It was a shame that Seb Kris’ last pass to Jed Stuart was ruled forward.

The Canberra Raiders had worked hard to have one last shot at the Panthers’ line, and the movement that got them to that position was sharp, overcoming new personnel to display a sense of cohesion and deliberateness. If the last pass had stuck it wouldn’t have altered the outcome, but it would have brought Canberra to within single digits, a fitting reflection of the dance with perfection the Raiders had just been through.

They were good. Shit, even great. But the devil can only be beaten by an omnipotent God. Unfortunately, right now the Canberra Raiders are still mortal.

But maybe not as inherently flawed as we have previously thought. In the end Canberra didn’t lose for the reasons they’ve lost every other game this year. They were disciplined, more so than they’ve been in any other game this season.

They worked smartly, played direct and effectively (if a bit side-to-side for my taste). They didn’t not beat themselves. Unfortunately, the Panthers were better at every stop – not much better, about a try’s worth – and the Raiders just didn’t have the horses at the moment to match them the whole way.

No better was this clearer in the battle in the middle. This game was blow-for-blow for sixty minutes. Two sides trying to break the others’ will to live. Penrith are used to teams capitulating more easily than this Raiders team did. Despite a Simi Sasagi injury effectively robbing them of their middle rotation, the Raiders were able to match it with the Panthers for much of the game.

Corey Horsburgh and Joe Tapine were huge in the middle. In sixty-five minutes, Horsburgh made a game-leading 46 tackles (including 30 in the first half). He took important carries, and his 123m was only limited by the opportunities he had to run.

Taps got out moving a bit more, and his 143m (62 post contact) felt immense. His quick feet at the line ensured quick rucks, and the Raiders relied on him to take more carries than the pace of the game, or the length of his minutes, would normally allow. But instead of spreading his effort, he maintained the rage through his 59 minutes, and even set up a try in the second half with a gorgeous two-step into the tackle, and ‘miracle’ offload to Ethan Strange, which resulted in a try.

The middle was supported by a hard-working back five. Everyone did their usual job. Kaeo Weekes looked like hitting a home run every at-bat, only to be pulled down by a Panthers defense hyper-focused on him. Sav Tamale was comfortable under the high ball for the most part; a stark turnaround from earlier in the season. Matty Timoko had less metres than last week, but not less effort. Even Jed Stuart got through some good work in yardage.

But this battle in the middle was a microcosm for the game. Canberra competed. The Raiders landed blows. You might say they even won a few battles. But they ended up losing the war. While most will look to the right edge defence where three first half tries came, these all had their catalyst in a middle defence that was overpowered and fatigued.

Four tries happened with the same structure. A missed or imperfect effort results in a half-break, full-break or just quick ruck. The Raiders struggle to recover. In clear space the Panthers machine stirs into life and an edge defender is forced into being equally perfect. When they fail a try results.

The first try was this, starting with a break from an offload by Moses Leota to Dylan Edwards. Two passes and an inside shoulder line on Seb Kris caught him between that man and the 103 other defenders outside him. The second was poor contact from Morgan Smithies and Simi Sasagi; an offload resulted and that was that.

For the third Nathan Cleary provided the catalytic run. Jayden Braiely’s cover tackle was a temporary salve. Two passes and a hard line later and even Ethan Strange couldn’t bring down Jesse McLean on the line. The fourth was a variation on a theme, starting with strong runs in the middle, a set restart, one simple shift to the right which Canberra repelled, but the defence never recovered, and Cleary ran straight at Smithies, as gorgeous and still as Michelangelo’s David.

This wasn’t so much a fault as a feature of the game. To win you had to tire out the other middle. Pressure was built through completing sets, and both sides kept fucking doing it. For the Panthers its second nature. For the Raiders it showed a marked step up from their pre-Titans form. There’s hope yet.

Canberra also couldn’t rely on extra efforts coming from the bench. Simi Sasagi went down in the first half with what appears to be an AC joint injury. So Ata Mariota moved to the right edge, and the Raiders’ bench was a hooker, a different kind of hooker, and a utility back. At one point in the second half they were more rake than man, and it meant that when the game got loose, they found it hard to crater the middle in a way that would allow the backs a chance to shine.

But when they still had some juice they did shine. Canberra consistently threatened throughout the game, with Sanders largely operating at first receiver on both sides of the ruck, using either Strange or Weekes as a key creative option outside him. The Raiders attack looked fluid at times, shifting between edges with ease, penetrating and threatening in a way that would succeed more easily against almost any other team in the competition.

Ethan Sanders and Strange are improving every game, which for the latter is an insane privilege to witness. Sanders made smart choices to run the ball against a defence that was jamming his outside options like a trash compactor, even scoring a try with a barnstorming effort on the last. It started with a good choice to run by him, creating a quick ruck that Tom Starling turned into a line-break, two ridiculous passes by middle forwards, and a noteworthy show of confidence by Hudson Young to turn it inside to his halfback rather than try to do it himself.

Strange created a try himself, stepping off both feet close to the line (lol remember when people were worried he couldn’t step off his right), drawing attention from both sides which created a hole for Seb Kris to tear into. When he jumped on the end of Tapine’s offload and approached the fullback, he seemed serene in the knowledge of what to do with the opportunity. When he ran the ball in other circumstances he seemed angry at existence. And he nearly made existence pay.

While the middle were competing these two were able to throw punches. As the game wore down their opportunities for fluidity felt more sparse. And when you’re chasing the game, you need to nail every opportunity. Twice Canberra got the ball in attack late in the game and couldn’t do much with it. A dropped face ball to Mariota was reflective of a man playing a position he wasn’t used to. One thrown behind the quietly excellent Hudson Young stood out as an error caused by the halves. Then Nathan Cleary had the temerity to somehow leg-spin a dropout so perfectly I was half expecting Richie Benaud to say “he’s done it!” Another opportunity gone when they were so few.

That’s the margin between the Panthers and the league, including Canberra. That first sixty minutes, repeated, would have easily bested any team in the competition. If the Raiders had more than twenty percent of their available backrowers, or another genuine middle, they would have been able to push in that last twenty minutes. Alas they don’t, and so instead we were watching Daine Laurie take hitups, and Corey Horsburgh headbut hips in a desperate attempt to make things happen.

If Canberra can take the form of the last two weeks and add returning personnel to it they could really shake the competition. The world under the ‘Riff and the Wahs is a mess of teams with imperfections. The Raiders have managed to stay in touch with the league despite their atrocious start to the season.

Is this the revving of the engine before the gear clicks in or just another sputter in a season full of them? I’m not in the game of predicting, but there’s a tingle in my heart and butterflies in my stomach. In the last five weeks the Raiders are proving that their best footy is as good as anyone’s in the competition.

Well, almost anyone.

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