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The Warriors have rained on Jarrod Croker’s 300th game parade with a stunning 34-10 win that catapults them to underlines their case for finals football in 2023.
While all eyes were on the veteran centre’s milestone match, the star was another Raiders legend, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, who ran his heart out in attack and produced polish in good ball.
Between CNK and Shaun Johnson, who was exceptional again, it was a comfortable second half for the visiting Kiwis. Both scored tries and created them, with the fullback shading the man of the match through sheer effort.
Having been ditched by Ricky Stuart last year, he played like a man intent on making a statement for his new club.
Yet for the opening 40 minutes, nothing went right for Andrew Webster’s Warriors. The Raiders, inspired by Croker’s 300th, flew out of the blocks and dominated, but lacked any nous in attack and failed to cash in on the mountains of field position and possession they generated.
Though the Warriors had Mitch Barnett sat down for a high shot on Jordan Rapana, they scored one of the most spectacular tries of the year through Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and never looked back. Tom Ale, Luke Metcalf and Wayde Egan would all add to the total after the break.
“Two points are up for grabs and the only thing we want to celebrate is to play in big games,” said Webster.
“If you handle these occasions well, and then you get yourself to the playoffs, in the big games you’re going to be in better shape to handle those moments.
“We were excited about the full house, excited about the occasion. We didn’t use (the milestone) as motivation. We knew we were going to have to weather the storm early because there’s a lot of emotion.”
The only dark spot for Webster was the hit from Barnett and a late one from Marata Niukore – also on Rapana – that will likely incur the wrath of the Match Review Committee.
Stuart had promised an emotional homecoming for Croker – and rested him last week to ensure it happened – but Raiders seemed like it was all too much for them.
Croker entered the field in tears, and the energy early on backed up their willingness to do it for their mate. But it was never backed up on the scoreboard and, by the end of the half, they already looked drained.
“What this club is about is blokes like Jarrod, that’s why we’re so proud of him,” said Stuart.
“I’d rather have this week and lose the two points than have a shitty week for Jarrod promoting his 300th and winning two points.
“If that costs us at the end of the year in the top four or top eight — so be it, that’s our fault. But I’d much prefer the week we had.”
The Raiders came out fired up, but fired up doesn’t get you much against this Warriors team. Canberra threw the kitchen sink at it, but played with little guile or creativity.
The enthusiasm and aggression was enough to get them field position, because the Kiwis could barely get out of their end, but the Raiders did next to nothing with the piles of good ball that they got.
At one point it was 19 sets to 11 in favour of the Green Machine, but they’d accrued one try from it, and that a lucky bounce from a kick. Beyond that, nada.
Plenty of that can be attributed to the superb defence from the Warriors, but in truth, not enough questions were asked.
This was an issue last week too: all three tries Canberra scored were from kicks and that was against a Wests Tigers defence who are far from the best defensively.
As much as Sticky loves a power game, there’s a line at which battering down the front door turns into banging your head off a brick wall. Subtlety was not a strong point.
27 tackles inside 20, with the opposition down to 12 for ten minutes, for one try off a kick is not great going for a side with halves as good as Jamal Fogarty and Jack Wighton.
Notably, Canberra trailed the Warriors for support runs at half time despite have 50% more ball and thus twice as much opportunity to run supports.
The Raiders are middling for supports in general and among the worst for decoys, and for the first half, looked like it. It was pure barge and bash, and the Warriors were more than a match for it.
The Warriors have been a masterclass in make-do-and-mend in 2023. They have far from the best roster – indeed, on paper, they’re close to the worst – and a rookie boss in charge, not to mention 25 years’ worth of dubious results.
Yet they are right up there with the best in the league, especially in the intangible areas. In a league where plenty of teams put the cart before the horse, they know exactly what their priorities are.
They might not be the most entertaining, but they work. The defensive resolve is superb and their attacking enthusiasm the same.
Check the support numbers listed above for proof: it costs nothing to run them, other than a bucketload of effort, and the Warriors are among the best.
Even better, check the Luke Metcalf try, where Johnson picked him out from four potential runners. Only one got it, but the other three helped to confuse the defence.
New Zealand have the second best completion rate in the comp: it isn’t necessarily a good thing, but it certainly tells you how they go around their business. It’s fairly low risk, high effort stuff, willing to make their tackles, get to their kick and wait for mistakes from their opponents.
This wasn’t a banner night for that style of footy. The Warriors made plenty of unforced errors in attack and invited their opponents in, but were able to defend their mistakes.
At the other end, the Raiders were unable to do the same. The first try, to Watene-Zelezniak, was truly exceptional, but the next two were softer than soft. The late clincher for Wayde Egan was even worse.
This game, writ large, was one side that had a really defined way of playing and one that was making it up on the fly. It’s no surprise at all that the Warriors won.