BY DAN

The Canberra Raiders lost 26-14 but it was such a morale-boosting triumph the English cricket team would be proud. The Raiders went up against a representative side masquerading as a club team, and held them for so long they had genuine chances to snatch it late. In doing so they proved a corner has been turned, and there are brighter days ahead.

It was the Milk’s best performance of the season. Nearly the upset of the century. In the end their finals hope died quietly, but we can be nothing but proud of their performance to stand up to the Goliath.

No one thought they’d be six points down with six minutes to go. No one else has really been close the Roosters this season. Only the Broncos have really pushed them this hard this long into a game. That’s what happens when you have all the talent money can buy. Faced with impossible odds the Raiders made them work until the very end, the game in the balance until Tarryn Aitken spilled through with less than three minutes to go.

It’s night and day for this side compared to earlier in the season. Once they were a victim of their own handling, trapped by their errors, unable to connect in any meaningful way. Now they are playing to a plan – not a perfect one mind you – but committed, working hard and playing smart, disciplined football. They’re fast off their defensive line and moving cohesively, with decisiveness and alacrity, to meet and shut down opposition plays. In attack they’re playing with a connection and pace that it’s taken near a season to build. If only there was more footy, or a proper pre-season, for them to build into.

It was a performance built with the same foundation as always. I will never tire of Simaima Taufa because she doesn’t tire of football. 126m (47 post contact) and 47 tackles. Some of the hardest runs since your last case of Bali Belly. Sheer bloody-nosed determination, wiping blood after making tackles on Amber Hall, taking a carry moments later with an attitude of hit me again like Happy Gilmore. She made meters when they were easy, when they were hard and when they were necessary. I love her.

She wasn’t alone. Sophie Holyman (127m) sometimes gets overlooked, but her form this season has been beyond exemplary. Chloe Saunders (113m) is the hot stepper of the starting middles, and her change of pace is critical for this unit. These three were the impetus behind a middle that competed and even dominated the game for periods. It was more the relative star power disparity would make normal. 60 metre sets weren’t unusual.

Off the back of this it was exiting to see how involved Sereana Naitokatoka was. She often was the first set of hands on the ball through the majority of sets. On the right she attacked the line, willing to dig in to get Elise Simpson into space. It created the space that Simpson took advantage for the last Raiders try, and opened up forays on the left by keeping the eyes of the defence somewhere else other than Zehara Temara. It was also critical in tiring out Amber Hall by moving her around. I am sure the middles appreciated that.

On the left Temara used Jordyn Preston so effectively. It didn’t result in a try in this game, but it’s been a weapon in recent weeks. Preston, elevated to the starting side with Monalisa Soliola’s injury has proven a NRLW quality backrower, as agile as they come but still able to put a runner on their back. There’s more improvement in her, and with the likely return of Soliola and Hollie Mae-Dodd next season it shows important backrower depth in the Raiders squad. If they can keep it together.

Operating outside both Temara and Naitoktoka, Simpson continued to show her ball-running and creative skills are developing at a rapid pace. Together with Naitokatoka’s improvement, it is comforting to know there’s creativity and points beyond what Temara can create.

Perhaps more impressive was the defensive improvement of the squad. There were still some of the worst bits. Temara got beaten to her outside shoulder for the 7000th time this season. Elise Simpson dropped a steepling bomb and we all nodded at each other and muttered things about experience. Hey man when you play the best your pimples are going to pop.

But they held strong, particularly in goal line, displaying an aggression, cohesion and decisiveness we hadn’t seen in such volume this year. This is a sum of the whole, and the entire lineup contributed to this improvement, but I wanted to highlight a few things. Firstly the middle’s courage to get in front of Amber Hall, particularly in goal line situations was astounding. All of them would be hurting (some were bleeding) after the game, but you have to admire the willingness to sacrifice for the integrity of the line.

I also want to highlight the efforts of Isabella Waterman. In a season where we’re missing Shak Tungai, Waterman plays with the same brutal attitude that Tungai, and Jordan Rapana, have embodied on the wing. Just an absolute disgusting lack of concern for their own well-being. A desire to hurt people. Zero fear of any player, person, or circumstance. Her willingness and decisiveness to jump shifts shut down multiple dangerous movements on the back of quick moving rucks. Add her excellent finishing, most memorably her catch-and-spin for the Raiders’ first try, and, shit man, you’ve got a helluva player.

This array of quality performances and good signs meant that the Milk were with a try with the game on the line at multiple moments in the second half. Down six with twenty to play, they had multiple red-zone sets. They just couldn’t find a way through. Leanne Tufuga went close. Holyman went close. They never quite managed to get themselves organised to find a way over the line. The next time the Roosters had the ball they scored, When you’ve got Tarryn Aitken, Jasmin Strange, or Amber Hall as an accoutrement you can absorb and counter in those critical moments.

Those moments ended up being the difference. When you’re fighting a giant you can’t give them multiple chances to hit you. But Canberra did. They showed impressive fortitude to keep Hall out on a goal-line charge only to let a try in on the next play. They’d fought tooth and nail to stay in the game through the first half only for the normally reliable Tufuga to drop the ball cold off a scrum shift on the first. There was less than a minute to half time when the Roosters scored the literal next play. Later Mackenzie Wiki dropped a kick and the Raiders scrambled to hold the opposition out for multiple sets on the line. On the exit set Cheyelle Robins-Reti dropped it in contact and Jess Sergis scored.

That’s the difference between good and great. But the fact we’re having that conversation instead of whether we should gnaw on our arms or legs for sustenance shows the progress made this last month. Earlier in the season it had seemed the Milk were not just having a poor season, but scorching the earth on any foundations for the future. The garden isn’t exactly perfect now, but the blossoms are in bloom and the trees are looking healthy and hearty. There is room to grow. They can get better.

There is hope. Not for this year. That ship sailed on Friday. But what was revealed was a promise of tomorrow. That is a turnaround worthy of praise.

We are very sorry this took so long. Do me a favour and like the page on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, or share this on social media because love is true and heaven is a Raiders victory. Don’t hesitate to send us feedback (dan@sportress.org) or comment below if you think we are stupid. Or if we’re not.