BY DAN

Foundations are built to hold everything together. To be the basis on which everything else stands. To be there no matter what happens elsewhere. In football, those foundations become the skills and strengths that you raise victories upon when the game, the conditions, or the opposition test you. In their 16-10 victory over the New Zealand Warriors, Canberra’s fundamentals shone through like sunshine in a storm.

There is always that bit of you that prays for any easy game. There’s been more this year than past, and the Raiders started the season with a Sunday morning brunch of a game when they last played the Warriors. No sane person thought this would go that way. The Warriors have come too far since round one. They’ve improved dramatically, and were entering this round on a five game winning streak.

With the rain bucketing down and a sold out crowd, it was perfect conditions for a slop fight. Canberra love the slop. It allowed them to focus their game on their strengths through the middle of the park. Joe Tapine (121m) didn’t get his offload out – the conditions didn’t suit – but still made the Warriors pay. Corey Horsburgh (136m) tucked the more expansive parts of his game under his arm and took the defence on. Morgan Smithies (123m) had yet another impactful game. Josh Papalii (112m) turned the trajectory of the game with his first stint late in the second half.

There were more contributors. Ata Mariota was impressive again. Noah Martin’s middle defence was trusted to see out the last 24 minutes of a tight match. Owen Pattie looked electric in limited minutes. The back five all got through a mountain of yardage work. Sav Tamale had 217 plus metres, but they were the hardest of metres, hardly any of them in space or attack. It was all dirty, and he turned so many precarious situations into good ones with tackle breaks through set lines under pressure, turning sets that should have ended in pain into ones that ended in advantage.

If it feels like I listed everyone in the pack I basically did, along with the back five involved in the dirty stuff. It spells out how this game was played. It was between the 20s, wearing each other down. Hoping to turn one more quick ruck into the mess that actually could be taken advantage of. Canberra got the best of it. The metres were basically the same, but the Milk were more often camped on their oppositions goal line at the end of their set than the opposition.

That was also to do with a ravaging defensive effort from the pack. Zac Hosking’s 34 tackles were the least among the starting forwards (Taps made 44. What a beast). The Warriors wanted to play tram track to tram track, essentially involving a middle and a backrower on every tackle. The Raiders were barely worried. For the most part the only way New Zealand got into scoring position was from Canberra’s ill-discipline. More often they were kicking from their own half.

When their opposition did get plenty of redzone ball at the end of the game, Canberra’s middle were a big part of holding them out as they targeted the inside shoulder of the edges. Morgan Smithies and Corey Horsburgh covered across to perform a match-saving feat on Marata Niukore. Joe Tapine did the same on Luke Metcalfe minutes later.

When the Warriors did get wide they didn’t find much more luck. On a redzone set in the 7th minute they targeted the Matt Timoko/Jamal Fogarty dilemma four times and came away with bupkus. On others Ethan Strange and Seb Kris felt barely tested. The one try the Warriors did score started with a rare misalignment in the kick chase, and ended with the right edge actually effectively manning up, but unable to win a one-on-one battle. For a good side the Warriors have a bad redzone attack, but the Milk made it look anodyne.

They needed to because if there was an imperfection to this game it is that Canberra made a tough fight harder. They gave away far too many penalties they shouldn’t have. They added dropping the ball in comical ways to the mix. Zac Hosking on the kick off, or Tamale on the carry after the review. These are examples. There were more.

They say good teams defend errors, but the Raiders also had to defend their own stupidity. On two separate occasions they were reduced to twelve men. On the first Corey Horsburgh was punished for the sins of his brothers. On the second Tom Starling got an early shower (and possibly a rest for next week) brazenly (and stupidly) hitting the kicker late and high. Canberra stepped up and did the job anyway. They were brave and courageous. But it feels like something that needs to be avoided in the future.

The foundation built by the middle on both sides of the ball did allow them to occasionally play some expansive football. They scored for the third week in a row with a stripped down variation of their pet shift. This went to the left, and instead of Ethan Strange being in the fullback role, he ran it from the lead half role, worked the run-around with Simi Sasagi and put Seb Kris into a hole, and Tom Starling scored. They also scored from old fashioned kicking the door down. A Taps pass, Ata hitting a hole, and who didn’t bank on Jamal Fogarty outrunning Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad Te Maire Martin to the corner? Shame on you.

They didn’t get many other options, and if there was a downside to the relentlessness of their game plan, and of the conditions, it’s that they were stuck around the middle third too much. When they did shift it showed that Ethan Strange’s burgeoning creative side is still a work in progress, and Fogarty’s short kicking game was uncharacteristically poor. Both have been better this year, so it’s not a worry. This is why the foundations have to be strong. Fancy curtains look shithouse if there’s nothing to hang them on. In the end two tries was plenty anyway.

It certainly wasn’t pretty. It was messy and hard fought. But victories like this are what define the better teams in the NRL. Every week can’t be fried chicken and waffles. Sometimes it’s gotta be gruel and you have to munch it all the same. This was a hard game, a grinder. Canberra came to work. Their opposition punched their card too. No one was hiding. Both teams gave their all. This was a balls out honesty session, and the Raiders spoke some truths, kicked some ass and came away with two points.

It positions them well for the rest of the season. They have as many wins as first. They have a much ‘easier’ draw going forward (as much as that matters this season). This looks like a team ready to play finals football. They have the resilience and courage to win tough games like this. They have the skills and ideas to allow them to take advantage of easier times. It’s a big build but Canberra have the foundation in place.

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