The Raiders have kept their finals hope alive but the 34-24 win over Souths has come at a mammoth cost with Hudson Young suffering a season-ending Achilles injury.
Young was helped off the field after suffering the non-contact injury with Fox League’s Lara Pitt confirming just minutes later that the club suspect it’s a ruptured Achilles.
The Raiders star was in distress as he left the field, yelling an expletive as he prepared to head up the sheds.
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MATCH CENTRE: Raiders v Rabbitohs, score, live blog
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“It’s a sombre mood on the sideline. It’s a devastating injury,” Luke Keary said on Fox League.
Young suffers suspected achilles rupture | 00:36
It means Young will not only miss the rest of the NRL season but the end of year Rugby League World Cup as well.
He’s the second NRL player in as many days to suffer such an injury after Storm winger Will Warbrick’s season was ended prematurely with a ruptured Achilles against the Roosters on Friday.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart was devastated with the injury blow.
“It’s a massive blow, I feel for him personally,” Stuart said.
“Such a massive part of our team. Not just the 80 minutes that everyone sees, but what goes into the preparation and senior leadership.”
“It hasn’t hit him yet, he misses the rest of the season, misses the World Cup. I’ve been there personally and it hits you in the next couple of days, but he’s got the right people around him.”
“Huddo’s a true competitor, and he prepares probably the best I’ve seen out of anyone, so for him to go down like that, it’s heartbreaking,” captain Joe Tapine added.
Ricky reacts to heartbreaking Young news | 10:31
Canberra, who now need five wins from their last six games to make the eight, were led by Kaeo Weekes and Ethan Strange.
Weekes was electric, scoring two tries while Strange had two try assists and looked likely all afternoon.
The Rabbitohs were brave in the second half to fight back from a 28-6 half time deficit, but the ordinary first half proved too much to overcome.
BIG HITS
CONTENTIOUS CALL
Cody Walker continued to put his harsh first half behind him when he scored with 14 minutes to go, in the far corner of GIO Stadium, but it was a try that caused much controversy.
A pass in the lead up from Brandon Smith to Cody Walker, which in real time may have bounced off the attempted tackler Ethan Sanders, was shown to have been knocked on by Walker for all and sundry, as it came off the veteran’s hand and the referee allowed play to continue. A try being scored which would make it 34-24 with the conversion and game on.
“That is a knock on, that is a deadest knock on,” said Luke Keary on Fox League
“No matter what happened, (the referee) should have stopped the game.”
If an obstruction by David Fifita had gone the other way and led to a Campbell Graham try to bring the deficit to six, another Ricky Stuart blow up may have been on the cards.
Wayne quizzed on finals after defeat | 03:21
RAZZLE DAZZLE RAIDERS WITH TRY OF THE YEAR CONTENDER
The Raiders had the better of the first 10 minutes capped off by a try that wowed the commentators and had the home fans on their feet.
“How many sets of hands did we just see.” Matt Russell. Eleven at first count it appeared.
A kick went up from Kaeo Weekes 25 metres out which was followed by a bat back from Xavier Savage which set the chain of passes in motion.
Forwards and backs continually looked for support, a flick pass here, a bit of footwork there, until it found the Raiders left side and the hands of Hudson Young who handled twice, firstly setting up some space for Matt Timoko, who found Jed Stuart and out the back before Young picked up the loose ball scoring one of the contenders for try of the year, according to Luke Keary.
STAT ATTACK (Fox Sports Lab)
Fox Lab Expected Points: Rabbitohs 19.6, Canberra 12.4
Souths had 53 percent possession and 67 tackles to 35 in the attacking half (22-9 in the red zone). Two intercept tries for the Raiders were the difference.
Three straight wins for Canberra – first time they have done so this season. They will finish the round four points behind eighth position with six games remaining.
Souths lost two of their past three games, and have lost six of their last seven away from Accor. Third time this season Souths have scored 24 points and lost.
Six straight wins for Canberra over Souths, won 7 of 8 since 2020 – the Rabbitohs worst record against any team over that period. Raiders have scored at least 30 points in all six wins.
Canberra led 28-6 at half time. Their most first half points against the Rabbitohs since 1996. Only the fourth time the Raiders have scored 20+ first half points this season – second against the Rabbitohs.
Souths made six linebreaks to four, ran for almost 200 metres more and missed fewer tackles than the Raiders.
Owen Pattie was placed on report for a grapple tackle at around the 25 minute mark. No prior charges.
Hudson Young was assisted from the field 15 minutes into the second half with a reported left Achilles rupture. The first major injury of his career.
Kaeo Weekes scored the fourth double of his career – second against Souths this season.
Fox Lab POTM – Another controlled performance from Ethan Sanders. He set up a try, kicked for over 650 metres including his first career 40/20 and kicked 5 from 6 goals.
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