BY ROB

The Raiders are hanging on by a mathematical thread. They sit in 10th place entering this round, with an abysmal -91 differential to their name. Below them sit the Broncos and this week’s challengers, the resurgent Bunnies.

South’s arrival in the nation’s capital marks Jack Wighton’s first outing against his former club, something that will no doubt fire up both teams. Wighton has been a key component in dragging Souths out of their early season slump. The Raiders meanwhile looked set to flourish with Fog and Strange at the helm, until that miserable rain soaked game in Brisbane.

The cold hard facts of the draw mean the Raiders are now essentially in sudden death mode, even with seven games in hand. The Panthers and Roosters seem insurmountable obstacles for a Green Machine operating below peak efficiency, and the Cows, Sea-eagles, Bulldogs and Dragons will also be tough opponents.

But first, the Bunnies.

The Raiders looked set to rampage last week, with strong running in attack and good completion rates. At least, for the first 20 minutes. After that it was a Benny Hill montage of inept footballing, punctuated by Savage’s inch-perfect try and the mind-shattering “kicking” of Tevita-Harris.

If they serve up another 60 minutes like last week Souths, even in their somewhat current ragged state, will pose a threat. The defensive effort needs a one thousand percent improvement. Line speed and aggression would be most welcome, rather than the meek offerings that saw the likes of AFB simply topple over the try line.

The attack is a much easier fix – just hold the ball. The Raiders have the raw ingredients, they just need the smarts to mix it all together. There’s a fine line between an excellent offload and a silly loose pass, so perhaps Canberra need to err on the conservative side and make it further up field.

If there’s one thing trending towards the home team it’s the absence of Souths big guns in Latrell Mitchell, Campbell Graham, Cam Murray and Jai Arrow. These big exclusions give the Raiders a slight edge across both the forwards and the backline, but they’ll need to put in maximum effort to extract the optimum performance from this advantage.

Changes

The Raiders remain unchanged from last week, which is a growing point of frustration for fans keen to see Hohepa Puru elevated to first grade.

The Opposition

Souths started the season in the doldrums before rediscovering their mojo around the start of Origin. They’ve won 6 of their last 7, in stark contrast to the Raiders grim record of late. Both teams are mathematical chances for finals, but a loss here would be a hefty nail in the coffin.

Match-ups

The 2024 Raiders vs Jack Wighton.

It is possible that both parties can succeed simultaneously – the Raiders can win even if Wighton puts in a stellar performance, and Wighton  can be the victor even if Canberra improve tenfold and take it down to the wire. Both entities have Jekyll and Hyde type consistency, so let’s pray the Raiders have their “Good Doctor” persona onboard.

Rookie Radar

Trey Mooney (along with Mariota) received some somewhat veiled criticism post match last week, and while it’s true he (they) need to lift it might also be that Rick needs to swap the prop pairings – Taps and Mooney followed by Papa and Ata. We’ll find out closer to kick-off.

In Conclusion

Look it’s a total cliche but a loss here would be pretty bleak, but also entirely in keeping with the Raiders patchy season. If it looks like finals are a mountain too high I personally think the coaching staff need to start prepping youngsters for 2024 with more first grade exposure.

Raiders by a scrappy 10!

Rob is the best human I know and you can follow Rob on Twitter 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.