BY DAN

In their 44-28 loss to the Brisbane Broncos, the Canberra Raiders proved both who they are and who they could be. For about forty-five minutes they went toe-to-toe with one of the premiership favourites. For the other twenty minutes they were their normal hapless selves. The resulting loss the difference between their best and the worst.

Let’s get the bad stuff over and done with. Canberra made errors. Thirteen in total, a lot of them in yardage. In cleaning up kicks. In good ball. Handling the ball still is an endemic problem for this club. They added in poorly timed penalties, the mixture of which they just simply didn’t have the horses to defend.

On the first set of the game they mixed all the worst together, like some soup designed to torment. Penalty followed by a dropped kick followed a grubber that bounced genially for the opposition. On the Broncos third set it went penalty, knocked down pass into Ali Brigginshaw and Tamika Upton being give approximately nineteen steps each before the defensive line engaged them. The outside backs were on a hiding to nothing. Two other tries came in the first fifteen minutes. The game seemed over.

In those periods the Raiders looked as woebegone as they have all season. They again didn’t touch the ball for the first six minutes of the game and even then nearly lost it immediately, got a penalty, and then did lose it immediately. They had 26 per cent of the ball through the first 15 or so minutes, out-gained by 300m before you’d had a chance to make a cup of tea. 68 tackles for the Broncos in Canberra’s half to 18 for the Milk.

The defence couldn’t defend errors. Nor could they capitalise on Brisbane’s. Jordyn Preston stole the ball. The Raiders dropped it the next tackle. It took literally twenty minutes before they actually finished a set with a kick. It was painful. It was frustrating. It was everything we’ve associated with this team.

Until it wasn’t.

Through the middle forty minutes of the game they found their voice. They were helped by an opposition that almost became generous in their willingness to give the Raiders the ball. But that while that helped, it wasn’t the driver, nor what made this period so great. Rather, for the first time this season Canberra capitalised. They did so through skill, through power, and through sheer bloody-minded determination. But most of all through finally employing the style of play they had always threatened to play this year.

In this period they played football the way we want them to. They were powerful through the middle. On the back of ever-present Simaima Taufa (140m), with support from Chloe Saunders (10 for 95), Sophie Holyman (10 for 86) and Hollie-Mae Dodd (10 for 92) the Raiders played tough through the middle. Leianne Tufuga also had 16 carries (174m). She’s been one of the Milk’s best this year, and this game was no exception. The interplay between forwards, usually starting with Taufa, was always effective at drawing the attention of defenders, or getting quick rucks (and resulted in a last minute try to Chloe Saunders). Any time these forwards were able to bury into and (nearly) through the defensive line the Raiders could pounce.

And boy did they pounce. Zehara Temara scored once, and set up another for Makenzie Wiki, shifting in behind good runs from Taufa on the first and Matua for the latter, getting outside defenders with eyes for players closer to the ruck. The first came with a gorgeous set up pass from Holyman, and even slicker run-around from Monalisa Soliola (who had her best game this season). On the second the set up pass came from Emma Barnes, and Zehara went from looking old in recent weeks to running tall and powerfully through the line. Where has that been? For the first time all year it looked like the team had actually met before playing. What a twist.

As pleasing as finding their offence was the fact that they found their scrap too. Two tries came from effort plays. Hollie Mae-Dodd pounced on a dropped ball in the in-goal, a product of a kick chase that pursued a Broncos kick return across the span of the in-goal, refusing to let up, and ending the run with a brutal tackle that jolted the ball free. Another try came when Sereana Naitokatoka (who also had her best game as a ball player this season) stole a ball cold on a Bronco exit set, and Relna Wuruki-Hosea scored

These moments sat so starkly against some of the less stellar defensive efforts. When you concede eight tries that’s to be expected. They got found out for pace on the edges repeatedly; but there middle wasn’t holding either. But again, this was time exclusive. Seven of the eight tries were scored in the first and last fifteen of the game. Through the middle rotation Canberra held fast. If they can find a way to make the middle of the game the norm then it’s something to build on.

There’s possibility there. Canberra got the score to 26-22 and looked the team with the running. And then after the Raiders had a chance to go ahead it all came back. The pivotal point was the set after Simaima Taufa was snotted by her opposing number, a tackle that would normally have given the Raiders a numerical advantage. The Milk failed to score, made an error on exit at the other end and then the Broncos scored. They never looked back. Canberra made errors again, their defence fell apart. It was as if they spirit got broken just one time too many.

They needn’t be disheartened. There is music in this side and it will sing. The courage to fight back when embarrassment was beckoning. The willingness to hold their collective nerve, work their way back into the game through nothing but hard work was pleasing to see. The fact that when the ball stayed in their hands, and they played to their strengths, the Raiders suddenly looked fast, a team playing sharp and direct.

This team can win. Not the competition, or even the finals or something more grandiose like that. They may not avoid the wooden spoon. But at sixteen minutes into the game I was beginning to wonder if they would score a try again this season, if they might concede 80 at some point. Things looked that dark. And then they turned the game, and hopefully the season.

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