BY DAN

What if I told you that as a Raiders fan you could in fact have nice things. That every victory didn’t need to be a blitz of chaos and pandemonium? That you could do it the normal way. Win the middle, attack the edges, score tries by passing to an open player who hits a hole at pace? Play scrappy and committed defence? It happened and I saw it.

It’s been a while but that’s what Canberra’s 32-12 victory over South Sydney was. Victory the right way. The normal way. The way teams that are better than their opposition usually do. The last time the Green Machine pulled off one of those it was April and still 20 plus degrees during the day. Now they, like Souths were playing for their finals hopes. That the Raiders turned what should have been two teams scraping each others eyes out just to stay alive into a relatively cruisy evening makes this a happy day.

It was a pretty simple game plan. Smash them in the face then play with width. Target Michael Chee-Kam because he’s a backrower playing centre. When all else fails put Jye Gray in a position where he needs to be tall because he’s not. It didn’t need bounce of the ball (because they didn’t get it), it didn’t need a friendly whistle or the game to be reffed in a particular way (and they really didn’t get that). It just required a good footy team to do what good footy teams do: identify, execute, and win.

The first part of the plan – smashing through the front door – was well executed. Joe Tapine and Josh Papalii were dominant in the first rotation. Taps cracked his usual 160 plus from 16 runs, 69 post contact and four tackle busts, always finding a way to keep his legs moving against a defence that wanted nothing to do with him. Papalii (10 for 99) looked powerful as well, always poking through. The middle rotation were improved if not perfect. Trey Mooney (11 for 119m) ran strongly at every opportunity, and Ata Mariota scored a try that utilised his quick feet coming back against the grain to perfection (and to be frank, some pathetic defence from the inside defenders). They were (surprisingly) ballasted by the re-emergence after halftime of Elliott Whitehead, who provided important defence in the middle and had some handy carries. Morgan Smithies only played 52 minutes for the game, and for once Canberra’s middle held its nerve, and its structure.

Off the back of that there was a bit of excitement and we got all elements of the game plan. The first try was exclusively attacking Michael Chee-Kam. First Seb Kris ran angry on a short side, a good read by Tommy Starling and a great run by the centre. This allowed Hudson Young an opportunity to do the same and boy did he ever, making Cody Walker look like he just saw Medusa and Jacob Gagai look weak as he ran through the hole where Chee-Kam had been. An offload inside to Rapana and the Raiders were away. Young thrived in this game close to the ruck, working one off Starling but also later Danny Levi (though their timing was not as preternatural). 200 metres, 70 plus post contact, a try assist and a line break is a nice day. When you add it to 38 tackles and some hard as nuts running (the eating kind not the squishy kind) it’s a stunner.

But unleashing Young (and Seb Kris) on Chee-Kam was only one element. The Raiders also made Jye Gray’s life hell by kicking to him, and making him contest against Xavier Savage (and occasionally Seb Kris) for the high ball. X took one to the house after Gray visibly backed off the interaction. Another try came because he tapped the ball back – about 20 metres to Jamal Fogarty, whose kick to the other side of the field to Jordan Rapana was probably the only moment of chaos ball for the Green Machine all night. Even that came from a smart and well-executed game plan combined with adept in-the-moment reactions from Savage, Fogarty and Rapana. There could have been more but X’s tap-backs started to become fodder for the Bunnies and probably the only moments they looked seriously dangerous or likely to get off their own line.

With the final piece of the plan the Milk actually occasionally got into regular attacking movements. I know this shouldn’t be a ‘plan’ as opposed to basics, but just stick with me for a second. For the second week in a row they scored on a cohesive shift to their left side, this time Seb Kris beating his man to the line. Fogarty, Weekes, Strange showed that the addition of Weekes at the back gives Canberra multiple options to shift in attack, and they used variations of it moving to the fat side at other points. It was a more open game style than the darkest moments of winter, and the Raiders even used shifts to get out of their own end, such as when Rapana and Young combined to get Kris running in space. It should tell you a lot about the game plan that the next movement after that was right at Michael Chee-Kam’s edge rather than back to the fat side.

This was better that it’s been in months, better than last week, itself an improvement on the month of losses before. Even on the defensive side the Raiders kept making tackles, scrambling their asses off. Souths still scored three tries in frustrating ways. One off three penalties in a row, a six again, however many tackles made before a kick fell over heads and into the Bunnies’ arms. Another a poor kick, a penalty and then Zac Hosking getting caught on the wrong side of the field, leaving Ata Mariota to try and clean up Jack Wighton and Cody Walker on the same play. The third try was born from one of the aforementioned tap-backs to an opposition break, a drop out, at least three set-restarts (and I think four but my notes are my notes), and finally a crash ball.

Each of these were ill-discipline and being asked to make a million tackles (numbers not confirmed). There’s been days this year where I wouldn’t think that Canberra could go five tackles on their own goal line. They defended the best part of 20 minutes on their own goal line in this game and only gave up three tries. What a world. Now what if they do the thing without the penalties?

There were still periods I hated but these were fewer and less impactful. Canberra still clocked off when Joe Tapine went off. They went the best part of the last thirty minutes unable to quite put together what had come easier in the first thirty. They still felt vulnerable, such that it felt like taking the two up 18 with twelve minutes to go felt like a prudent decision. They built their own demise around all three Bunnies tries, as they’ve made a habit of in the past. And no matter how curious the refereeing, a better idea is to realise your arms are too short to box with god.

But despite things not always going their way, either through the external or internal causes, the Raiders persevered and succeeded. The Bounce Of The Ball (copyright Ricky Stuart) didn’t go their way for the most part and that was ok. That’s what makes that excuse so infuriating. The point is to control what you can so the variables don’t matter. Stick sometimes forgets that. Good teams don’t. For one week at least it didn’t matter.

The challenges just keep coming. What was good enough last week wouldn’t have sufficed this week. This offering needs to be improved to succeed next week. What felt impossible at six-from-eight feels still unlikely but fathomable at four-from-six and part of me feels sad we didn’t get to see this team through the depths of the season. There is promise, for once, even if not for this year then those that follow. A light, not so much on the hill, but carried in the bit of our hearts where we hold big dreams and impossible thoughts. Maybe this Raiders team can find a way.

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