BY VIV
We did it!
The Canberra Raiders women notched up their first win last week against the Warriors. For a brief period, we were off the bottom of the ladder. Unfortunately, the Tigers taking down the Dragons has put us back on the bottom. However, it’s a new week and a new opportunity to move out of spoon contention if we can beat the Bulldogs on Saturday.
The Bulldogs joined the competition this season and will be looking for a big performance at their first women’s home game at Belmore. They started strong, winning their first two games, but haven’t won a game since. While they drew against the Titans, the Roosters (20 points), Warriors (28 points), Cowboys (16 points) have all put decent scores on the Dogs.
This week, the Bulldogs are without Ash Quinlan, who has a hamstring injury. They welcome back Alexis Tauaneai, who has recovered from her hamstring injury. Tauaneai and Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa will be a handful for our forwards to contain. Out back, Moana Courtenay has had a promising rookie season, scoring 3 tries in 6 appearances. Tayla Preston is one of the best kickers in the comp. Elise Simpson will be tested in attack this week in trying to clean up those kicks.
Monalisa Soliola misses the rest of the season after being the victim of a horrendous hip drop tackle in last week’s game. Grace Kemp returns from her hand injury, which will be a massive boost, particularly for Sophie Holyman, who played another 70-minute game at prop last week. After a disappointing performance, Relna Wuruki-Hosea goes back to reserves, and Isabella Waterman returns to the starting side. Waterman has a great physicality to her game and will boost our defensive stocks.
Kere Matua is a late withdrawal after initially being named on the bench. We’ve heard from unnamed sources that she is missing this game due to her involvement in the productivity roundtable shaping our nation’s future. Replacing her is Marley Cardwell, who makes her debut for the Raiders. Cardwell is one of our development players who has been the starting prop for Mounties in Harvey Norman this season. Here’s a clip of her smashing people to get you excited for the weekend.
The Raiders play another team whose spine has been in disarray, and the weather in Sydney has been atrocious, reducing the opportunity to send the balls to the back where the Raiders are short of numbers. If the girls can continue to improve their ball handling and complete their sets, they can match the Bulldogs and then hope the scoring opportunities come their way.
Raiders by 2!!
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