BY ROB AND DAN

Hi team. It was an unusual day so here’s a review in two parts. Part 1 is Rob, and then some additional thoughts from Dan.

ROB

I need to be up front with you folks – I did not watch this game. I was busy with a family event, and by the time I even had the chance to pull up the NRL site it was much too late. Our beloved NRLW Raiders had been torn to shreds, victims of a Sharks outfit that couldn’t believe their luck.

I did watch the highlights, and those 3 and a bit minutes were enough to confirm this was a game to forget for those who bleed green. When the Sharks weren’t tearing through Canberra’s middle defensive structures they were scoring off kicks both frustratingly lucky (hitting the upright) or fiendishly simple.

Canberra’s lone try came after a late offload popped free, with the left edge having enough presence of mind to get it to Madi Bartlett, her 28th career pie. Unfortunately the Raiders efforts simply spurred Cronulla to score more points.

Blowouts like these are one of the pitfalls of rugby league. You never see them coming, and by the time you realise what’s happening it’s far too late to put a stop to it.

As much as anyone thinks criticism of the women in green is warranted I’d rather single out the club and coaching staff. The NRLW side had a very quiet recruitment period during the offseason and it’s blatantly clear that key positions have gone unfilled. The players are trying, but they’re hobbled by some frankly bizarre choices in the 17 and a lack of depth across the squad in general.

It’s clear that barring some kind of freak miracle that this team won’t be contesting the finals this year. The immediate goal is to re-learn how to compete, something that may not be possible until some serious playing personnel changes are made.

Still, being a fan means tuning in no matter the headwinds, so next week I’ll be sitting down to cheer on the NRLW Raiders. I do hope that round 3 is kinder to them.

DAN

The Raiders lost because their only strength – power in the middle – was easily countered by a Sharks team that has similar. But Cronulla had something Canberra doesn’t have. Speed. Not just straight line, though that’s a problem. But also lateral agility, line speed in defence, anything that can make a defender have to think quick, or an attacker suddenly run out of space. In short the Raiders looked athletically overwhelmed.

The Sharks seemed to make 60 metres on every set. Our heroes were constantly kicking from inside their own forty. To say the game was played in the green half understates the affair. Cronulla spent so long in Canberra’s area they might have a solid pitch in court to squatter’s rights.

Canberra couldn’t hold the middle. That was partly from being overwhelmed by power, but also because the sharpness of the Sharks attack meant the Raiders never quite got a handle in contact. In short, if Simaima didn’t make the tackle, it usually ended up with a bent-and-recovering defensive line. I won’t single out players but it did feel like several were struggling with the challenge.

That meant that the edges spent the game defending in space, and Monalisa Soliola and Zehara Temara in particular felt the brunt of that. It was the second week in a row that Canberra’s left edge defence looked more stretched than a concertina. Soliola and Temara were constantly defending in space, more isolated than Chuck Noland. When it’s Emma Verrin running at you, that’s a task beyond most footballers.

It didn’t help that chaos was inflicted upon them by circumstance too. Chante Temara left the field in the opening minutes (I am still not certain why), meaning Canberra were shuffling the pieces from the outset. Then Cheyelle Robins-Reti left the field for a HIA.

Cheyelle had a rough day in all aspects. She couldn’t handle the high ball (she dropped at least three easily catchable balls) and in attack could never actually get to the pass. She is a centre playing fullback right now and the sooner Elise Simpson’s youth and pace are added to this backline the better.

But without Robins-Reti it was even worse. There was at least one try where Mackenzie Wiki, who probably replaced Robins-Reti at the back, seemed to forget she had a job to do and didn’t strafe across the field from A defender on the last tackle. A kick landed in more space than Neil Armstrong and the Sharks circled.

These defensive issues were obviously at the forefront. When you conceded 56 they’re always going to be. But Canberra’s attack looked slow too. Their edges looked like they’d only recently been introduced to the halves, and ran at such a slow pace it looked like the game plan was designed by the Tortoise from children’s story fame.

Well if the moral was slow and steady, the Raiders took it to heart, and it made their line runners at centre and second row easy for the Sharks to swallow. Even their lone try came from a stodgy Soliola shuffle into the line. The offload was incredible but the attack before it tentative. Whatever that is must be changed.

Their attack was too focused on slow shifts. Canberra didn’t have the advantage in the middle to pull them off, nor the speed on the edges to make up the difference. They needed to straighten their edge attack and aim at playing thick and fast through the middle third, but they couldn’t win that either. So they were stuck. There were some minor good signs. Zehara and Simaima did what they do well. I thought in the very limited opportunities Sereana Naitokatoka got in good ball she had the right idea, trying to attack the line rather than tiptoe around it.

As Rob noted this does not bode well for the rest of the season. The Sharks are a good team, and will be there at the end of the season. There are other good teams though, and Canberra’s performance, and the weaknesses it highlighted won’t position them well for them. If ever there’s been a time to worry about new kitchen implements it is now. There’s a lot of work to do.

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