BY VIV

With two three wins under our belts, the Raiders women are in TENTH place and have the same number of wins as the Eels, Dragons, and Warriors.  Mathematically, we are still in both the finals race and the battle for the spoon. What a time to be alive!

This Friday, we make the trip up to Sydney to play the Roosters. The Roosters last lost an NRLW game on August 25, 2024, and are striding towards another finals appearance. 9 out of their starting 17 have had representative experience. It would have been 10, but Isabelle Kelly isn’t playing this week. (facial fracture, don’t look)  Shawden Burton is on the bench. Olivia Kernick continues her Dally M award-winning form in 2025, and the Roosters have the terrifying Amber Hall as a mere bench player.

Maybe having Jayme Fressard playing out of position could present opportunities for our backline?!? Maybe?!? I guess working in our favour is that we have a better record against the Chooks than most teams (one win and a 34-20 loss). Darrin Borthwick said in his presser today that “If we do what we’re planning to do and it all goes to plan, we can get a good result and really test them.”

The plan has to be for Sophie Holyman to have another massive game, a repeat of the 20 runs for 195 metres would be extremely appreciated. Our backs and younger players like Cheyelle Robins-Reti (8 tackles and 3 misses last week) and Tatiana Finau (13 tackles and 7 misses) will need to tighten their defence to starve the Roosters of opportunity.

The Raiders name an unchanged side for this week’s game. That in itself is a positive for the club. Having a consistent line-up should do wonders for strengthening our combinations. The Raiders’ biggest challenge this weekend will be keeping their heads and not letting the scoreboard run away, particularly at the end of the game. The lessons from the Dragons and Broncos game will be crucial in controlling the damage to our for and against.

This is probably the toughest game the team will face this year. If they can sneak a win, the finals dream is not just alive but thriving. More likely, a strong showing would be a good sign for next season.

Raiders by 2.

To get more of Viv’s takes follow her on Twitter here, or like our page on Facebook. Don’t hesitate to send us feedback (dan@sportress.org) or comment below if you think we are stupid. Or if we’re not.