Wraiders Wrumble – Round 2 v the Warriors

BY VIV

It’s week two. After beating the Dragons last week, we are still full of hope for 2026. How long can this winning feeling continue?  Weeks? Months? Years? Who could say?

The Warriors will be doing their best to have their say this week, and then the Roosters the week after that. Beating the Dragons is what the Raiders have to do to make the finals; beating a team like the Warriors shows what the Raiders have to do to succeed in the finals.

Last year the Warriors fell short of expectations, finishing 8th. In response, they brought players home who had been in Australian teams. Gayle Broughton and Stacey Waaka from the Broncos will be crucial to the Warriors’ success this year. But Broughton is out with a quadricep issue, and Mele Hufunga is out with a hamstring issue, which makes them not the Raiders’ problem.

Emmanita Paki has moved from centres to five-eighth, and Shakira Baker is an ex-Olympic sevens player, so she’ll likely be fine to move from backrow to outside back. Paki has played halves before, so while the Raiders get an advantage, the Warriors won’t be hopeless. They’re also debuting Ocean Tierney (great name) in place of Lavinia Tauhalaliku, and one would hope that the Raiders’ spine is going to make her day difficult with some high kicks (of the ball, not cabaret style).

It’s an unchanged squad for the Raiders this week. We know that Sheridan Gallagher’s value is in being a second kicking option on our attacking sets. We know how solid the Wiki/Tufuga edge can be. We know that the Raiders have improved their defensive capabilities in the offseason, which allowed them to be patient for attacking opportunities to present themselves.

We also know the Raiders still have a handling error in them, and that they took time to warm into the game last week. The Dragons weren’t able to take advantage of that, but the Warriors will look to punish errors. Even without Mya Hill-Moana, a forward pack featuring Annetta Nu’uausala and Shakira Baker will be a lot for our girls to tackle. Ashlee Matapo was one of the Warriors’ best last week with 23 tackles.

Looking at the benches, the Raiders have more experience than the Warriors, who, besides Harata Butler, have minimal NRLW experience (acknowledging Jay Huruwai’s experience at the Brumbies in Super W) if the Raiders can survive the starting Warriors pack and learn the lessons from last year’s victory against the Warriors, there is a world where they are 2 and 0 to start the season. 

Raiders by 6!

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