Lazarus had nothing on this – and that’s not Glenn. The Wests Tigers were dead in the ground on 68 minutes, trailing 18-0 and barely having looked like scoring.
Then, they scored three tries in five minutes, kicked a field goal and were in front. But this is the Tigers, so they lost anyway, 20-19.
Canberra had been as good as they needed to be and not an ounce more for all that time, scoring three tries from kicks and tackling their hearts out, while offering the square root of nothing in attack.
Jamal Fogarty created it all, putting two off the post protector for himself and setting up another for Jordan Rapana. He kicked the winning penalty, too, after missing a field goal but being collected by Isaiah Papali’i on the charge down.
The turning point was a sin bin for Tom Starling, the fall guy of a deliberate policy of lying in the ruck that succeed for over an hour. After that, it was the Canberra Faders on steroids.
They didn’t touch the ball for eight of the ten minutes that they were down to 12, by which point Luke Brooks had put the Tigers 19-18 ahead.
But life is never that simple for the Tigers. They always find a way – unfortunately, it’s a way to lose.
Neither coach left happy. Tim Sheens complained about what appeared to be a push on Brooks in the lead up to Fogarty’s second try.
“Brooks getting pushed was a poor call,” said the coach. “He was running towards the ball and, in fact, it bounced off the post pad and came towards him, but he got pushed over.
“You can’t push someone over. I’m not happy about that one and it resulted in a try. There’s a number of things that I thought were poor.”
Ricky Stuart delved into referee Gerard Sutton’s set restarts, which ended 8-0 against the Raiders.
“When you get eight ruck infringements to zero, that opposition should have won the game,” he said. “The opposition, they can’t be that clean at the ruck.
“I don’t mind if we’re infringing at the ruck, we can cop our medicine, but you can’t tell me that they are a zero, that they are that clean tonight.”
Beyond that, though, he was happy.
“What these boys were up against was unbelievable,” said the coach. “The way that they stayed composed – they went bang, bang, bang and they stayed composed. I was so proud of them.”
One swallow did not make a summer as far as the Wests Tigers’ attack is concerned. For much of this, it was back to the bad old Tigers of earlier in the year, taking execution tips from Amnesty International.
There was the time Luke Brooks, on the last, threw one behind everyone and off the field. The time when, with six good tackles on the Raiders’ line, they conspired to get put into touch on play one.
Even when they were better, it wasn’t great. Jahream Bula made a break and got Fonua Pole charging to the line, but he ignored Isaiah Papali’i, got run down and lost the ball.
They made an extra man at one point and found winger Junior Tupou, but the pass was too high, he juggled and the scramble came across.
It was as if the points fest against the Cowboys had never happened. While the Raiders’ defence was decent, it really didn’t have to be.
Only when they lost a man to the sin bin did the Tigers finally breach the line.
Sheens might ask why that didn’t happen earlier, given the Raiders conceded set restarts at will at times, but it took until ten to go for referee Sutton to take things further.
The Raiders conceded them in bunches, too: in the first good ball set there were two, then another two in a minute just after half time, then the two that eventually saw Starling marched.
When it did happen, however, the dam broke. The Tigers got their breakthrough through Bula and then got two more in rapid time.
By the end, they had almost 500m more than the Raiders, plus seven line breaks to one, plus 47 sets to 36, plus 42 red zone tackles to 25 and you get the point.
Yes, the comeback was spectacular – but if they had done anything beforehand, they wouldn’t have needed it.
This was almost certainly the best that Fogarty has ever played in first grade. The halfback was by far the game’s best player, although that might not mean a great deal, given how poor the game was in general.
His contributions were decisive: three superb attacking kicks, three tries, two of them for himself, plus the penalty goal that won the game.
With the boot he was exceptional, kicking over 600m to constantly turn the Tigers around and defensively, he was as solid as any – no mean feat when faced up with Isaiah Papali’i running at him.
There was a stunning in-goal escape, too, and even a few probing runs from a player usually more inclined to kick and control rather than take on the line.
As much as the Tigers were poor in attack, the Raiders weren’t much better – except Fogarty. His class was the difference between the sides and gave his defence something to work with.
It was fortunate that he did turn up, because the rest of the Raiders managed to go 70 minutes without a line break, while accumulating next to no concerted pressure on the Tigers line.
Eventually that bit them on the backside and they got what they deserved. Only Fogarty could emerge with credit from a poor Canberra showing.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
No. Your "2 knock on" explanation is only relevant in reference to a knock on by both teams. Since there was never any thought that a Raiders player touched the ball, as the Tigers ended up with possession directly from the first knock on, playing on to look for a second knock on was irrelevant and highly suspicious. It felt like the bunker was trying to justify the referee's original call given the first knock on was a replica of Api's knock on in Origin that lead to a Try to NSW..
Greg
Roar Pro
But you were dominating because of the ruck infringements. The fact 7 of the 8 came on zero or first tackle shows it was a deliberate tactic. Sutton allowed this to continue by not binning a player much earlier.
Greg
Roar Pro
2. The 2nd knock on determines the restart. One knock on, play the ball zero tackle. 2 knock ones scrum. 3. Time is not called off during the penalty (until a certain amount of the has elapsed, i think 40sec can't remember). Should have been called off after the conversion but. I would also like to know 1 and 4
Muzz Manyana
Roar Rookie
How could they miss the push in the back on Luke Brooks when the Raiders scored?
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Thought the Raiders were pretty good against Souths Randy. Scored a few cracking tries in that second half. But Ricky seems to love an arm wrestle for some reason which is responsible for our collective high blood pressure as supporters. There have been so many matches in the past few years where we have won or lost by less than six points. Never seems to be an easy win - but you can't complain about winning 7 out of the past 8.
Randy
Roar Rookie
Raiders tied 1st on the ladder, truly stunning. We are awful with the ball yet somehow just keep ticking up wins.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
It's crazy that defending teams aren't taking into account the prospect of a grubber hitting the upright. I'm not saying all the players need to anticipate it but at least one or two need to consider the prospect and act accordingly. With those big pads and kickers aiming at them , stop being shocked when they hit them. One possible downside is that you are more likely to obstruct the chasers and if it doesn't hit the post the refs will scoff at the line you are running despite it being legitimate. Another can of worms?
Ferret
Roar Rookie
I switched off around the 65 minute mark as, to me, it was a dull game with little happening. Sounds like fun in the last 10 minutes but really little to get excited about either side. Raiders scored 2 tries from goal post rebounds. Fogarty is a good player but could try that another 20 times and not get a result. 2 in 1 night; buy a lottery ticket. Raiders other try from a bomb lottery. Tigers must have come to life against 12 men. Unfortunately, when it was 13 v 13 they showed very little.
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
You'd think if a team can go from 0-18 to 19-18 with three minutes to play, they would have the mental strength to defuse a short kick off. Very disappointing ending.
Farmyard Friend
Roar Rookie
Fogarty was a “late bloomer” breaking into the NRL in his mid-20’s. Good pickup for the Raiders.
GreenHawk
Roar Rookie
Sutton and Raiders don't mix. Yet we keep on getting him!! 8 nil ruck infringements when dominating. Unbelievable. Again Sigh
Panthers
Roar Rookie
What you say about the interference to Brooks is absolutely true. Zero chance of getting there to make a tackle . Yet I remember many a time when players such as Moses ( just an example & nothing more ) , have found a player to run into while in defence & thrown themselves on the ground & gone into convulsions . Only for a try to be denied. Most of these times such a defender has had zero realistic chance of making a tackle to deny a try. I guess it’s all just part of the bunker try lotto?
Bloke7
Roar Rookie
As a neutral who really has 0 interest in who won this game I'd say there was nothing wrong with the Brooks contact on the Fogarty try. Brooks was never getting near Fogarty in a million years and the contact was more about the momentum of both players. The penalty at the end was fair, refs have been blowing them for much less contact over the past few seasons and it was consistent with that trend. Were the Raiders really 8 ruck infringements worse? With a play the ball speed average of 3.33 it seems the Raiders weren't being held down much, but with the Tigers at 3.64 I'm not sure the Raiders were doing much worse. There were times when it looked worse in patches but over the course of the whole game it wasn't that bad. Basically I think the officials actually had a pretty good game. Had the Dogs been playing I'd probably disagree but that'd be my bias.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
The Raiders may have been a bit lucky to escape with a win through a penalty in the 77th minute - but they held the Tigers scoreless for 68 minutes - who were fresh coming off a bye and scoring 66 points in their last match against the Cowboys. Great game from Jamal Fogarty and the defence held up well until they were down to 12 men with 12 minutes to go. John Bateman also looked intent on playing a good game against his old club. While the Raiders were guilty of holding down in the ruck a few times in that second half a count of 8-0 against the Raiders for ruck infringements or inside the 10 seems more than a bit one sided. In the end it was good to get the win and now on to Jarrod's 300th at home against the Warriors.
Panthers
Roar Rookie
Raiders couldn’t have asked for more than what the Tigers did with that last play. Run yourself out of time.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Raiders defended really well but that will naturally occur when you hold down longer and more frequently than you’re legally entitled to. The Starling binning should have happened 20 mins earlier. In the end it was a dumb way to lose the match.. unforgivable at this level.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
4 things I'd like answered: 1. How could Sutton turn a blind eye to the Raiders spoiling tactics of lying in the tackle and slowing down the play-the-ball for most of the game, award the Tigers 8 tackle restarts to the Raiders 0 for cynical ruck infringements and being inside 10 metres and wait until 13 mins from full-time to finally sin-bin a Raiders player for repeated infringements? The Raiders were also on the wrong side of the penalty count 6 - 4 for the same reason. 2. Despite the fact that the same play by Api Koroisau in Origin was NOT called a knock on, the referee and bunker decided to rule on this occasion against the Tigers which would have given them possession around the Raiders 20 metre line. My question though is, IF the bunker was so sure that the ball was knocked on by the defence and not the result of a loose carry then WHY after calling Api's touch a knock on did they continue watching the replay to find a second knock on and ended up calling "a double knock on"? Surely, one knock on is enough to make a call? Unless they were looking for a justification for the initial referee's call? 3. As the game was inside the last 5 mins WHY did Sutton not call time off during the penalty kick for goal and then for the Tigers getting the ball back to halfway for the kick off restart? Over 2 mins was run off the clock leaving the Tigers barely 60 seconds when they should have had 3 mins to organise a final assault. 4. WHY didn't the Tigers just run the ball to the goalposts instead of playing wide to both sides of the field and running down the clock? If Brooks was back deep and Api was a dummy half for the field goal attempt the Tigers still had time to level the scores.
Muzz Manyana
Roar Rookie
Resting Croker almost backfired. Risky call from Stuart.