The Eels were brave, but the Raiders were much too classy in the second half to run out dominant 40-16 winners to move four points clear on top of the table.
In front of several club legends on Raiders’ Old Boys Day, Canberra had their way in the second forty, exploding in the last eight minutes particularly with three tries.
MATCH CENTRE: Raiders v Eels, scores, stats, live blog
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Raiders five-eighth Ethan Strange was sensational while another Canberra young gun in Owen Pattie added a double late to add salt to the Eels’ wounds, once again showing that while the now is exciting in the nation’s capital, the future is also very bright.
“He’ll play Origin one day and probably pretty soon,” Michael Ennis said in commentary about Strange.
Canberra shot out of the gates, scoring two tries in the first eight minutes, but the Eels showed plenty of fight, roaring back with three unanswered tries to take a 16-12 lead into half time.
“Can you believe it? The Eels are in front,” Ennis said on Fox League.
The Eels had several chances to add to the scoreboard in the second half, but just couldn’t capitalise. The Raiders meanwhile were able to, scoring five tries to nil after half time.
It could have been an even bigger margin had Raiders centre Matt Timoko not bombed one.
Timoko had the chance to score one of his own, but he was far too lackadaisical after crossing the try line and the ball was knocked loose thanks to a heads up play from Josh Addo-Carr.
BIG HITS
Ata boy
In veteran Josh Papalii and skipper Joe Tapine the Raiders have perhaps the best one-two front row punch in the competition, but not far behind them is bench middle Ata Mariota, who was again outstanding against the Eels.
The 23-year-old has come into his own this season, playing exclusively as an interchange sub, and would be a walk-up starter in almost every other NRL side.
Mariota is tied to the Raiders until the end of next season and will surely be a major target for Raiders great Mal Meninga and the Perth Bears in 2027.
Versatile backrower Hosking was also busy, deputising in the middle when Papalii and Tapine were off the field, but he is going nowhere, having this week inked a two-year extension that will keep him in Canberra until the end of the 2028 season.
Laurie’s Strange double
All the talk in recent months has been around teenage half Lachlan Galvin’s move from the Tigers to Bulldogs, but it is Canberra’s young half Strange that has really been setting the competition alight.
It was fitting that on the Raiders’ Old Boys Day Strange drew comparisons with former Raiders’ star Laurie Daley with some of his runs, busting eight tackles and scoring a last-minute try.
Mixed Joash
With Newcastle-bound Dylan Brown left out of the side, Ryles again placed his faith in Joash Papalii in the number 6 jersey.
The 21-year-old rookie showed flashes of brilliance, including the short bomb for Russell’s first half four pointer, mixed with some overzealous misfires.
He certainly did enough at times to warrant perseverance from Ryles and his future combination with fellow young guns Isaiah Iongi and Tallyn Da Silva will be integral to Parramatta’s hopes for sustained long term success.
Post game Ryles said the outing would be good for Papalii’s development and there was no thought to bring Brown back into the side.
“Joash, he was good again today,” Ryles said.
“He’s obviously got some lessons there in the second half, so we’ll just keep working really hard with developing his game.
“Joash did a really good job and we’re going to keep working with him and keep developing him and he’s got the first opportunity there.”
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