BY DAN

We know where we’re sitting on the table and we want to win a comp this year … there’s no way in the world you’d waste an opportunity like this

Ethan Strange to the Canberra Times

Hose me down.

You’ve probably seen the articles about Canberra fans buying “the most” grand final tickets. It’s effectively a proxy for enthusiasm, rather than a measure of objectivity. Raiders fans are excited they’re good. Storm fans, which are used to this, are waiting until much later in the piece to part with their hard earned. Canberra people are pumped though and not afraid to show it.

And so are the team, as covered by Ethan’s quote above.

It’s a change of pace. It’s not often that we’ve heard the Raiders make such a claim, especially this far out from finals. I know there’s a tendency to say this is bad vibes, or somehow jinxing what is already more likely to not happen than happen. Canberra is but one of five or six contenders, depending on how you feel about the Warriors sans Metcalfe and Mitch Barnett. Add to that the work already done and you get something like what was produced by Liam over at the most wonderful site, the Maroon Observer here (for fucks sake if you haven’t already subscribed to Liam I will come to your house and slap the phone out of your hands).

Hey look, that’s Canberra bang at 20 per cent, just as I guesstimated here. As Liam pointed out God’s team has been good, but their current differential suggests a slightly inflated position. That’s probably fair. There’s four or five games that could have gone either way that they’ve run the table on. If Canberra only won 50 per cent of Sharks, Storm, Tigers, Knights, Dragons, you’d still have a top four side, but more back in the pack.

That’s not to say they’re underserved of their status. They’ve won the games, and recent flat period noted, are still one of the best teams of the competition. They’ve managed through where expectations and personnel absences have made their lives more difficult by simply continuing to win. I keep writing this, but it’s what good teams do.

You don’t win premierships in July but you can lose them. The NRL finals system has consistently proven the benefits of only having to win three games in a row. Top four is the goal, top two all the better. Winning now is critical to hold that position with the Broncos and Panthers surging, and the last three games have shown that winning ugly is better than losing pretty. The key is taking the loser’s lesson anyway.

That means Canberra has to stay focused, as Jamal Fogarty also told the Times.

It’s something we’ve spoken about, and we’ve also got to stay hungry… make sure we’re willing to get better every single day, every single week. Make sure we stay humble, we can’t come in after a win thinking we’re going good, because teams will pull our pants down pretty quickly.

Being aware of the immediate challenge is one thing, and important for maintaining that position. But Strange’s comments are equally important. There’s no point shying away from what the intent of this is. They’ve won the games. They’ve proven themselves better than most so far. They’ve given themselves the opportunity to press on for more. They are remaining focused on the immediate problem – beating the Eels. But they aren’t pretending that how ever this season ends it’s just good vibes and back slaps.

You’d expect the years of scars would take their toll, on the fans and the players. But if Strange’s comment is anything to go by they’re not trying to stalk the task. They’re facing it. They could spend the rest of the season trying to protect themselves from expectation. From pain that others might see as near inevitable. But it’s a coward’s way out. You can choose courage, or you can choose comfort, but you cannot choose both. The Raiders know the challenge is hard and the odds are against them. And they’re not scared.

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