The NRLW Raiders arrived at the Gold Coast brimming with confidence following their demolition of the Bulldogs. They left with a harsh reality check – they’re good, but they’re not top-tier good.
The opening salvoes saw two attacking teams hammering each other for territory. Canberra squandered an early opportunity after Patston botched the first kick defusal of the game. The Raiders went wide-right too early, the Titans effortlessly bundling Wiki into touch.
At the 10 minute mark Canberra struck through the sheer brilliance of Izzy Waterman, who latched onto a set ending kick, fell on her back and got the ball away to Simpson for the first try.
And that was it for the Milk in the first half. The Titans bashed them through the middle and edges. The Raiders compounded this with befuddling errors, often throwing away the ball through poor offloads while gearing up for attacking sets. The Gold Coast had conned them into attacking urgency, and it was a speed they couldn’t play at.
Over the next 45 minutes the Titans ran in six tries. Canberra were woeful at goal-line defence, conceding points far too easily on several occasions.
The officiating didn’t help. Gallagher was clearly impeded after taking the ball in-goal on the full for a 20 metres restart – at least one of those two Titans should have been sin-binned, but all they received were instructions to “Get out of it” which were duly ignored.
Canberra mounted a late game comeback, culminating in a fulltime globetrotter try to Wiki to seal a hat trick for her, but it was too late.
The final fifteen minutes were marred by an injury to Elise Simpson, who had to be carried off with an ankle issue.
Canberra’s impatience has plagued them in the tougher games this year, and it’s something that needs to be addressed for the finals and beyond.
With two more games against the Eels and Tigers there’s still time to fix this issue – the Raiders just need to have confidence in playing patient footy.
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