By Rob

I’m beginning to panic. After comfortably establishing themselves in the top four with four straight wins the Raiders appear to be caught in a psychological snare. The last two rounds have seen them lay on two early tries, only for the opposition to turn the tide straight after the halftime break and muscle them out of the game.

The Raiders dominated the first half of their clash with the Knights. Their attack was solid without being overly spectacular. Indeed the first twenty minutes was a scoreless sizzle of two top-flight teams wrestling the ball down to the opposition’s try-line only to be turned away by either handy defence or an unfortunate error. The very first set of the game saw Canberra march the length of the field before forcing a Knights line dropout.

In the 23rd minute the Raiders attacked the Knights line from ten metres out, executing a beautiful left hand shift that culminated with Ash Quinlan throwing a sublime cutout ball into the hands of Maddy Bartlett for the first try of the game.

The next try came in the 32nd minute and was a much more ad-lib manuevre – the left hand shift to Bartlett once more, but this time she ran out of room, popped a pass back inside to CRR before backing up to catch the return pass which gave her space to score.

Throughout the first half Canberra controlled most of the momentum. Even when the Knights managed to turn the tide, Jesse Southwell’s excellent 40/30 kick a case in point, they quite often coughed up an error of fizzled out on the fifth and last. The Raiders put on some bone-rattling hits and everything looked good.

Then half-time struck.

Whatever was said in those two rooms in the interval had a far greater effect on the Knights. They played straighter and sharper, particularly through the middle corridor. Tamika Upton, who had spent the first half reasonably quiet, remembered she could run, which caused Canberra a lot of pain. More than once she scythed through the middle, targeting the gap between the tired line defenders behind the Raiders markers.

The Knights scored their three tries in a ten minute block, first with Georgia Roche (who has to be one of the most solidly built sixes I’ve ever seen) using her frame to power over at close range, battering suddenly tired Raiders aside like skittles. Sheridan Gallagher scored when the Knights outstripped Canberra’s left edge for numbers, resisting Jess Gentle’s efforts, planting the ball even as the plucky winger desperately tried to lock Gallagher’s arms up.

The deathblow came via the maestro herself, Jesse Southwell putting on a deft step to flat-foot the defence and dive over.

Canberra either manufactured their own misfortune (errors and penalties) or had it thrown at them by the footy gods. Mackenzie Wiki, who was having one of her best games this year was forced off for a HIA. Competent players like Holyman had coach-killing errors doing routine things like playing the ball.

The officiating for the most part was pretty fair, except when it came to second efforts. In a big hit of irony Taufa got pinged for crowding, which given how the Knights were carrying on in tackles was quite something.

There were positives. Apii Nicholls sharpened the attack like she was a swordsmith, whilst also cleaning up well on kick defusal. Chante Temara tackled bodies twice her size, routinely putting bigger players on their backs. Bartlett and Cheyelle Robins-Reti continue to look like they share a telepathic link.

While it wasn’t as bad a loss as the Brisbane game it arguably had more impact. Canberra have just two games in hand now, one against the struggling Cowboys team and the final round against the Titans, who have been dropped to fourth after the Broncos big win, with the Raiders falling to fifth.

Canberra absolutely must win next week at the Gold Coast if they’re to keep their finals dreams alive. There may be two regular rounds left, but for the women in green sudden death footy starts now.

Rob loves the Canberra Raiders and also you. You can follow Rob on Twitter here. For other great takes you can follow Viv here, or you can do us a solid and like our page on Facebook,  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.