They came to Brisbane looking for entertainment, and they got it. 40 points in the first half was superb stuff for the early arrivals to Magic Round, who got to see the Raiders run out winners for the second year in a row, 34-30 over the Bulldogs.
In the prosaic business of the NRL, it was another two points, moving Canberra to four unbeaten and, for now at least, onto the cusp of the top eight.
But to reduce this madcap game to that would miss the point. They promised magic and had it delivered by two sides that put defending to one side and threw caution to the wind.
They got a grandstand finish, too, after one of the most bizarre passages of play all year. Xavier Savage was robbed of a second after referee Chris Sutton of a try, calling a knock on against Jack Wighton from a ball that clearly hit him in the head.
With the Dogs’ gifted a good ball set, Ata Mariota was ruled to have taken out Hayze Perham, with a penalty try the result. Thankfully for Canberra fans – and Ricky Stuart’s sanity – it didn’t cost the Raiders the game.
“I said to Jack (Wighton) after the game: ‘We’re winning, mate. We’re learning while we’re winning’,” said the Raiders coach.
“We could’ve been in the same position not winning those games, and we have been. A couple of times last year, we were losing those games on the back end.”
Cameron Ciraldo’s men came in ravaged by injury and on the back of a five day turnaround, which might go plenty of the way to explaining their performance. Not for the first time this year, their heart and effort were exceptional, though the man himself didn’t think much of it.
“The fact we had a chance there at the end, well we didn’t deserve that,” said Ciraldo.
“We didn’t really nail it at the end when we did have a chance. The Raiders were much better than us. They outcompeted us on every level.
“We were so far away from it and that was right from the first whistle. I’m disappointed.”
There’s a lot of cliches knocking about at this time of year, so let’s stick the mitt in the big ‘ol bag of rugby league truisms: Corey Horsburgh made for Origin.
Being not of these parts, it’s hard to tell at times what qualifies a player as being ‘made for Origin, but a wild stab would guess that a combination of wild-eyed aggression, being really good at footy and playing well at Suncorp will help a Queenslander out.
Horsburgh is certainly those three things. He’s been red hot – excuse the pun – all year and put in his best showing yet tonight, bullying Bulldogs every time he got the footy. On his first carry, Big Red made 20m after contact, dragging Doggies with him towards the line. The Raiders scored off the next play, not coincidentally.
The hard carries kept coming, but there was more than that. A smart set of hands put Jack Wighton through a hole in the second half and, wearing the 13 on his back, Horsburgh even turned his hand at the ball-playing lock gig. Granted that won’t be what he does for Queensland, but it’s another string to his ever-burgeoning bow.
The Maroons have a surfeit of backrow options and spaces to fill. Jeremiah Nanai must be out for Game 1 through a combination of suspension and loss of form, while Reuben Cotter has fallen off a cliff this year too.
David Fifita has brought himself back into the mix with excellent performances at the Titans and Jai Arrow is back in the mix, fit and healthy at Souths.
But with the ability to play both edges and as a middle, it’d be a brave punter who bet against Corey Horsburgh making the squad at the very least. And for the neutrals, the chance for one of rugby league’s angriest men to be let loose on its most aggressive arena is too good to pass up.
“There is a class footballer and an Origin footballer,” said Ricky Stuart. “He is both. He has been so consistent with his form. He could’ve played 80 minutes but I have three big middles on the bench.”
The Bulldogs are now officially the worst defensive side in the NRL, and at times tonight, certainly looked like it.
The left edge of Paul Alamoti and Dec Casey was far from stellar, with the centre responsible for several misreads and the winger caught inside his man on occasion.
It’s hard to attribute much blame: Alamoti is in game 10 of his career and Casey doesn’t even have that, so both are red raw at this level. Jacob Preston, also a newbie this year, was also on that side.
Going in against Jordan Rapana, a wily old fox, and Matt Timoko, who grows every week in the NRL, is a tough assignment and neither got much help from the inside.
Defence is always the biggest step up from NSW Cup, and doubtless Ciraldo would not have wanted to field an edge with three rookies on it. Throw in that the organiser-in-chief is Hayze Perham, also short into his NRL career as a fullback and it’s a recipe for defensive disaster.
The Dogs coach said at half time that his team were losing the middle, and when you lose the middle, it’s a bit unfair to single out outside backs who are made to look silly be opponents with the odds stacked in their favour.
There would be able cause for Ciro to make excuses given the youth of his backline and the injury crisis that has forced him to field the players he has. He won’t do that, because it isn’t in his character to do so.
The return of Josh Addo-Carr will help next week. It can’t come soon enough.
All the talk had been about the Suncorp Stadium pitch, but that didn’t seem to be the problem in game one of Magic Round. Brisbane had turned into Birmingham, as per the cricket maxim: don’t look down, look up.
For the first half at least, catching appeared optional for wingers and fullbacks. Perham was the culprit for one Raiders try, Casey for another and Jacob Kiraz wasn’t even in shot as Xavier Savage touched down.
Josh Reynolds found Seb Kris nowhere to get Preston over for the Dogs, then Matt Burton did the same on the other edge for Jake Averillo.
Reed Mahoney was smart enough to spot the stand-in looking the other way to slot a 40/20.
It was as if a vortex descended on Lang Park every time the ball touched a boot. Seven tries before the break came off just three line breaks.
When Burton finally sent up a trademark bomb, it was, of course, dropped – just by his own man.
Then he sent another that so bamboozled Savage and Kris that they weren’t within ten metres of it, but fortunately for them, Max King was, while offside. The third was the charm, with Averillo getting the putdown after Kiraz backed up.
Granted, Burton is one of the toughest to catch in the league, but this was next level. It was appropriate that the late penalty try was also a Burton kick that nobody defended until it was too late, and that the game ended with Rapana, finally, catching one.
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