BY ROB

The Raiders surpassed expectations in round one. Even the most ardent of fans must have felt a slight sense of trepidation about the Green Machine’s trip to Newcastle, and for the first fifteen minutes these fears appeared to have a foundation. The Knights held the advantage in field position and metres, leaving the Raiders to constantly dig themselves out of their 20 metre zone. The first half ended with not much separating the two teams. But Canberra turned the screws in the second half, recording what would be the fourth best win of the round by the end.

Not really the behaviour of a team many so-called “pundits” predicted would be wooden-spoon contenders.

Canberra have given themselves the best start to the season possible. The challenge now is to repeat that performance, and build upon some of the stuff we saw last week. The Raiders have the double luxury of a nine day turnaround, combined with minimal disruption in personnel.

If there’s one bump in the road it’s that these two clubs can never just play a “normal” game. Even when the Raiders are the winners they’re either flogging the Tigers senseless or just hanging for the full-time siren by the skin of their teeth. Let’s hope it’s the former.

Changes

Seb Kris returns from his suspension this round, which sees Nick Cotric drop back to 18th man. That’s it. While such minor adjustments may leave this section of the Rumble a bit lean it’s great for the cohesion of the team. Kris arguably offers a bit more strike on the edges than Cotric and ably demonstrated his hunger for dirty carries and hard metres at fullback last year.

The Opposition

It’ll be nerves aplenty for Wests come Saturday afternoon. It’s their first outing in the post-Brooks and post-board clean out era. There’s no more Tim Sheens, with full head coaching duties now squarely on Benji Marshall’s shoulders. Youngsters Jayden Sullivan and Lachlan Galvin have been named in the halves, with Aidan Sezer picked at 14 in case things go awry. It’s a bold strategy from Marshall but he clearly thinks that the only way is up for the beleaguered Tigers.

Match-ups

Ethan Strange vs Lachlan Galvin

Strange had a quiet game against the Knights, and that’s okay – he’s still but a youngster finding his groove in the top grade. Given that an interjecting #6 has been part of Canberra’s problems the last few years I have no problem with him taking a back seat to Fog, soaking in the nuances of play before he finally finds his own space to fire. His offensive quietness is more than offset by his willingness in defence (25 tackles/4 missed/1 ineffective/83.33% efficiency). Galvin by all accounts is the second coming of Christ, and for the Tigers sake this had better be at least partially true. Two young pivots taking their first tentative steps ought to make for intriguing viewing.

Morgan Smithies vs John Bateman

Hang on, isn’t Hosking the Raiders #12? Yep, which means he’ll be marking Isaiah Papali’i. So shouldn’t you have made this Young vs Bateman, the battle of the firebrands? Nah, this is the battle of the Brits. The former Raiders provocateur faces his old club once more, and this time they have services of a guy who appears to have the work ethic of a shire draught horse. While Jonneh B will be hanging out on an edge don’t be surprised if he and Smivvies cross paths more than once in this game. Fetch the popcorn.

Rookie Radar

Still the same two as last week, Strange and Savage. X looked a much more willing participant against the Knights, and the stinger that he copped to the jaw in the first half only seemed to steel his resolve. If the Tigers are slow in defence it could give Strange the time and space to lay out some ideas, if not I’m happy for him to defend and support while his confidence grows.

In Conclusion

Look there’s a chance the off-season dramas will see the Tigers reborn like some sort of Western suburbs phoenix. There’s also a chance that they’re still very much a work in progress. If the Raiders approach this game giving their opposition due respect they’ll have already won half the battle. Add some of last week’s ingredients like strong completion rates and well, baby, you got a stew going.

Raiders by 12+! Maybe even by 56!?

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