Post Match Warriors v Raiders - [Round 12, 2025]

[Wrighty]

Other comments
1) TMM maybe out of position for the Fogarty match winning try,
2) Gee managed the game a bit too much with some of the 6 again calls
3) Laban to be suspended for lifting the knee into contact?
4) Further thoughts on Leka. I think on review they blitzed him on defence. Putting three in the tackle and going hard on him. It was a tactic.
5) Great game.

 

[The Undertaker]

The Auckland rain after a fine weekend could not have come at a worse time for this match. The conditions effectively swung the game towards Canberras bigger forward pack and had remnants of the Roosters game where we got outmuscled in similar conditions at Mount smart in 2023 (I think)

Had the conditions been somewhat drier, then I think we go on and win that. We had to go through the middle because of how wet it was, and we competed well.

I thought Adam Gee really hammered us with 6 agains and didn’t really allow a bit more time for players to clear the rich because of the conditions.

For mine, we lost that game when horsbrough was binned and we didn’t take the 2 points. We basically gave the ball back got pinged and then a missed tackle allowed Starling to score.

At 10-0 and the ball coming back to us with a player in the bin, we can stick the knife in. Instead we go to half time 8-8

Oh and Pompey being offside at a dropout was UNACCEPTABLE. They didn’t win that game by outplaying us - this time they were good enough to win by exploiting our mistakes.

Re our backline - we haven’t had a consistent backline all year and we need a few games for these guys to click.

Expect an Arsenal kicking this week and a better performance against Souths next week. Wining that is important now to stay in the top 4

Overall not hugely disappointed - we did pretty well considering our outs’and the conditions. But still annoyed. This was one that we let slip - a game we should have won. That’s footie sometimes.

 

[VB89]

Why do people feel they need to shake the team up after gong on a 5 run streak and finally losing a close game against a good team missing 2 of our best players?

The Raiders defense was ON. Their wingers seem to jam in perfectly (Something we could learn) and shut down a couple of wide plays that could have gone in against a lesser team. They also had tabs on Metcalf not letting him get a sniff of any gaps.

I think we just chalk this up as a nice loss and move on to next week. No drastic lineup changes needed.

 

[Playdaball]

I thought that TMM looked to take control of the team when they had Metcalf, CHT and TMM on the field.
Metcalf is still looking to make a break himself rather than looking to his outsides

 

[Roadrunner]

Yea watched a replay and just got to suck it up.It was a tough hard game that we take lessons out of .In times gone by it would have been a mauling.Now we have to right the heart rate to beating Rabbits.The jury is out on DWS I still he's on the downward slide good player past his prime

 

[sydneywarrior92]

I think the game was played at finals intensity and it’s a mark of respect for us as a challenge, that the Raiders went to those physical aggression levels. Intensity, stepping up and maxing out to meet our challenge.

The Raiders came here pumped up for a massive top of the table clash and both teams lifted in an unstoppable force vs immovable object type battle..

The Raider players reaction to the crowd after the whistle shows how pumped up and mentally taxed the Raiders were due to the intensity of the game.

Regardless of the result it was a great game with two gun teams putting on a quality display of grinding, high intensity league.

I bet they play flat against the chooks next week. They looked as gassed as us towards the end. IMO two of the comps best packs going at it for 80 mins. Finals intensity this. The physical intensity of that game should terrify the rest of the comp. We held our own without our starting props and probably would have ground out the victory against most other sides. We proved that we are a top 4 side tho, since only other top 4 sides are beating us this year.

 

[Naynay]

'We can't discipline aggression': Ricky says don't punish Origin-esque passion

The Raiders climb to second on the NRL ladder after Warriors win.

www.canberratimes.com.au

Would be an interesting read, but behind a paywall. Ricky Stuart saying you can’t punish aggression, what about shoulder charges, and foul mouthed exchanges with the crowd?

One eyed Ricky, im all for players that smack talk each other like Ronaldo or Reed but having a go at the crowd (like that) is a step too far, love the shushing after a kick and the interaction but swearing and flipping them off (Ive seen somewhere they were spitting aswell) probably needs to atleast be given some kind of punishment from the nrl.

Edit* Also worth remembering it was all over the place when Matt lodge for us flipped off the crowd so see how it goes.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

I thought that TMM looked to take control of the team when they had Metcalf, CHT and TMM on the field.
Metcalf is still looking to make a break himself rather than looking to his outsides

TMM did nothing in a game where LM was average.

 

[Noitall]

One eyed Ricky, im all for players that smack talk each other like Ronaldo or Reed but having a go at the crowd (like that) is a step too far, love the shushing after a kick and the interaction but swearing and flipping them off (Ive seen somewhere they were spitting aswell) probably needs to atleast be given some kind of punishment from the nrl.

If that was our team, I’d be pretty embarrassed with how they conducted themselves. I’m sure they cop plenty of stick from the crowd, but most players are able to keep it in check. Often players will get a mouthful when kicking for goal and they often give a wry smile or a brief comment, but the way they went on was pretty shameful

 

[Naynay]

TMM did nothing in a game where LM was average.

I agree, they looked clunkier when TMM and Metcalf were on. There is only room for one in the team.

The bench space needs to ho yo a forward or Healy a third half is not it. Which is why hes been getting like 15 mins at the end the logistics just dont work.

 

[John Nick]

TMM did nothing in a game where LM was average.

Agree about LM but his D was great I thought.Dont know why we didnt go to unders plays against the grain a la what Curran use to run .
Attacking the inside shoulder on a slippery surface can be fruitful.
Overall looking at other results at least we didnt get our pants pulled down .Team never stopped trying & give me the impression they are happy camp & working hard for each other. No the result we wanted but far from disheartening

 

[Boats n Hoes]

Rightfully a lot said of Leka's 3 drops (altho the 2nd one was after Tapine hit him in the head so doesnt really count) and being so heavily marked he does look like he could benefit coming from the bench for a spell. But to single those out without mention of the 3 errors from Chanel (as well as conceding 2 penalties......not to mention providing zero on attack once Metcalf who seemingly had no plan B once his show n go was shut down), 2 inside the 10 infringements from Laban which led to the Charnze sinbinning, the inability to handle the first half bombs from Fogerty with turnovers from Charnze, Dallin, and Pomps, Pompeys brain fart offside from the drop out, Ali needlessly jumping out of the line that left the space that led to the Starling try.....seems a bit out of balance to only focus on the Leka errors to me.

the cumulative effect of all these errors/infringements told in the end, and probably more an indictment of the pressure Canberra we're able to apply.

That said we still werent too far off the mark and were up to our eyeballs in that game. Composure provided from our missing leaders probably all it would have taken to get this one (altho heaven forbid i get a troll from an opposition forum on my ass, i better mention they we're without some lame inbred insignificant 2nd rower )

 

[Blain]

We clearly missed our 2 enforcers in the middle. The boys who were there worked bloody hard to keep us in that game the whole way, it was a true arm wrestle. When we managed to get on top, middle of the first half, we followed it up with our worst period of the game. You can’t afford to concede against 12 men, that was poor.

Errors hurt us in the second, and our attack was pedestrian on their try line. We had plenty of ball to get points that second half. Failing to score points in the 2nd half is becoming a concern. The attack is pretty simple, and we are still a clunky unit when talking about our backs. But to be fair, we have had revolving centres and wingers all year. The Raiders were very sound defensively, especially that second half. Credit to them.

Demetric getting tiny minutes has me scratching my head, he offered more than Bunty out there no doubt. The entire back line was pretty limp in attack to be fair, CHT was hardly seen.. I don’t expect many changes next week except JFH and Barnett being back, but I really hope we start looking slicker in attack.

 

[FormerlyJamesW]

One thing I've noticed is that we never play well in a highly reffed game.

I'm not calling conspiracy. Just an observation.

 

[Wrighty]

One thing I've noticed is that we never play well in a highly reffed game.

I'm not calling conspiracy. Just an observation.

Might suit us for post season if we make the 8 or top 4 in that case when they put away the whistle.

 

[sydneywarrior92]

No need for an over-reaction here. It's never fun to lose but at least we are only losing to other top 4 teams. If anything, this game proved that we are at the level of a top 4 side and our current positioning isn't a fluke. But as others have pointed out, our defense is top 4 level but our attack is not. Raiders clearly came with a plan to stop LM in his tracks and were rushing him from blatantly offside positions. We need to develop a plan B as the increased spotlight on him will mean other sides in coming weeks will also try to shut down his running game.

Regarding that, I don't think we are making the best use of Marata and Leka. We have two of the most damaging backrowers in the game in Leka and Marata when they are isolating defenders on one-on-one situations. Webby's use of Leka in recent weeks particularly puzzles me. I understood starting him for the Broncos game given our injury situation for that game. But persisting with him starting and playing him 80 since then means he's gone away from being an impact wrecking ball off the bench and turned into another workman. We have enough of those in our pack. Running 100+ meters per game and making 32 tackles with a 90% tackle efficiency is what I want from Barney and Erin, not Leka. Leka is a game changer and has single handedly won us games this year (ie tigers).

As for Marata, I understand playing him in the middle for this game. But when we have a choice, he has to play on the edge. He is a lethal attacking weapon on the edge and halves are sweating bullets every time he gets the ball. He almost got us to golden pt yesterday if it wasn't for some great Canberra defense. If we had done more of that instead of trying to constantly run around Canberra, which was our mistake in Vegas, the result could have been so different yesterday.

 

[Bluecat]

We got beaten by a better team.
Barnett would have made a difference. I'm still dirty on Fisher-Harris for being stood down. We needed him last night too.

I think Ali needed to come back through the reserves. He's not established enough yet to be an automatic inclusion. Capewell has been covering that spot well. Shame he had to move back to the forwards to cover our missing players.
Leka is no longer being allowed to be freakishly good by the opposition.
He had a bad day in the office too. He'll hopefully learn from that. Metcalf too on attack. You can't run every time

The run had to end and it took a top 4 team to do it. I'm not too down. But our reaction next week will be critical. Fingers crossed Barney comes through Origin ok

 

[defensivebomb]

after having won the dolphins game with a knock on, it felt like karma would bite us back

to stay with Canberra means we aren't pretenders on the ladder.

it would have been a different result had we kicked for goal when horsbrough was in the bin. As soon as we coughed it up, they went on attack for 10 mins, scoring a try, so effectively we didn't gain any tangible benefit during their sin bin period

I think Leka's dropped balls were a function of his high work rate and him being covered defensively.

RTS was very solid, as were Capewell and Ford

 

[defensivebomb]

anyone know why the grubber on the 5th is dead? nobody seems to do it anymore. But we could have benefitted from some variation on attack

 

[sydneywarrior92]

after having won the dolphins game with a knock on, it felt like karma would bite us back

to stay with Canberra means we aren't pretenders on the ladder.

it would have been a different result had we kicked for goal when horsbrough was in the bin. As soon as we coughed it up, they went on attack for 10 mins, scoring a try, so effectively we didn't gain any tangible benefit during their sin bin period

I think Leka's dropped balls were a function of his high work rate and him being covered defensively.

RTS was very solid, as were Capewell and Ford

if you think about it, it might have been pivotal. We'd have been 10-0 up. If pomps doesn't screw up the drop out, we go to half time 10-6 up. Those 2 moments constitute a 4 pt turnaround. Completely different second half potentially.