BY DAN

The Canberra Raiders 32-12 victory over Wests Tigers was the kind of meticulous and energetic performance that good teams use to beat bad teams. We don’t know yet if Canberra are a good team, but for the second week in a row they showed energetic and structured defence, supported by opportunistic and expanding attack. They handled injury and unperfect circumstances with an unfamiliar but easy equanimity. The improvement we saw last week was sustained and built on. How effin’ good. Now on to harder battles.

This was the kind of game the Raiders should win and that made me, and probably you, nervous (wrongly, as pointed out by esteemed rugby league historian Danny Ando). The Tigers were very much an unknown quantity. A new coach, new halves with raps from the media bigger than Brooklyn’s finest, and coming off a bye. It was a recipe for anxiety. The Raiders weren’t fazed. They turned up, started up the jackhammer and got to dismantling their opposition. When they were on top they took advantage. When the game turned against them  they just kept turning up in defence. When circumstances and HIA’s made life difficult there was no excuse, just fixes.

You love to see it.

They did it in both familiar and unfamiliar ways. The statesmen in the middle have been outstanding in the early going of the season and this was no different. They’d doubled the metres of their opposition in twenty minutes as the Raiders smashed the game open in the way they know best. Josh Papalii had 80 metres in his first stint (he ended 14 for 145, 62 post contact and four tackle breaks). Joe Tapine had 60 plus on his (15 for 152, 58 post contact). By the time Papa went off after twenty minutes with a sore finger the score was 14 zip. At half time and fulltime the gap in metres was maintained and the scoreboard got fat.

This was far from a two man job. Morgan Smithies’ workload is more impressive than a politician seeking re-election on a tight margin. Another 100 metres. Another 40 odd tackles (ok 39 apparently). More work tying the middle to the edges in attack. 80 flipping minutes putting in work. I’m not sure if he keeps being an ironman (not ‘The’ but ‘an’, like Greg Welsch…remember him? No?) when the Red Horse comes back but the thought of not one but two of these lunatics is an exciting enough thought to put those spam emails I get out of business.

Add to that the work of the backs in yardage (200 plus metres from Matt Timoko), and Zac Hosking and Hudson Young (both 100 plus on the ground) and it was breathlessly relentless. A metronomic-hammer pounding their opposition at all pressure points. By my count Jamal Fogarty kicked once from inside the 40. More often than not he was thumbing the belly of the ball into the stratosphere so high that Elon was getting jealous (and probably tweeting something problematic). Good field position and quick rucks makes a lack of attacking structure less relevant, and made playing ‘a bit of footy’ much easier.

And boy did they do that. Ethan Strange built on last week’s quiet slide into first grade by creating two outrageous tries that should make Canberra fans thirsty (for more, for him, you decide). The Raiders’ first try was built off his ability to create, dancing open a hole to send Seb Kris into, offload to Xavier Savage and [does that noise kids make describing a fast car]. Smart footy was followed by something brutally athletic later as he danced past one forward, and pushed off two others when given a snifter of space on the back of a quick ruck to score the Milk’s second.

These were his most successful moments but not his only good ones. He made good reads on when to get early ball to his outside (such as when he put Seb Kris in a race to the line in the first half) or to take the line on. All the while he was tested (and passed) as the Tigers kept trying to work him over with Isiah Papali’i. Only once did he not get him clean, and he fixed that error with a try saving tackle moments later that was so powerful they penalised him because it just felt like an 18 year old kid shouldn’t have that much grunt. I’m trying to not get excited but this is like falling in love. I want to climb on my rooftop and yell ETHAN STRANGE at the stars. It’s two games and mere moments but man it feels like the real deal.

If Strange was new relationship excitement Jamal Fogarty is the comfortable happiness from seeing your partner turn up for you. Strange is out there sizzling and Fogarty is up at 2am rocking babies and changing nappies. I feel safe. I feel loved. I am appreciative. His kicking game is somehow better than last year. Those belly-floating bombs are like waiting for the drop on a rollercoaster. Either finding metres, or grass, or perfectly placing a bomb (hello Zac Hosking’s final try of the game), he has everything you need. He also mixed in a perfect choice to run it on the last, hit Hosking short and watch as a popped pass was well taken by Rapana to score. So far’s he’s been the yin to Strange’s yang. The Ren to his Stimpy. The Brain to his Pinky. The Lana to Strange’s Archer.

It’s worth noting the field position for that Rapana try came from Xavier Savage’s smart skip to the outside that created a Timoko break. If Canberra have been surprisingly mature in these opening games Savage has been the avatar of this change. He has routinely found his way between defenders on yardage runs and rarely gets dominated in the tackle. He is smart with the ball, such as seeing the space that he put Timoko into, or calmly drawing the fullback on the first try. He more than once turned down a chancey opportunity when smarter options were available, and his defence was impressive.

Canberra put together all these parts with an expanded attacking focus. As importantly though that was matched with a robust defensive structure that allowed them to weather almost everything the Tigers offered. When Wests camped on the Raiders line at the start of the second half, previous iterations would have offered up a host of tries like they were trying to please the gods. This side instead responded with patience and integrity in their structures. Like the Knights game they rarely seemed out of shape. Even when they had to shift defenders left and right after Kris and Rapana had to leave the field the defensive cohesion remained. Before today if told me the Milk played near half a game with Ata Mariota playing on the edge and Matt Timoko on the wing, I would have cried, laughed, and poured myself a giant whisky and turned up the Angie McMahon. Instead we’re basking in the afterglow of a well deserved win.

Where moments were imperfect messes were cleaned up. Where problems existed someone solved them. If Zac Hosking has been a revelation in attack, his “as advertised” agility and indefatigability in defence is a key part of Canberra’s foundational improvement. John Bateman was so frustrated by someone doing his old job of clean up man on him that he shifted sides, picked fights and generally was ‘bad John’. Young did a similar role to Hosking on the other side of the field, and after spending so much time worrying about the edges, we can all just enjoy them for now. Add to that the fact that Timoko, Savage and Hopoate all had great defensive reads and boy howdy. Pour a bucket of water on me before I get carried away.

The Raiders are obviously not perfect and remain a work in progress. Both Tigers’ tries came when Canberra’s edge had to come in to solve problems created by the middle losing control. Either Zac Hosking (the first try) or Hudson Young (the second try) shut down a move on their edge, only the people meant to cover for them didn’t. On the first Danny Levi was too cooked to make any effort at A defender. The Tigers went right through where he should have been. On the second Rapana missed, Young was unable to get back from the tackle and Levi again couldn’t help the other side of the ruck It’s something good teams will notice and exploit. Their attack also still remains rudimentary, though it looked more expansive in this game than the week before. Danny Levi performed his role in nine but it seemed to me that the roll of the tide slowed when he was replaced by Starling. Neither are ball players in the ruck and at some point that limitation will be tested.

But this is picking nits. This team is already further ahead than we thought. This victory was clinical from a team not expected to be. It was mature from a team that has struggled to find that in the past, and even added some extra youth to the mix this year to make it more difficult. It was fast and powerful. A ferocity matched with improving precision, particularly in defence. It’s a mix the Raiders have rarely found in recent years. It may not be sustainable but god it’s been fun so far.

Canberra are building, and we’d always had a horizon of 2025 and beyond on our minds. The pace of improvement from week to week, even half to half in certain sectors, is so substantial that it’s not hard to wonder what they can achieve before then. This opposition won’t trouble the top line much this year, and lord knows the Knights being 0-2 suggests last year’s miracle might be a mirage. Tougher challenges are right around the corner. We’ll get a better view in the coming weeks.

But pre-season bracing for ups and downs and occasional destruction has been replaced by a stiffer spine, a raised chin and a full heart. This team has a capability and an identity already. This team has a grit and a gait that speaks to a group of men expecting more. Maybe we should too.

Like the page on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, or share this on social media and I’ll tell you of all the times I’ve heard my name, never has it felt more true, never have I felt more alive than when it floats off your lips . Don’t hesitate to send us feedback (dan@sportress.org) or comment below if you think we are stupid. Or if we’re not.