BY ROB

Deep within that famous and invaluable cosmic compendium The Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy there is a chapter titled How to survive the modern NRL. The first piece of advice dispensed in this section is simply this:

“If you find yourself supporting the Green Machine in the year 2026 place yourself in a horizontal position and wait for them to resume winning.”

Now that you’re comfortably lying down we can crack on. The Raiders have several problems at the moment, each one demanding their attention like they are chefs trying to assemble a sumptuous and hopefully succulent meal.

The first problem is that their opponents keep winning. This is partly because they bring simple game plans which are confounding the Milk, and partly because Canberra seem unable to focus on playing football for 80 minutes.

The next problem is that even the chillest of Raiders fans have a finite amount of patience, particularly when the players testing our resolve are senior ones who should know how to knuckle down and do things right. We’re all happy to give Sanders the time to develop into a top class 7, but less forgiving when Horse gives away a penalty and gets himself binned.

At the end of the day the only ones who can dig out collective green hivemind out of this hole are the 17 players who tread the turf. Minimise the penalties. Run the support lines. Get back onside. Chase those kicks. Take those dirty carries.

The Knights are currently the inverse of the Raiders. The only thing they have in common is embarrassing losses to the Warriors. They easily beat Manly and managed to take down the Dogs the week after Canterbury beat us at home. Their forwards are thriving and their backline is firing.

If Canberra want to win this round they have to play better. Better than they have the last three weeks and better than the Knights on Sunday

A win this weekend would certainly feel like an Easter miracle.

In Conclusion

Arm yourself with low expectations and chocolate.

Raiders by 4!

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