BY DAN

The Canberra Raiders beat the Wests Tigers 24-10, with the assuredness that comes with a season of succes. In doing so, they claimed the minor premiership, guaranteeing not just two home finals, but also the first JJ Giltinan Shield the club has lifted in 35 years*. This is an achievement that will make sure this team is remembered by Raiders fans forever. Now the next chase begins.

At this time of year, games between the haves and have-nots usually follow one of two scripts. In the polite version, the lesser side courteously lies down and lets the good side have a training run. In the other they throw caution to the wind, middle fingers to the sky, and basically do everything they can to flip the bird at the fat cats in winners’ HQ.

This was the latter. At their best, they’re a good match-up for the Milk. Their big middles in May and Pole are able to win rucks and throw offloads. Jarome Luai and Api Koroisau are crafty enough to embrace the chaos and still play to their strengths. And in the Fainu boys they have a host of weapons, not in the least a massive backrower aimed at the Raiders’ right edge like artillery.

The Tigers, to their credit, refused to lie down (except allllll over the ruck). They pulled and pushed and tore at the fabric of Canberra’s game in an absolute and impressive refusal to make things easy. They made the referee have a view on every single tackle, daring him to turn the game into a referendum on himself rather than the players. The Rugby League Eye Test likes to say ‘if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying’. Wests were really trying. That’s not a criticism. That willingness to work the ruck right up to (and over) the line is a characteristic of the Raiders too.

So in a sense it’s a good tune up for the Milk. In the lead up to the finals they got a full blown battle in frustrating circumstances, and came away with a victory that wasn’t easy, but was comfortable. They now presumably have a week off to give rugby league the gift of the Baby Raiders again, before they hit the finals. Oh, and they won the minor premiership for the first time since 1990.

Nothing was easy, but it did continue to reflect the quality of their work and their plan, when they can implement it. They worked to win the middle, and against the Tigers that wasn’t necessarily easy, reflected in the relatively even yardage numbers for the game. But as the game wore on, their opposition wore down, and the weight of field position could have resulted in more points in the second half – we’ll get to why that didn’t work later.

The entire middle were impressive in their efforts. Joe Tapine (162m, 69 post-contact, 4 tackle breaks, 1 line break, 1 try assist) had a stat line that matched his impact. Josh Papalii’s (160m, 63 post-contact, 17 quick rucks earned by poking through the line) second stint was as good football as he’s played this year. Corey Horsburgh led the team in tackles and still had time to score a try, make a 100 metres and Royce Hunt so mad he did a series of dumb things. Ata Mariota was also excellent. It was a greatest hits of middle success.

It didn’t result in a runaway victory that many were hoping for. That’s partly because the Tigers were very good. In defence they were strong in contact, and enthusiastic with their line speed. Their willingness to get hands around the ball and test the patience of the referee made it really hard for the Milk to offload and their two strips felt a deliberate ploy to exacerbate that. The Milk ended with nine offloads for the game, but that was heavily influenced by the last twenty minutes when the opposition couldn’t keep up with them.

But Canberra played their part in the mess. They made more errors than their opposition, dropping the ball routinely right at the point of sets that’d gained the momentum and halves seemed keen to pounce. When they did get to good ball positions with chances, players outside of the spine lack the patience that has characterised their play this year.

Tommy Starling took a crabbing run and ended with an error. He twice (thrice?) kicked for forwards, and while they were mostly fine grubbers, they used ball that Fogarty, Strange et al had been desperately waiting for. When he came on Owen Pattie threw a crash ball to Josh Papalii on the last. Combined with the late-set handling errors this reduced the number of chances the halves had with the ball and undermined what a patient game plan is trying to achieve.

That kept the Raiders total less than we would have liked but Canberra did still have success. Each of their tries was constructed smartly and skilfully over the game. Corey Horsburgh’s try was a perfect example of Jamal Fogarty tiring a middle by continually hitting one of two runners coming under for half an hour, only for the second under line suddenly becoming an ‘over’ and Horsburgh striding through surprised and overwhelmed defence.

Simi Sasagi scored on the back end of a well worked red zone shift in which Fogarty dug into the line like a tick, Strange trusted his outside runner with a bit of space and happiness resulted. The space had, in part, been built because Canberra had routinely hit their backrowers on “face” balls (as they often do). This kept the inside defence honest and isolated Wests’ outside defence.

The third try came from one of many torrid Hudson Young runs. The Raiders hadn’t gotten away many offloads to that point, but his arm had been getting increasingly free, he just needed a partner-in-crime. That Joe Tapine was right there nearing his fiftieth minute was a mark of Canberra’s commitment to fitness, and playing in a way that overwhelms defences. That Strange was there to be the final hands is just more evidence he fucking rules. Add to the pile of tries he saved, and the fact Jeral Skelton tried to kill him and only succeeded in hurting himself. He cannot be broken.

These tries were surrounded by a mostly impeccable defence. The Tigers wanted to target Jamal Fogarty with the big body of Samuela Fainu, and the pace of Taylan May and Jahreem Bula. This worked once but was otherwise routinely turned away. Fogarty generally did well, making several important tackles on Bula in particular

On the other side Strange and Young were irrepressible covering inside out, and were particularly important through the first third of the game, when Simi Sasagi seemed less comfortable. The only blemish was Savelio Tamale’s poor effort on Skelton. He allowed himself to get both beaten in contact, and failed to turn the runner back into the supporting defender, instead getting beaten down the sideline. Unquestionably unimpressive, but also screamed “I haven’t played footy in three months”.

With Matty Nicholson also getting through more minutes in cup footy, it looks like Canberra are as close to being fully fit as they can be. I’ve no doubt that there will be strategic resting next week (and the opposite – players like Simi, Pattie, Tamale, Nicholson and Martin will almost certainly get more opportunity next week. It’s a rare privilege they’ve earned through their play through the first 26 rounds of the competition.

Earned. That’s the key bit of that. The Canberra Raiders are minor premiers because of the hard work they did. Because over 26 rounds of football they have been the best the NRL has to offer. Because they’ve built a style and a plan that is genuinely unique. A rose in the concrete of the staid ideas of rugby league convention.

People started the season doubting them. Some people continued, unable to shake the rust of years of writing them off. Some are still doing it even in response to their amazing victory last week and will do it in the coming weeks. But at this point those takes say more about analysis stuck in older ideas than Von Mises. This is now irrefutable. What Canberra are building is special. Even the PM knows it.

And Ricky Stuart knows it. It was obviously emotional for him seeing these boys presented with the JJ Giltinan Shield. The Raiders will always have their eyes on the horizon of October, but Stuart’s willingness to embrace this success is both healthy and a good thing. This is no small achievement; even the greatest team in rugby league history (the ’94 Raiders) didn’t climb the mountain this way. The last time Canberra did rugby league was a different game played by different people for different reasons. It’s hard not to see Stuart reflecting on his path from 1990 to now, and what has been built in this club to take them beyond.

And also what is possible. The Canberra Raiders are ready for the big show. They’ve proven it over a full season. They’ve won high stakes games, beat teams they should. Every bar they’ve been shown they’ve sailed over. Now only one remains.

*noting of course they technically have the shield in 1994 when that was given in parallel with the premiership trophy

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