We’ve collectively spent the last week silently grieving for the NRLW Raiders 2026 campaign. What had started as an exciting and exuberant iteration of the women in green had crashed into an all-too-familiar crisis, culminating with the soul destroying capitulation to the North Queensland Cowboys in Wagga.
Coming into this match most probably just wanted them to be competitive, give the undefeated ladder leaders something to think about before they face fellow heavyweights the Roosters next week.
Indeed for much of the first half it looked as though Canberra might even struggle with the task of being competitive. Sure, they were making good gains in territory, but the vast majority of their efforts came unstuck, either through solid defence from the Broncos or flustered mistakes from the milk.
Part of their problem was direction. Whenever they got set up in the red zone they invariably tried to shift it wide. Lateral movement is hard in cold, greasy conditions and too often Chante was firing immense cutout passes from dummy-half – while these were impressive they had a detrimental effect on the attack, deleting options closer in and moving the ball too far to the edge, allowing Brisbane to slide out and cover.
The Broncos scored first, setting up close after a Southwell 40/20 teleported them upfield (Zahara Temara’s 40/30 was arguably even better given it was kicked on a very obtuse angle). Brisbane went left, and Upton put in a grubber that rebounded off the knee of Gallagher and into the hands of Lauren Dam for their first and only try.
Canberra finally scored 8 minutes from halftime when Krystal Blackwell found Charlotte Basham with a pinpoint short ball, putting her through a gap between staggered defenders.
Underwriting all of this was the running battle between Julia Robinson and Izzy Waterman. Frequently they battled one on one, Waterman fending Robinson off during one run, Robinson bringing her down in another. While it ended prematurely with Robinson going off injured it was a fascinating contest between the rangy Raider and the boisterous Bronco.
Whatever Borthwick said to his charges during the break worked – Canberra came out for the second half intent to play, and play they did. Their second try came when Temara hoisted a bomb towards the left corner. Waterman caught it, spun out of a tackle, juggled and then pushed an offload to Elise Simpson who raced over to score.
Waterman bagged a try of her own five minutes later, latching onto a Gallagher grubber, sliding over with two defenders desperately trying to hold her up to no avail.
Canberra went to the left corner again, but came up short after Simpson was pushed into touch as she tried to dive-slide it over the line inside the corner post.
The Raiders next try came with 13 minutes left, a right side shift close to the line finding the powerful Tufuga who easily passed between grasping hands to plant the ball.
The final try was also on the right, Blackwell hypnotizing defenders before pushing the ball to Basham again to notch up her second try.
Waterman, Tufuga and Blackwell were the standouts of the game, with honourable mentions for the Temara sisters and Gallagher (who rebounded well after her shocker last week).
As much as the Raiders resurgence was joyful the Broncos abdication of duty was most puzzling. Playing without Brigginshaw clearly had an effect, but they seemed bereft of ideas, particularly in the second half. It’s a top-of-the-table clash for them next week, and this record loss to a team they’ve always beaten will be a shock to the system.
As for Canberra they’re off on a three week road trip, taking on the Knights, Bulldogs and Titans before returning home to host the Eels. They’ve managed to snag sixth place for now, the trick is to stay in the finals bracket.
Hold onto your butts.
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