Raiders Review: Naked

The Canberra Raiders 42-18 collapse at the hands of the Penrith Panthers was a complete exposition.

A team whose success was based off winning the middle didn’t do that. A game plan based on one-out runners breaking tackles was exposed by a disciplined defence. And a defence desperately trying to paper over the cracks could no longer do that.

Any pretense of the Raiders making a run can be put to bed. This is a heavily flawed football team and nothing will change that this year. Sleep easy tonight my friends. There is no promise, and therefore no hurt, tearing at the edges of your heart.

There was so much noise about miracles that it started to pervade even the most pessimistic mind. The Raiders run of the last month had been built on returning players and a suited opposition. But first Huddo, then Noah, then Simi Sasagi went down with injury, and the Milk were right back where they were a month ago. Back to pulling Zac Hosking away from his natural home at 13. Back to hoping Ata Mariota was a feasible option on the edge. Back to hoping the middle could find the missing menace that has been at the centre of this season long despair.

It did not work. Canberra’s pack was beaten like the Romans beat the Gauls; with better tactics, and more discipline. It exposed what was once a strength for the weakness it had been this year. In attack, the Milk’s tendency to focus on one-out runs allowed the Panthers to gang-tackle them into disadvantage. It felt suffocating, and as Canberra struggled for air they hoped for Penrith to make an error that would give them some space. They didn’t cooperate.

Joe Tapine (14 for 127m) was the most effective running the ball. Actually outside Zac Hosking occasionally coming into the middle, and Matt Timoko working hard in yardage, he was the only Raider that consistently won the ruck. On the Raiders second set of the game he beat Isaiah Papali’i to create a quick ruck. It gave Canberra two chances to play in space. Ethan Sanders nearly put Zac Hosking through on the next play. Ethan Strange did put Timoko in on the one after.

The score was 18-18 was Tapine was on the field. The Raiders didn’t have good success winning momentum in sets, but it was so much worse when he wasn’t there. Corey Horsburgh had big numbers but never won a ruck. Ata Mariota was routinely gang-tackled into submission on the edge. Xavier Savage and Seb Kris were ineffective in yardage.

Canberra were going nowhere, so even when they tried to go around the Riff they couldn’t (until things got loose at the end). In the first half alone Sanders ‘ran’ the ball six times. Not out of some threat to the line, but because the lack of space created by the pack meant the Panthers defence swallowed him like an avalanche.

Canberra tried to hold on. Sanders and Pattie tried to kick the Raiders out of trouble. Strange did his best too. But seemingly every set ended at the forty. Their opposition’s ended with attacking kicks. 76 per cent of the territory was with the Panthers. The hands had tightened around the Raiders’ throat. There was little they could do but flail.

Or worse. The Riff exposed the weak points of the Raiders’ middle. They never had to worry about finding momentum. They just targeted Pattie (55 tackles) in the knowledge that the diminutive rake would have no support from Morgan Smithies or Corey Horsbrugh. One try came with Pattie and Daine Laurie being trampled by Liam Henry. Another came from an outside-in line being run at Smithies and Starling, neither of whom could get an effective hit.

So often the entire Canberra edge was sucked into helping here. There was one set in the 45th minute where Hosking and Matty Nicholson were on the same tackle, paired together in the middle of the park as the actual middles watched on in wonder. Another in the 18th minute where Strange was tackling through the middle third like he was lock.

One try came off a scrum where Jed Stuart was still retreating to the wing from making a tackle in the middle as the ball sailed sideways in his direction. Strange tried to tackle two people took no-one. That made it 30-6 at halftime and the game wasn’t just over, it was an embarrassment.

It doesn’t mean that the edges should be absolved from defensive blame. Strange twice trusted Hosking to make tackles he couldn’t. One try came when they couldn’t clean up a first-tackle grubber. Another came when Seb Kris got beaten by a pass that hit the ground, and another came Tom Jenkins got to make the ‘too small’ celebration over Savage. They played a role in the loss. But they were just the people made to look silly by a systemic failure.

Canberra’s weaknesses were exposed, their truth nude for all to see. There was no grace, no beauty in their liver spots and loose skin. No defiance in their countenance. Just a man, cold and afraid, no longer able to hide from who he is.

It’s remarkable that with such complete and total capitulation, the Raiders did have bright spots. Three tries came at the hands of Strange and Sanders, the young halves impressively composed given they were fighting in a phonebooth.

Sanders looked composed and deliberate, working over the ‘Riff’s right edge through interchanges with Hosking, Strange and Matty ‘Mokes. Strange was the best attacking weapon, and the only player in green (and white!) who looked able to break the line without Sanders putting them through. Two tries started with Strange getting loose (and both of those came after big Tapine carries). The other from Sanders getting Mokes loose, and Strange finishing the job.

This is the small flame that must be nurtured. The completeness of the Panthers dominance in the middle made the Raiders anodyne in their movements. But still this young spine was able to manufacture enough movement that points came. In the end the 18 wasn’t the problem. The 42 was.

Canberra are still alive for the finals but it would be a procedural affair. They showed in this game that the injuries that have befallen them undermine their footballing identity. They showed that against a team that doesn’t offer an inch they can take no quarter. This team is flawed; by circumstance but also by creation. There is heart in their collective, but it will also just strive into failure – a wave lapping up against the pool wall, hopelessly trying to escape.

This is who they are. We can stop pretending there is some other gear, some other level, a penny to drop or a speech to give. This football team are who we hoped they weren’t. There will be no miracle this year.

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