BY ROB

The Raiders and Eels face off for the second time in 2025, with the Green Machine looking to match their effort from round 6. The Eels will be trying their best to avoid another thrashing like what they suffered in Darwin, and while they may not have all the personnel to best Canberra they’re in better form than they were 14 rounds ago.

With Origin done and dusted the Milk can now firmly focus on getting all their top line players back into the 17, starting with Hudson Young. You can bet your favourite Raiders beanie that Huddo will be ready to unleash after an ultimately disappointing Blues campaign.

With Huddo back the Raiders are at their maximum team list strength until around round 25, when they hopefully welcome back Tamale and Nicholson. They currently field one of the best forward packs in the competition, and the Eels pack will be working overtime to contain the likes of Tapine and co.

Parra can find confidence in the fact that their form has been improving over the last few weeks. Coach Ryles has clearly decided that Dylan Brown no longer factors into the Eels present or future, opting instead to play Dean Hawkins and Joash Papalii in the halves. Hawkins is a solid 7 and Papalii an emerging 6 but on paper they’re outmatched by the pairing of Fogarty and Strange.

Canberra need to particularly wary of the Eels playing fast and loose footy. With their finals aspirations dashed across the rocks at the bottom of the ladder Parra may look to start throwing the Steeden around – watch for Paulo to pop a few offloads.

The real threat lurking in the back of Parramatta’s collective mind will be the broken field play of one Kaeo Weekes. The electric fullback has terrorised hapless oppositions in recent games, and the Eels will have to carefully weigh their options before they put up any kicks. Given that it only takes one ineffective tackle for Weekes to bust free the Eels will need to present a cohesive line on the kick chase.

Saturday marks the start of a four-game mini-season for the Raiders. They host the Eels and Knights in Canberra before popping down to Wollongong to play the Dragons and then returning home for a Friday night primetime clash against Manly. A clean sweep of this mini-season would propel them to 40 competition points and almost certainly lock them into a top 2 finish.

But as always it’s one week at a time. The Eels made Penrith work for it across the first half of their game last week. They fell away in the second 40 but the Raiders need to give them the same respect they do with any other team.

In Conclusion

This season is already near-miraculous for the Green Machine, and if they can stay focussed they can build it into something truly special. The challenge now is to fend off a Rogue’s gallery of cellar-dwellers and finals fodder all looking for a big trophy before Bali beckons.

Raiders by 12+, with a scintillating Huddo try!

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