BY ROB

If there’s a way to compound the Raiders inept showing in Townsville I can’t really think of anything worse than facing a cranky Sharks outfit in Canberra.

The Sharks have had the drop on the Raiders the last few years, and nowhere has this been more evident than their trip to the nation’s capital last year, where they tore the Green Machine to bits in a 40-0 romp at Canberra Stadium (we’d already lost to them in Sydney 36-22 in round 4 of that season).

The Sharks have won the last three encounters, something the Raiders need to set right before they start veering into hoodoo territory. This is made somewhat difficult by the fact that a) the Raiders are coming off a physically draining loss in the Qld heat and b) the Sharks are coming off a shock loss to the Bulldogs on Sunday night.

There is however some good news. The starting 17 is mostly intact, with the welcome return of Morgan Smithies, whose near-tireless defence was definitely missing on Saturday night. The other good news is that the forward pack have all escaped suspension. We’ll have to wait and see how that’s travelling after this weekend’s “crackdown” (by gar it’s been a while!).

Sticky has opted for an all-sorts bench with Pattie, Sasagi, Smithies and Mariota as the four interchanges. Having only one genuine prop as back up means that Stuart may have to do some creative shuffling, particularly when Smithies enters the fray (I assume that Horse will pivot to prop at that point.

The Sharks monumental forward pack will be a real test for Canberra – the starting quartet of Addin Fonua-Blake, Kaufusi, Nikora and Wilton are backed up by Hazelton and Rudolf. The real truck will be limiting AFBs impact early on, before he can create space for the Sharks halves to work in.

Of course a forward pack’s size and strength is also its weakness. If the Raiders can find a way to constantly turn those big units around with early kicks they can greatly diminish their energy reserves. Get it to the 40 on the 4th or 3rd even and snap that Steeden into the corner before the big guys realise what’s happening. Do this enough and you’ll have them double guessing and back-pedaling in anticipation.

On the Raiders side things are pretty simple – respect the ball and maintain discipline. The Cowboys game got away from them because they couldn’t hold the ball and were too unruly when trying to get it back. While the climatic conditions might be more favourable the Sharks will pose a greater opposition than the Cows.

In Conclusion

A loss this week would be acceptable, provided it’s one that is genuinely contested. The Raiders need to demonstrate that they can fix those little issues quickly, or risk becoming permanently exiled from the top 8. They’ve got nearly all of their top line players at hand – they need to start playing like it.

Raiders by 4 because we all need it this week!

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