BY DAN

The Canberra Raiders 26-22 victory over the Melbourne Storm was their best performance of the season. Each week their faults, though still significant, get smaller and smaller, and their strengths get more pronounced. This trajectory is not permanent, but if it can be continued there could be something pleasing to come in this season.

The Raiders are getting dangerously close to a winning streak (Lou Brown definition). Neither of their victories have been pretty, but the trajectory is encouraging. For the second week in a row, they were the better team, and not just on the scoreboard. With a few adjustments, more familiarity and some better discipline, they’re getting dangerously close to looking competent. One day they will get out of their own way and it will actually click. What a dream.

This was the most complete version of their game plan so far. They stayed disciplined in attack for the most part, trying to tear through the middle to get up the field, and using their effective edges as a surprise rather than a crux. They paired that with an effective kicking game and physical defence for the first time all year. It all looked rather effective.

It started with a middle that was dominant. Joe Tapine had the loudest 125 metre game of his career. Every carry he took was active, tough to bring down (59 metres post contact), and put the Raiders on effective footing. Ata Mariota had his best game of the season (132m, 48 post contact), and Corey Horsburgh and Morgan Smithies were important contributors.

They were supported by important yardage work from the back five. All of them cracked 100 on the ground, including Jed Stuart. Much maligned for his work in yardage, Stuart’s willingness to sacrifice an extra yard to get to his belly and create a quick ruck was important for the Raiders. Simi Sasagi, Zac Hosking and others had big runs on the back of the momentum he created.

This work through the middle allowed the burgeoning partnership of Ethans Sanders and Strange to continue to grow. Strange is clearly Canberra’s foremost playmaker, both in structure and in broken field. He attacked on both sides of the ruck, at first and second receiver. He set up the first try for Simi Sasagi, and generally threatened every time he had the ball.

A try, try-assist, line-break, line-break assist, four tackle breaks and 80 minutes of error free footy and physical defence. That some may treat this as ‘ho-hum’ is just evidence of how fast his game is evolving. A month ago people were talking about whether he’s a left side or a right side player. Put it a bin and put the bin in the sea. He’s a goddamn savant; get him the ball in space and marvel at the majesty of humanity. Add to that a willingness to work with Kaeo Weekes and play what he sees (like that late first-half chip) shows the skills and the intelligence with which he’s approaching the game.

But the performance of his partner in the halves was equally pleasing. Sanders had a rough outing last weekend, but in this game he not only tightened up his kicking, but also presented an impressive ball-playing threat at first receiver. Each of Canberra’s tries started with his involvement. He found Strange with a beautiful deep ball on the first try, Simi with wonderful out-ball on the third. On the last his read of a jamming Nick Meaney was the kind of thing an elite read you want your half to make, mixed with a sublime pass to a rampaging Matt Timoko. To do it under the pressure of the game, and the season, shows why the Raiders have so much invested in him.

And of course Simi Sasagi. His offensive output is so impressive. He’s there taking critical yardage runs at the beginning of sets. He’s there as the partner-in-crime with Strange at the back end of sets. The try he set up was a gorgeous hit-and-pop. The threat of him getting the ball was a huge part of why Strange could run hard and fast at the gap between defenders for his first try. He even chipped in with critical defensive plays, including two intercepts that perhaps stopped the game from slipping out of Canberra’s grasp.

If they were so goddamn perfect why’d they only win by four then?

The starting point is that the Storm aren’t as bad as their record. That’s still a team with arguably the best spine in the competition, and they showed throughout this game they’re finding a way back to good footy. Sua Fa’alogo looked threatening every time he touched the ball, and if it wasn’t for the impressive work of Hudson Young and Strange, who both seemed to take it upon themselves to solve every defensive issue on the field. Harry Grant worked over the middle defence as much as they’d let him, and Jahrome Hughes was always a threat.

The second thing is that for periods in this game Canberra fell back into the pratfalls that have befallen them this season. Having established dominance and a twelve-point lead Corey Horsburgh gave away a rare (and infuriating) penalty for dissent while the Raiders had the ball. The Storm scored on that possession. On the next Storm possession, Jed Stuart made a great catch with his back to the flight of the ball and then gave it up in contact. Melbourne obliged again.

A third try in 14 minutes followed when Seb Kris ran so far past the play on a redzone shift that it looked like he forgot he wasn’t playing centre. The Canberra of a few weeks ago would have cratered at this point and it was pleasing to see the team grind their way to halfway rather than try to catch it all back in a second.

The game was also close because the Milk’s edge defence remains a work in progress. Both Kris (on the first try) and Sasagi (on the last one) over-read their role in defence, jumping ballplayers well out the back only to see passes and lines run to the hole where they should have been. That’s a trust issue – at times Timoko and Kris looked like this was the first time they’d defended next to each other (it may have been – I’m not checking).

Indeed, if it wasn’t for Young and Strange, who somehow made every important tackle required, it may have been a different story. We’d been critical of Young earlier this year, but his efforts in this game showed a relentlessness that drives good teams. This was James Fisher-Harris mustering the Panthers’ 2021 defence stuff. He was in the middle making tackles. He was on the edge saving the day.

Anytime he made a tackle the Storm would invariably attack exactly where he had been; a tacit recognition that it was easier once he was gone. The third Storm try started with him and Zac Hosking both making a tackle to save a cooked middle. But if they’re in the middle, who’s on the edge? Huddo can’t solve everything (though he nearly did).

It also didn’t help that the Raiders didn’t get the rub of the green when it comes to the refereeing. But that’s a challenge to overcome in itself. Corey blew up because the game is refereed in comically changing ways each week (five six-agains for the whole game, up from 8000 a few weeks ago), but he simply cannot turn over the ball like that in that moment. Jed Stuart did everything right, and should have got a penalty for a strip, but Canberra need to find a way to defend errors in their red zone. Kaeo Weekes should learn to catch the ball with one arm…or something.

Look, this isn’t a new dawn kind of game. But the Raiders keep showing that there is something more to them than they can muster for a whole eighty minutes. It’s shy – a child hiding behind their parent’s leg, wanting to come out to play but unable to shed the shyness. In each game it stays a little longer, and there’s a little more comfort at the likelihood of solving each challenge.

But it’s still not elite, still too reliant on things like Simi’s intercepts, or Young defending 65 metres of horizontal space like he’s just a humble southern lawyer. At the moment Canberra can’t win without a little bit of help, from either fortune or spectacular individual performances. They won’t be a finals team until they can properly minimise the problems that keep holding them back. The devil always walks with you but you can’t let him run the show.

Winning remains the superior outcome, and for two weeks we’ve got to bask in, well not quite sunshine, but a kind of overcast warmth. There’s more improvement before we’re sunbathing. While the season is still off kilter, there’s a conceivable pathway back to relevance that’s been earned the last fortnight. Canberra should be proud of that.

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