BY VIV

The first NRLW Magic Round is here, and all 12 teams will descend upon Newcastle this weekend to enchant crowds. The Raiders have the unenviable task of taking on the Newcastle Knights, two-time premiership winners who were predicted to collapse with the departure of Tamika Upton; instead, they find themselves third on the ladder with 3 wins and one loss.

The Knights will be led by 2nd rower Yasmin Clydesdale, who last week scored one try and had 20 runs for 202m. In comparison, Hollie-Mae Dodd and Jordyn Preston combined had 0 tries and 15 runs for 123 metres last week. 

The weather looks terrible, it’s going to be cold and rainy all weekend, which will force a slower game and will provide fewer opportunities for sweeping backline moves, but also a slippery ball will be hard to hold onto (noting the Raiders had 14 errors last week compared to Newcastle’s 9).

Zahara Temara returns from injury and will provide some much-needed creativity, but comes up against a Jesse Southwell who goes from strength to strength and made 100% of her conversions this year. Out back, the Knights have Sheridan Gallagher, Tess Staines, and Shanice Parker ready to run. After a quiet couple of years at the Tigers, Bo Vette-Welsh has started to remember she is one of the best to ever do it.

Darrin Borthwick came out after last week’s game and put the girls on blast, apparently some players are “just happy to be there” and Borthwick is “over it”. You can tell how over it he is, with the only change being Temara’s return from injury.

The rest of the squad remains unchanged from last week. However, not to worry because we’ve had our fifth good week of training in a row. What could possibly go wrong?

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