BY ROB

The NRLW Raiders strayed into awfully familiar territory in their 19-18 golden point win over the Dragons. What started out as a promise of explosive points scoring collapsed into an all too recognisable pattern in the second stanza.

The Raiders started the game with a bang. Bringing it out of their own end they shifted it along the line until it found Zahara Temara who straightened and sliced through the Dragons defence. Canberra made it all the way down to the Dragons line, but came unstuck when Kerehitina Matua, surprisingly starting at left backrower instead of Monalisa Soliola, couldn’t keep control of the ball.

The Dragons hit back and were the first to cross the stripe. Pushing left the Dragons managed to get in between Alanna Dummett and Shakiah Tungai, with Bobbi Law scoring for the Red V. The Raiders returned serve just two minutes later. Moving right off a scrum they pushed the ball wide, Cheyelle Robins-Reti drawing the last two defenders before releasing Tungai with a neat flick pass.

Canberra continued scoring, bagging their second when Chante Temara caught the Dragons napping at the line. If you thought that might be her biggest contribution to the game you were forced to reconsider your position just two minutes after her try. With the Raiders rolling up the middle she ducked left out of dummy half before sending a crisp ball back the other way straight into the hands of a charging Simaima Taufa. Taufa breezed past some lax defence from the St George middles before fending off their fullback and then ultimately carrying two chasers with her as she crashed over to score.

At this point Raiders fans were salivating at the prospect of the first proper winning blowout, but the footy gods had other ideas.

Canberra’s next effort was scrubbed after the bunker ruled that Apii Nicholls had knocked it forward into a Dragons player, Hollie Mae Dodd denied a try. The Raiders had another crack after Zehara fired off a cracker of a 40/30. Pushing to the left they were forced to deploy some Globetrotter moves before Matua jigged her way past several defenders and scored, a joyous moment that lasted until the bunker discovered she had lost the ball in the act of grounding it.

Matua deserves props for her impact, particularly in the first half. Several of her carries generated quick play-the-balls along with good metres often bending the Dragons line.

Whatever momentum the Raiders took to the sheds must have gotten lost somewhere inside WIN stadium. They spent the entire second half scoreless, while the Dragons slowly reeled them in first with a try off a neat kick in behind the line, then with a 90 metre effort after they cleaned up a Zahara Temara misfire in their own red zone.

Canberra continued making things hard for themselves. With the score tied they tried to make inroads into the Dragons half, but some maddening choices made it look like they were running in mud. ZT got caught in possession of the ball on the 4th (after having headed right, not back to the centre), meaning she was unavailable to kick it on the next play. Panic and/or confusion ensued, with an errant pass crashing into the turf before the Raiders limply turned over possession. They managed to compound these mistakes by attempting a charge down on a Dragons kick with St George regaining possession and a fresh set of six. Somehow the Raiders held on.

Golden point is always a nerve wracking thing, and the Raiders made their fans wait just that little bit longer. Ua Ravu looked to be the hero we needed, crashing over at short range, but the Dragons defence managed to keep her small frame far enough away from the turf. The Raiders came again, finally taking the sensible path of rumbling right up to the ten metre line so Zehara Temara could pot the winning field goal from sixteen out.

The team had a mixed bag of individual efforts. Simaima Taufa was once again an inspiration at lock, tackling and running the ball until the heat death of the solar system. Holyman, Dodd, Kelly-Sines and Matua all racked up 100+ in metres.

Grace Kemp weirdly only played 20 minutes, which was weird because her presence was desperately needed during the back end of the second half. Apii Nicholls and Madison Bartlett both had quiet games, with Nicholls struggling with clean up duties and last line of defence positioning.

The Raiders return home with two points, but only after making the fanbase squirm for forty minutes. The good news is they’ve catapulted themselves up into second place, and will remain in the top four until next week. They’ve managed to best two inform teams and the Dragons for three wins straight, and next week take on the hapless Eels.

There’s still polish needed, but it’s starting to look like this Green Machine will be revving loudly in September.

Rob loves the Canberra Raiders and also you. You can follow Rob on Twitter here. For other great takes you could follow Viv here, or you can do us a solid and like our page on Facebook, follow Dan on Twitter (or Threads!) or share this on social media. Don’t hesitate to send us feedback (dan@sportress.org) or comment below if you think we are stupid. Or if we’re not.