiders were able to score three tries from hardly any ball in the opposition end, which was a hallmark of the bad Broncos.
NQR
Roar Rookie
No worries. I’m glad the bunker stepped in and awarded a penalty. I’m pretty sure most including Capewell were unaware of the actual severity of the contract and Rapana’s condition.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Sorry NQR, I read your comment too quickly and thought you were saying that they never put it out for injuries in soccer, even in non-scoring situations. I'll work on activating my brain before activating my typing fingers.
IanM10
Roar Rookie
Just a good old fashioned rough housing win by Canberra. Ruffled up Reynolds and put him off his game - which meant the rest of the Broncos couldn't be as effective. Easier said than done, but if a star-less Raiders can do it, other superior teams will exploit this. Might see a few Bronco losses coming up.
NQR
Roar Rookie
Wow I’m confused I agreed with Dustki? Capewell wasn’t really aware in that moment and played on. Now you’re attacking me for agreeing with something you agreed with? Soccer do have this weird concept of kicking it out for an injured player but they certainly don’t do it with the goal wide open IMO.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Wow, just wow... It happens every second game in football.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
well, congrats Titans but Dragoons, one should NEVER miss getting the ball on a short kick. You know it's coming.
bear54
The absence of Jack Wighton and his customary 3 or 4 back-breaking mistakes per game clearly helped the Raiders. He's a great athlete and maintains boundless enthusiasm for 80 minutes each week but Wighton should be playing at centre with halves creating the opportunities for him to exploit.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
You could be right, but given the collision and reaction, i thought it was pretty obvious.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
and that is worse, but still when it's pretty obvious - as in the JR case - you should act accordingly and assume a serious injury.
Hard Yards
Roar Rookie
For the sake of the man I would hope this to be true. For the coach - no.
Fraser
Roar Rookie
Absolutely, and clapping the injured player off is normally the case at Suncorp. This was just a confusing set of events, and I'm guessing what we were seeing play out at the grounds may not have matched up precisely with what was shown on TV.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Yeah - you can miss stuff when you are there live - you don't get the benefit of close ups like you do at home on the couch. But surely everyone can see him prostrate on the ground - blood all over his jersey - he was there for several minutes - and then gets taken off the field in a medicab. It was a mark of respect for any player to get clapped off the ground by the crowd if they looked seriously injured. Didn't matter if it was your player or an opposition player.
Fraser
Roar Rookie
At the ground they didn't show close ups and repeats of the blood pouring out of his head, nor did they show the medi-cab exiting the field on the screen. All we saw was the referee talking with Reynolds and then awarding the penalty. It was all very confusing in the stadium.
Fraser
Roar Rookie
Broncos had plenty of opportunities but squandered through lack of respect for the ball. They tried to go wide early without setting a platform. Staggs flick pass to Cobbo. Another pass to Cobbo later in the game that went sailing out. Walsh flick pass when he could’ve grounded the ball.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Still trying to come to grips with how the Brisbane crowd reacted to Jordan Rapana’s injury last night. It looked horrific with blood pouring out of a cut to the head. But all the crowd seemed interested in doing was boo the ref for awarding the Raiders a penalty. Even when he went off through the tunnel in the medi cab there was little reaction from the Brisbane crowd. Maybe its me – I was brought up in Broken Hill and South Ausralia which are both AFL regions – but when a player was injured enough to require a stretcher (or now medicab) it was the polite thing to do for the whole crowd to clap the player off the ground in sympathy for their predicament. Has this been lost from the game or did it rarely happen in NRL?
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Interesting thoughts. Ricky may have a bit of a problem when Savage returns. You would think Kris and Timoko are the Raiders best centres with Jarrod Croker the next in line. They also have Nic Cotric to return on one wing and Rapana and Hopoate both played very well last night. Still waiting for Jack Wighton and Jamal Fogarty to work out how best to play with each other in the same team. At least Fogarty showed what he is capable of last night.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Just my opinion on that lazy, careless and dangerous effort by Taupau not making any effort to jump or dive over Rapana after he knew and saw that he caught the ball, as it deserved a penalty and being put on report, its about time that the NRL starts to protect FBs and wingers or whoever is under a bomb from these kamikaze tacklers that are coming in full bore to cause damage, and are going to cause some serious injuries if its not stopped! There is no reason for it, as in other instances and with most players coming in like that, 99% of times they jump or dive over a player that has caught the ball, but in Taupau's case, there was no effort or any attempt by Taupau to pull out of that knee first damaging tackle. Taupau’s action was very careless and dangerous and should be stamped completely out of the NRL. Let’s see if the NRL do anything about this?
Scar82
Roar Rookie
Raiders Players were dropped for not performing. HSS needed to go back to reserve grade to improve. Frawley was lacking in attack and Schneider brought in who has been playing well in reserve grade. I feel he has a lot of errors in his game but he will only get better with the more first grade games he plays. He needs to work on his defence and was putting a lot of pressure on croker but you could just see the experience head of croker knew when to come in or hold out. Broncos kept attacking that side of the field which was patched up by croker and last week Penrith did the same. Horsburgh took his opportunity with open arms. Never thought of him as a lock but Corey haraweiranaira is a great player but I feel his their super sub. He comes on with a lot of energy of the bench. His had his opportunities at starting but I feel he starts well then fades away. He needs to know that it's an 80min effort with a lot of consistency like your Cameron Murrays and Yeos with big engines. He played really well off the bench and I think that's where he needs to be injected from. Attack has been shiiit Fogarty did stand up but both players need to play to their strengths if wighton is to return.Fogarty needs to control short kicking and aerial bombs and run when wighton demands the football. Both players go quiet in the close games where they need to work on separate sides of the field and trust those players around them to do the job. Wighton is jumping around like a full back should be doing his better chasing high kicks and running short side plays or running taking on the line and looking for an offload or second phase play. With croker back his good under the high ball and grubber to the in goal and Fogarty has to work on that. Kris is improving as a fullback but still a great centre. But good to know we can rely on him if savage is out.
Joe
Roar Rookie
I blame the Tigers...so inconsistent...play the Storm into form one week and the Broncos out of form the next....they can't even get that right!! :angry:
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
For such a great stadium it does seem to have a consistently awful field. Not historically. (except when it's being top-dressed by the Brisbane river). But this season it's been as greasy as a politician.