WRaiders Wreview: Finally

The first game of the 2026 NRLW finals featured two debutante teams, both of whom had waited four years for this moment. Incredibly these two sides finished 11th and 12th the year before, meaning in the space of 11 regular rounds they had gone from cellar-dwellers to finalists.

If you tuned in or showed up to see an electric, high-scoring thriller between the Tigers and the Raiders you might have been disappointed, conditioned by the sugary high found on the other side of the code where set restarts are unfortunately a thing.

What the Raiders and Tigers served up was instead a throw-back to the low-scoring halcyon days of the 1980s, both teams casting aside flair and simply battering at each other like cities under siege.

The Tigers launched their barrage in the first set, meeting Canberra with heavy defence – for the briefest moment it looked as though they’d got the drop on the Green Machine.

The Raiders were not for panicking, and so they set about rolling up their sleeves and dragging Wests into an arm wrestle of tackle attrition.

This was a narrow encounter, the majority of it played between the outer scrum markers, both sides staying shy of the edge corridors.

For the first 10 minutes they tussled for territory, each side desperately struggling for metres to get beyond their own 40m line and launch a kick into the opposition’s red zone.

Then the Tigers discipline slipped, handing over penalty on penalty, taking the Milk right to their line.

Finally, after 16 minutes and a fair amount one-out runs at the line, Canberra decided to go wide, sending the ball left until it found Izzy Waterman who raced past her opposing number and ran it back towards the posts to give Zahara Temara hand with the conversion (didn’t work).

And as far as the scoreboard was concerned that was it, the only other points coming from a penalty goal that Zahara easily potted in the second half.

This is not to say that the rest of the game was boring. Both sides continued to hammer each other, big tackles flattening ball carriers whilst penalties were dished out for innocuous borderline high contact.

Canberra did have a few potential moments go begging – Chante Temara had a try disallowed after the bunker decided that the arm starts somewhere in the middle of the torso, while her big sister nearly reeled in an intercept that could’ve broken the Tigers resolve.

With the clock ticking down the Tigers realised, perhaps too late, that they had played too conservative – they tried to climb out of the mud and move the ball around, but Canberra simply dragged them back, the relentless defence causing the hosts to turn the ball over as their desperation became ever more apparent.

Canberra won this game by having the patience of people who have achieved zen, and by having every member of the 17 contribute in meaningful ways.

Gallagher and Saunders racked up 206 and 173 metres respectively, Saunders muscling up for 73 post contact metres. Waterman is like a Swiss army knife – a winger built like a lean 2nd rower who isn’t opposed to moonlighting as a fullback when called upon.

The Raiders middles should be commended for how they managed the Tigers pack, tackling them into submission and then tiring them out with terminator levels of leg drive in post contact yardage.

Next week will be a much different proposition, but thanks to the structure of the NRLW finals we won’t know who we face until the conclusion of the Broncos vs Knights game – if Brisbane win we’ll have to play the Roosters, but if the Knights get up we’ll take on the Titans.

Regardless of who it is the match will be faster, with more ball movement across the field.

Our beloved NRLW Raiders have a week to prepare for the biggest game yet.

Up the Milk!

Sign up to the email below to get our thoughts in your inbox get ready because the a preliminary final awaits. Don’t hesitate to send us feedback (dan@sportress.org) or comment below if you think we are stupid. Or if we’re not. Feature image courtesy of Ayush Kumar.