Melbourne Storm vs Canberra Raiders: NRL preliminary final live scores

The Melbourne Storm and Canberra Raiders face off in the first NRL preliminary final, the winner booking their place in the 2020 grand final. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary tonight from 7:50pm (AEDT).

The Storm will look to record their 20th consecutive win in Queensland when they host the Raiders at Suncorp Stadium tonight. After overcoming the Eels in week one of the finals, they have had the week off and should be fresh for this contest.

The Raiders have built in the back end of this season. They were slow to start against the Sharks in week one of the finals but got the job done comfortably in the end. They backed it up with a gritty win against the Roosters at the SCG last week, somewhat avenging their loss in last year’s grand final.

The is a real rivalry brewing between these two. The Raiders beat the Storm in Melbourne in last year’s finals series, setting themselves up for a tilt at the premiership. While the Storm have beaten the Raiders this year in Canberra, the Raiders have won three of the past four clashes between the sides, including two victories at AAMI Park.

The Raiders have had no issue on the road this year and showed last week that playing away from the nation’s capital doesn’t phase them.

The Raiders are unchanged from their win over the Roosters, naming the same 17 on Tuesday. The Storm have named Dale Finucane on an extended bench and he is a chance of playing. Tom Eisenhuth is the only change to the side that beat the Eels two weeks ago, replacing Chris Lewis. Cameron Munster left the field early against the Eels but is expected to take his place at five-eighth.

Josh Papalii and Jack Wighton were the standouts for the Raiders last week, as was Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad. Joseph Tapine had his best game of the year and scored a brilliant individual try.

You sense though that the fate of the Raiders rests on the shoulders of Jack Wighton. He has been their best for the last couple of seasons, and in big games has stood up. He scored their only try in the grand final last year and has three tries this finals series.

His try last week might not have looked like much, but in big games you need to take opportunities as they come and Wighton was the one there to clean up after James Tedesco spilt the ball in-goal.

The Storm have any number of stars, including a hooker who, if age were no factor, would be nowhere near retirement. Ryan Papenhuyzen was immense against the Eels and they looked to have any number of options in attack, going to both flanks and finding space and points. If the game comes down to the wire though, Cameron Smith will be the one making the big play.

Prediction
Often we see the team in the preliminary final coming off the week off start a little slowly. The Storm and Raiders both rested the majority of their stars before Week 1 of the finals and both came from behind to win.

You can expect the Storm to start slow, but be far better as full-time approaches. The Raiders have had to go to Sydney and back and now face a whirlwind trip to Brisbane to keep their season alive.

The Storm are a different side to what we have seen in recent seasons. They aren’t the formidable force in defence of years gone by, but they are one of the best attacking teams this season. They have leaked an average of 24 points in their last four games, but haven’t seemed too concerned in turning it on and outscoring their opponent.

Every member of their backline is a genuine attacking threat. They have speed on both flanks, Justin Olam is a beast and Papenhuyzen is one of the form fullbacks of our game. Jarome Hughes has found a home at halfback and is asking as many if not more questions than his halves partner in Cameron Munster.

They have one of the toughest packs in the competition, all rounded up by that man Cameron Smith. They are coached by one of the most experienced coaches come this time of year in Craig Bellamy, and are playing for their fourth grand final in five years.

On paper and certainly in the betting, this is the Storm’s game to lose. If they can hold the Raiders early, they have the points in them and will be well-rested enough to get the win.

For the Raiders it comes down to fatigue and desire. By and large, they all got a week off prior to the finals. That could mean very little now that they have been to Sydney and back in what was an 80-minute contest against the Roosters.

They may very well have had added motivation last week playing the team that cost them last year’s premiership. Mentally they could have already played their grand final and have nothing left this week.

The Raiders have the game to beat the Storm and have shown it over the last couple of years. They will need the absolute best out of Josh Papalii and Jack Wighton again and require some real resolute defence if they want to get the job done.

We have seen a real flurry of points this finals series, but if the Raiders are to win they do it on the back of their defence as they can’t outscore the Storm.

This is an intriguing match-up. On paper, you can’t go past the Storm. But it has been an odd sort of year, one that deserves a unique finish.

The Raiders will come out hard and try to outlast the Storm. I think they will with Wighton the star again.

Raiders by two.