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Canberra’s winning streak has continued with another victory in a close game, downing the Titans 26-22 at GIO Stadium.
This is now their fifth win on the spin, and their tenth in eleven games, taking Ricky Stuart’s men to the edge of the top four.
All ten wins have been by nine or fewer. The Raiders are the NRL’s close game specialists, experts in getting results and little more.
This was a classic example. They were pummelled in many areas, with the Titans enjoying far more ball and far more territory, but the Raiders took the lead in second minute and never relinquished it.
They almost did, however, and not for the first time. 12-09 after 19 minutes should have been 12 all at the break after no try call on David Fifita that saw a try took off the backrower for a push. It was marginal at best.
“It’s almost a silly situation where if David runs into the back of Jamal and falls over, we get a penalty, but if Dave’s trying to contest for the ball and get people out of his way … he gets penalised,” said Titans interim coach Jim Lenihan.
“It’s one I’ll have to obviously have a look at again, but in the big scheme of things, it certainly had a major part to play.”
Fifita was the standout for the Gold Coast, scoring one and setting up another, with his cousin Jojo grabbing the other for the visitors.
But, despite a mountain of possession, they couldn’t breach the line enough. Canberra scored from a long-range intercept, a bargeover and a bomb, but they all count.
Stuart has this team fighting harder than any other outfit in the NRL. It is rarely pretty, but it has them sitting in the top four, and Sticky will not care one jot about aesthetics.
He’ll have to battle without next week, given the ongoing injury to Josh Papali’i, a head knock to Pasami Saulo today and an impending Origin call-ups for Corey Horsburgh and Hudson Young.
“We’re going to try and find three forwards, so we’re going to have a different team next week,” said the coach.
“But I love to have that during the Origin series, I’d love to have four or five of them, I’d love to have as many Origin players as I possibly could.”
Jamal Fogarty might be the league’s form player at the moment. For the third week in a row for the Raiders, the halfback was the difference between winning and losing a tight game, kicking his men out of trouble and, again, onto the scoresheet.
Speaking last week to The Roar, Fogarty said that his kicking and defence were the centrepieces of his game, and while everyone has been able to see what he can do with the boot, it was the second part that was to the fore today.
He was repeatedly targeted in the channel on Canberra’s right, with David Fifita, one of the NRL’s most dangerous ball-runners, charging time and again in his direction.
Having defended him in training for years during his time at the Titans, Fogarty might be one of the few halves in the NRL that isn’t overawed by the challenge.
Fifita did score once – when Fogarty was out of the play at marker – and when he created one for Alofiana Khan-Pereira, it was the Raiders halfback clinging on for dear life to stop him.
Twice, too, Fogarty denied Khan-Pereira with clear trysavers, including one that simultaneously denied one against and created one for, with the Titans winger losing the ball in contact before Jordan Rapana picked up and fed Matt Timoko to go the length.
Canberra needed their halfback, because there wasn’t much else going for them. But that’s what this team does: they fight hard, play for each other and sneak the results.
It’s strange being the Titans. They’re usually great in attack and pathetic in defence, but this time, they were the other way around.
Canberra struggled to get anything out of them with the ball, scoring off a bomb and a length-of-the-field breakaway, with only Albert Hopoate’s score in the opening minute a clear breach of the line.
But at the other end, the Titans accumulated pressure on pressure and couldn’t get the points they needed to shift the result in their favour.
It wasn’t for lack of opportunity. They had twice as many tackles inside 20 as their opponents and six sets more with the ball, but never got much going.
Beyond the plan of ‘give it to Dave’, it was hard to work out how they thought they were going to score tries. Canberra are a good defensive team, but weren’t asked anywhere near enough questions.
If you’re Lenihan, you might take that. Better to be a resilient team that generates field position than a weak one that falls apart at the slightest push.
For a side with AJ Brimson and Kieran Foran, however, more might be expected. Ultimately, the lack of creativity was where they lost today.