BY DAN

Forty to zero. It was as bad as it sounds and closer than it deserved. Canberra were torn asunder for the second time in two weeks, humiliated in front of their own fans. They were overwhelmed in every facet of the game and could only muster the simplest tasks or the most singular efforts. There was no cohesion. No plan. Listless would be too polite. They came looking for positives and instead found pain.

In a sense the Milk were on a hiding to nothing. Without a host of their best and brightest they would have needed to have a special day to beat a middle table team. Instead they got the king of the castle Sharks, running havoc and extending a streak of scoring 30 points or more that started the last time these two sides met. Back then the Raiders had near enough a full compliment to get them through and it was still hopeless.

This game was much worse but that context doesn’t excuse what happened. Canberra were poor in execution and strategy but also looked physically broken. Everything looked slow. Line speed, ruck service, decision making. They were a podcast listened to at 0.75 speed; slurring and drunk, while their opposition bounced around like they’d stolen that extra quarter and were taking it a mile.

It was the second week in a row that the Raiders have been found out defensively by pace in the middle. The Sharks didn’t move with the crossing-the-streams chaos of the Broncos but they were equally effective. It’s brazenly simple as a game plan. Have massive and fast backs that can win contact. Let your bigs roll on the back of it. Deploy your well-structured attack at a defence that’s panicking like they forgot there was a game today and turns out they’re not wearing pants either. No Canberra middle was spared. No edge defender felt collected or aggressive. It was the worst of all worlds.

Danny Levi was a case in point. Most will want to talk about what he did with the ball but my concern was how he was exploited in defence. He was continuously isolated and rolled by people quick enough to line him up. It exhausted him and by the time he was hooked 25 minutes into the game it was probably five minutes too late.

He played a role in other tries (like everyone) but the third try was a good example of how mercilessly he was exploited. After his try-blowing error, the Sharks targeted him in defence. Already cooked he made three tackles in row, and on the last of them was too slow off the tackle and gave Cronulla a six-again. Then Ronaldo Mulitalo ran straight at Pasami Saulo, knowing that Levi, standing next to him, simply didn’t have the energy to help across. A quick ruck followed. Then cooked at marker Levi (and Smithies) allowed Blayke Brailey all the space he needed to create the numbers that became a try scored by an unmarked winger.

It was expert and it was sixteen blot. The game was basically done there, and Levi’s was effectively too. It’s not the first time a team has exploited that factor this year (the Tigers first try in round two is a good example, the Titans first try in round six is another). It won’t be the last.

He was hardly alone. No middle had control defensively. The Sharks simply rolled down the field on every set as Canberra’s middles stood by helplessly. Tapine’s miss on Tom Hazleton for the second try was one of exhaustion, but also one that defenders of functioning goal-line defences almost never are asked to make themselves. It was glaring that it resulted in points but it was a characteristic of the contact of the day. Time and time again the Sharks collapsed the Raiders defence and made *someone* make a one-on-one tackle. When they missed Cronulla scored. All they could offer in reposte was zero line speed and poor contact.

This compounded the pressure on the edges. Simi Sasagi and Hudson Young spent as much time fixing other people’s messes as solving their own, routinely dragged further and further towards the middle. Young gave his all, ferociously trying to cover every hole he could, sticking fingers and toes into leaks and trying to bail out the water long enough to keep hope afloat. More than once he defended all the way across to the other side of the field trying to help out. On the sixth try to Katoa the final break (of several) came on an inside pass to where Young would normally be defending, but he wasn’t there because he’d chased across to the other side of the field to solve the mess created by the first break.

Sasagi had a tougher day. Helping in was hard work but stopping the various skill players coming at him with pace and space more to ask. Like Levi he was targeted without remorse, asked to make 41 tackles (9 misses). Nicho Hynes tormented him, exploiting his hesitation and tendency to back-peddle on both the first and fifth tries. Even when tries weren’t being scored down his side, he (and Weekes) was targeted in the knowledge that even if they cleaned up the mess it would create an overlap elsewhere. He had such a rough day that I kept waiting for Mariota to be put there, even though it would have been equally difficult for him to defend in so much space with such an agility deficit.

This was only compounded by an attack that was moribund and rudimentary. They could muster their usual exit sets and get to a kick, but beyond that they had little that could confuse or deceive their opposition. The only times they ever looked to be playing with freedom was when Matt Timoko did the best one-man-band impression since Xavier Rudd, and would refuse to be tackled (dead set he was incredible with the ball. I haven’t seen a person that hard to put down since Drake tried to diss K-Dot). The quick ball that came off the back of it allowed a bit of space and good things would follow. Ethan Strange’s best moments came getting the ball at first receiver on the short side during a set that was built on a Timoko run. At least one try should have come from that. But even if Danny Levi’s fumble could have changed the tenor of the game, there was little evidence in all else the Raiders did to suggest it would have mattered.

This was most clear in their goal-line attack. Calling it predictable is understating the fact. They had four passes intercepted because everything was so obvious to anyone watching. More than once Nicho Hynes ran from the goal line to catch the ball before first receiver. At one point in the second half the Raiders had been tackled in the Sharks redzone 27 times for zero points. The Sharks had been tackled there seven times for 4 tries.

Partly this was poor ruck work from both Levi and Tom Starling, devoid of any manipulation, plan, or creativity. Partly it was young halves still working out how to manage a red zone set (though I’m not sure who’s going to teach them how in Canberra). On one attacking foray in the first half the Raiders went a full attacking set around Starling without a half touching the ball. This might worry you but if you’ve been here a while you’re probably used to it.

The only thing that heartens me is that the young talent players were hardly the problem. Strange had moments, and only struggled when he basically tried to drag the side in himself. Chevy Stewart proved last weeks first half was a memory. He didn’t have the room or opportunity to do anything in attack but he saved two tries with smart and strong defence (respectively) and did well in almost universally difficult situations. Outside of one moment of organisational hesitation which resulted in the fifth try (I think he failed to bring Ethan Strange weak-side of the ball which created the numbers disadvantage) he continually proved to not be the problem.

This can be fixed. There are ways this team can win with these players, but it can’t involve languid defence unable to handle fast backs in the middle and it can’t involve a slow, incohesive and cautious attack. Canberra has to start with better performances from more experienced players in the middle, particularly in defence. They can always dial up the energy, because it’s one way they can cover the structure and ability gap. They also need more around the ruck, if only to keep the inside defenders honest and allow their young halves a second to make a decision rather than constantly having to solve for X with nothing but a compass and a dream.

If Canberra were struggling coming into this game it’s not going to get easier. There’s no cavalry coming. They have to do this themselves. But a good situation is just a win away. The season isn’t over. They’re still four-and-four in a clustered competition. A win next week buys them confidence but as importantly time. To get healthy. To build partnerships. To get right.

Manly are next and even without Daly Cherry-Evans and Haumole Olakau’atu there couldn’t be a worse team or a worse time for a short turnaround. Waiting for that bye feels like waiting for the rain in a drought. Let’s just hope there’s something worth getting water on before the time it comes around.

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