BY DAN

The Canberra Raiders got the two points over the Wests Tigers, but almost nothing else of value in their 20-19 victory. In dewy conditions that required them to roll their sleeves up and earn a hard victory they instead did half a job, and hoped their opposition’s insipid and incompetent football would cover the rest. For a long time it looked like that plan would work out, but then it didn’t, and that they walk out with a win is near all they can be happy about. It wasn’t the easy way to victory, but this Raiders team doesn’t do easy.

It’s not like we didn’t all know that something like this was coming. There’s been so much talk of next week that I’m surprised the Raiders didn’t have to remind their players that they had a game tonight. Canberra aren’t a mentally focused team at the best of times, so it always felt like they were walking into a trap. The Tigers were coming off a bye, in-form, and better than their record suggested. They were going to play a style of footy that targeted the Milk’s weak edges. Given all that that and the fact they were putting a team like a toddler making cake, victory is a worthy achievement.

But my how they got there. The Raiders did little to earn the victory. Pick the stat and they were on the wrong side of it. They were outgained by 400 metres across the game (most of which were in the second half). The Tigers had more post-contact metres, more tackle busts (52! to 19), seven goddamn line breaks to a big fat zero for the Milk. Canberra’s attack – outside the hard work of the middle men – was insipid and ill-suited to the conditions. Their defence was not much better, and how bad it was structurally was hidden by strong individual efforts and admittedly impressive scramble.

In these conditions an 18 point lead would normally be built through controlled and intelligent football. Wear them out through the middle, kick to the corners and let your defence do the work. They got bits of that plan right. Through their first stints Josh Papalii (13 for 132m) and Joe Tapine (14 for 128m) did the work, as did Pasami Saulo and Ata Mariota (10 for 100m). Papa in particular continued his good form – he shouldn’t be doing it so well at this age, but he seemed to beat every first attempt put on him, and poked his head through the line on so many occasions. They were ably supported by Albert Hopoate in yardage (18 for 185m) but Nic Cotric looked ineffective and Jordan Rapana tired (mostly from how much he was needed in defence).

But all that hard work came for nothing once they moved an inch wide of the ruck. In the dewy weather the Raiders’ shift attacks descended into farce, unable to find the consistent footing or handling necessary to test their opposition. It didn’t help that they constantly were heading at 45 degrees, and thus the defence could always happily slide out to cover – almost criminally unintelligent in the conditions.

Jack Wighton should have been testing the line almost every time he caught the ball. Instead he finished with less than fifty metres, and kept sending the ball left every time he caught it. Matt Timoko should have got more opportunities than he did to run directly at the defensive line. He looked threatening when given the opportunity. Hudson Young should have got a chance that didn’t involve running face first into a wall of defenders. At the other end Luke flippin’ Brooks tormented the Raiders edge playing straight and stepping inside the sliding defence for 200 plus metres. If only Canberra had paid attention.

Instead they looked outmuscled between the 20s, and chaotic when they made the red zone. Planless. So bad that it lead your humble correspondent to hope they’d at least try some crash balls, because they barely got that far into their decision tree. It didn’t matter who was at nine, or who caught the ball at first receiver. Hookers got caught at the ruck. Passes were forced into covered line-runners. They looked tentative. Like they were tip-toeing out of a sleeping baby’s room rather than trying to get through a defensive line.

Instead they relied on Jamal Fogarty kicking sublimely and intelligently for much of the game. Three tries all came from his kicks, two of which nailed the upright and the other which was just cold dropped by a fullback under pressure. It’s impressive skill that he managed to pin-ball the kicks, but that they both landed in his lap took a degree of luck. Jack Wighton added a brilliant 40-20 because he seems to do that occasionally. It was hands down Canberra’s best attack and arguably the only comparative advantage it had in the game.

But they did manage 18 points and that should have been enough. But while their attack was insipid, their defence was also unimpressive. First contact, such an important part of modern defence, was ineffective all night. Tigers players constantly won rucks, earned extra metres and turned good defensive sets into scrambling ones simply be constantly beating the first few defenders. Canberra simply couldn’t get a handle on them.

Nowhere was the more evident than on the Tigers first try, which saw Timoko, Horsburgh, Tapine, and Papalii all get contact on Tommy Talau, and none look like bring him him to to ground. That’s a fixable mistake when you have a full complement. When you’re short players four players cannot try to tackle one man and fail. Hudson Young rushed in, Jack followed, but it was too late. The rot was on.

It was a problem in the middle and it was a problem on the edge. So many sets started with the Raiders seemingly having a handle on their opposition, only for a tackle to slip and chaos to ensue. The Tigers, like Manly a few weeks ago, moved the big middles around, and the longer the game went the less effective the middle became at cleaning up the errors of the outside defenders. This was evident when Wests would cut back against the grain, and it was evident in less threatening scenarios, like when Tapine and Papalii both collapsed in the face of Bateman’s dummy-half run for the opposition’s second try in minutes.

A small positive was Corey Horsburgh’s efforts in defence. He was consistently tested by Brooks he saw a weakness to take advantage of. But Horsburgh made so many tackles in scenarios where failure would have been disastrous. He’s brazenly playing out of position, and without the Raiders kicking the door down in the middle he didn’t have the opportunities to show his ‘golden retriever’ running style in space. So he just did the dirty work. Canberra need an actual second-rower in that position, and the Red Monster back in the middle. But for now he’s doing a really difficult job he’s ill-suited for, and he’s doing a good enough job.

Canberra need to treat this victory as anything but that. It was a smoke-and-mirrors way to win a game, and won’t be an option for the Milk going forward. They must desperately find a solution to their edge defence. Allowing an opposition to do everything but score and relying on the efforts of scrambling defenders to so often make a play at the last moment can win you games, but at some point the opportunities will take their share of blood. We saw this in this game, and we’ll see it again if they don’t find a more structured way to solve these problems. Hopefully a change in conditions, and a return of Seb Kris and Jarrod Croker (what a world) will be the tonic to return the attack to the heights of recent weeks.

But as frustrating and chaotic as it was, the two points is all that matters. We fans can hardly complain. If you’d told me in April that the Green Machine would have eight wins by June I’d have hugged you and never let go. Good teams don’t so much win games like this because they don’t let it get to such ridiculous situations. But the Raiders do and did, and they still managed to win. In a competition as flat as the Nullabor it’s worth celebrating. Are they building to something? Who knows. Burn the tapes and go home to Canberra to prepare to do it for Jarrod. Just hopefully with less chaos and more competence.

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