BY DAN

The cosmic ride that is the Canberra Raiders 2025 season continued with a 40-16 victory over the Parramatta Eels.

The ups and downs it entailed were the same we’ve grown used to this year. Scintillating play based off powerful middles and edges that smashed outside in. Defence that was brutal, except when they seemingly forgot to perform the function. 50 minutes of excellent footy that confirm your belief of things that we’re long past pretending about. 30 minutes of confusingly welcoming defence, in which the Raiders held hands and traipsed down the field alongside their opposition. 40 minutes of dominance in which they eventually found their way back to their best. And still, after all that, left points on the field.

This victory over Parramatta cannot be separated from what came before it. If the Raiders had played anything approaching a full game in the last month, the lapse in the first half would have been a curious blip we wouldn’t worry about. Instead it hangs around what was otherwise a dominant display for rugby league like someone has been eating falafel.

Let’s start with what went wrong. For a thirty minute period Canberra lost control of the game, primarily because their defence was poor. They struggled to control a Parramatta pack that was relying on pace and agility rather than power, was willing to throw offloads whenever they wanted, and was otherwise unencumbered by expectation or discipline. The Raiders did not move well. They did not tackle well. They looked exhausted, barely hanging on. The Eels scored three tries during the period, dominated field position and generally had a time of it.

Canberra eventually adjusted but that period continued a concerning propensity to look disinterested, something we’ve seen too much in recent weeks. Corey Horsburgh, Tom Starling, and Hudson Young all had defensive efforts below their usual standards. Dylan Walker, Josh Addo-Carr and Matt Doorey all made huge breaks on the back of them. Tries didn’t directly result from those breaks but it did reflect the trend.

The fix, it turned out, was a half time break and bringing Zac Hosking’s unique mix of yeoman like defensive work and attacking agility into the middle. It’s a privilege to be able to bring Simi Sasagi off the bench and shift Hosking to Bob the Builder things. It’s a strength of the side they’ve been without in recent weeks, and it made an understated difference in this game.

Once that adjustment was implemented, the Milk returned to what they had done for the first 15 minutes of the game, and preceded to kick the door down. Outgained by around 200 metres in the first half (or more accurately, by around 350 over the last 30 minutes), they turned the tables on their opposition by near 600 in the second half (per Champion NRL stats).

It reflected an increased intensity of their work, but also the the wear and tear the small Eels pack felt trying to keep out the Canberra forwards once the energy and pace of the game lifted. It went from being an end-to-end affair, to being played at one end. After leading the stat in the first half, the Eels didn’t have a red zone tackle until the 70th minute when Seb Kris put Zac Lomax into touch.

If the defence was a team-talk driven tightening, the door-kicking was led by Joey Tapine (16 for 198m, 86 post contact, 5 tackle breaks, 1 line break). That he was the same as he is every week should not obscure how important that is to this side. But it wasn’t just that. He also added well worked movement led by him from first receiver for the final try, and a ‘Papalii lite’ try saver to stop a break. I know it’s trite to say this but we should not take him for granted. He was astounding.

Similarly Josh Papalii (16 for 157m, 83 post contact) and Corey Horsburgh (15 for 136m) were impressive. Ata Mariota got a bigger stint (51 minutes) and thrived (15 for 166m, 73 post contact) particularly alongside Hosking in the middle. For his part Hosking didn’t have big numbers (80 over all, 60 in the second half), but his impact was obvious. Matt Timoko and Seb Kris also got through mountains of yardage work.

This dominance, the inside runs of Hosking, and angled runs of Hudson Young and Simi Sasagi, eventually tired the defense opposite and the Raiders got the chance to play some footy. It opened up all three attacking points. Through the middle Owen Pattie exploited a tiring defence like a toddler wearing down his parents’ ability to say no. Two tries and try assist filled the stats, but it was exciting to see him be so effective in picking the places and people to attack. Spearing passes to first receiver is one thing, but he ran the ball perfectly, earning metres, infringements and a double in the score column.

On the left edge Ethan Strange’s effectiveness nearly perfectly matched the middle’s ability to give him some space. When Canberra were winning the forward battle he was running circles around defenders in space. In the first half the second try came after he nearly darted through the entire opposition, drawing the opposite side edge defender to shut him down. Two plays later the Raiders scored exactly where the edge defender should have been.

His work was generally done in this manner. 121 metres on the ground and 8 tackle breaks weren’t an accident. But it was pleasing to see him add a try assist where he made the decision to sweep left to right on the last and hit Simi Sasagi on a face ball. It was a mature decision that speaks to the ongoing progress of his ball play.

Two other tries were scored heading left by cutting out Strange, and utilising Seb Kris’ perfect passing on the left. His hands on the first try of the game were nearly matched by Simi Sasagi’s when he shuffled to that position late in the game and combined with Tapine for a sweet movement that ended with Strange scoring on the back of Jed Stuart’s kick.

More generally the attack was predicated on hitting hard in the middle and through the forwards on the edges (two tries scored by the right edge forward), and making defenders choose between a hard running backrower and the increasingly horror movie villain visage of Kaeo Weekes out the back (I’m going with Jason – the mask matches Weekes’ constant equanimity). It continues to be a work in progress but each week it’s adding a new move (the flea-flicker with Horse and Fog was fun!), a new nuance and a more sophisticated ability to score points.

Harnessing it for 80 minutes is the battle, or even for the whole of their periods of dominance. With 15 minutes to go the game was still in the balance, the Raiders somehow blew four or five opportunities to ice the game. They missed a penalty goal to go ahead by 8. They never worked towards a field goal on the subsequent set. Xavier Savage and Matt Timoko both blew tries. Add to that Junior Paulo egregiously fouling Owen Pattie off the ball and no one seeming to care and it all felt like the kind of game that would collapse in Canberra’s lap like an overfilled sandwich. But that’s the old Milk. They didn’t panic. They just kept doing what they were doing until it worked.

That’s the actual story of this year’s Canberra Raiders. They’re good. Real good. They’re also still a work in progress. Both things can be true. The opposition came for the jugular, Canberra took a hit, wobbled, and then preceded to unleash holy hell over the second forty minutes. Their punches were furious, and more should have landed than did. At the headline it fits the narrative of recent weeks, but in the depths of the tale is a second half where they played as good footy as they have since the Souths game.

That story won’t be told though. Canberra are currently on a rolling referendum. Having to answer the question of their ‘realness’ each week like Karl Popper means that they get the best of their opposition, who are eager to know just how far away from god they are. When Canberra lose a game the world will scream ‘they’re not the messiah’, congratulate themselves and forget what the Raiders can do. But they are a contender.

Not a perfect one though. They continue to build, continue to confront the scars on green hearts inflicted by the whispers of demons. When this team finds its best it is fireworks and thunder, Mjolnir thumping into the opposition, skittling anyone who dares stand in the way. If they can find that consistently, week to week and minute to minute, they could be anything. Even premiers.

Enjoy the ride.

Do me a favour and like the page on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, or share this on social media because love is true and heaven is a Raiders victory. Don’t hesitate to send us feedback (dan@sportress.org) or comment below if you think we are stupid. Or if we’re not.