BY ROB

The Raiders are currently the filling in a pain sandwich. Hot off a humiliating whipping courtesy of the Sharks they must now drag a make-shift squad to the northern beaches and go hunting for some kind of positive form. Some old faces have returned to the side, as covered in Dan’s team list article, while younger souls are either being rested or rebuilt in the gentler arena of NSWCup.

If Canberra had one acute problem last week it was their energy deficit. None of them looked overly keen to get the ball moving, a stark contrast against Sharks players who were often running 15 metres at pace before they even had the Steeden in hand. Part of this stems from the absence of two energiser bunnies in Rapa and Horse, both of whom are capable of injecting a “come with me” leadership energy in getting the ball out of the Raiders half.

The other equally frustrating facet was their attacking play, or rather the lack of it. Slow dummy half service leads to a distinct lack of rhythm, which in turn upsets set sweeps. So often against the Sharks the Raiders got stuck in the dreaded bucket chain style of passing. If they’re going to get either through or around Manly they’ll need to sort who’s supposed to be doing what, and where they’re supposed to be doing it (and teach Danny Levi how to pass off the deck).

The big effort needed from Strange and Weekes is kick chasing. Canberra’s work ethic in this department has all but evaporated since the beginning of the season, which I personally think is heavily influenced by that stupid Disruptor rule. With teams now overly cautious about conceding a penalty challenging for the kick too many opportunities are now becoming a “contain and corral” type scenario. We need our two halves to demonstrate that it’s okay to chase the ball into the red zone and pin whoever has it to the turf.

Changes

Out with the new, in with the old. Sticky swung the axe but the blows didn’t land exactly where many of the green-eyed faithful thought they might. Chevy Stewart has been given two weeks to rest up, a just reward after his very tough introduction to the NRL learning curve. Simi Sasagi has been punted back down to cup along with Schiller. In their place are Albert Hopoate at fullback, Nick Cotric on the wing and Elliott Whitehead in the second row. Hoppa can be the model of consistency when he wants, and you can bet your favourite jersey the coaching staff will have had him working overtime on FB positional knowledge. Cotric needs to be reminded that he can actually run forward in a straight line. Smelly should just be allowed to embrace the joy of footy once more. Pasami Saulo is out injured, with Emre Guler claiming his bench spot.

The Opposition

The journey to Brookvale is one of the worst ones for the Raiders. They often struggle here, and with Manly currently going 5-2-1 it’s not going to be easy for the Green Machine. The Sea-Eagles are currently playing some of their classic smarmy attacking footy, passing 30 points per game in their two most recent victories. The Raiders need to defend, jam and defuse if they want to stop things from blowing out.

Match-ups

Ethan Strange vs Luke Brooks

Can the Raiders dynamo young gun help right the longship and get it pointing in the right direction? He’ll need to have a crack if Canberra are to have a chance in this game, preferably by running lines straighter than some of the ones he found last week. Luke Brooks is having a mini renaissance at Manly, which just goes to show you what can happen when you’re a #6 paired with a quality #7.

Trey Mooney vs Nathan Brown

Mooney was quietly good to impressive last week in a struggling pack, and I’m hoping that persistent first grade minutes will continue to let him shine. Raiders ball-players really need to be encouraging him to collect passes at speed so he can use that rig to punch holes near C and D defenders. Nathan Brown was for a brief while the perfect example of a lock/bench forward at Parramatta, but I haven’t seen what he can do recently. Whatever it is he’ll need a fair amount of oomph to bring the likes of Mooney down.

Rookie Radar

Strange and X both continue to grow, even as mistakes crop up now and then. Strange could have retained possession last week, but in his desperation to get the Raiders on the board lost control of the ball. Given how bad the Raiders were in the red zone I can’t be too mad about this, given that he got closer than any of his teammates. X is going well, just needs to keep an eye out for those sneaky 40/20s.

In Conclusion

I’d like to tell you it will all be ok but there’s no escaping the fact the Raiders are currently hobbling their way through a year of transition. The youngsters are learning at breakneck speed while the veterans are just, well, breaking. Still, Raiders victories have emerged from these grey clouds before!

Raiders by a blown hamstring!

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