In 1687, shortly before the Raiders last won a game at home, Isaac Newton, a Raiders tragic, published the Principia, in which he stated the three universal laws of motion. Together, these laws describe the relationship between any object, the forces acting upon it and the resulting motion.
Newton would have been a hell of a tipster. You'd hate to have him in your footy pool at work. But worse, I reckon he could have seen the last six weeks of green misery coming a mile off. The team from Canberra have been an object hurtling backwards, impressed upon by the counter forces and strong winds of injury, self confidence and ineptitude. The Sea Eagles, a force full of mass and acceleration.
For every action in defence there has been an equal and opposite reaction in attack. Recent weeks have seen teams focus their attack not at the traditionally flimsy Raiders left edge, but rather at the Blake Austin manned right edge, with telling results. If Blake is to take the next step, he has to make the front on tackle. The Hooter couldnt help but admire Kieran Foran make tackle after tackle on Papa and everything else that moved, giving Newton even more cause for celebration. What Newton would have made of Blake Austin's meteoric rise I cant tell, but Croker's attempted tackle on Lyon; an object in motion that stayed well and truly in motion.
Thrown into this toxic mix of inertia was the Raider kicking game, where the object in motion seemed constantly to meet the legs of opposition players at rest. More than once did the Hooter cry out from the lower bowl for something other than Jack Wighton's left boot to touch the ball. The Raider last tackle options are a geometric anomaly not even Newton could solve.
Sure there were excuses. Missing the consistency of Soliola in defence (and attack). Injuries and lack of depth have, frankly, had us on a knife edge all year. Through this run into the finals, key injuries have also found us out a bit. We continue to get the worst of the refereeing calls, both home and away - it is not paranoia if they're out to get you. Andrew Voss continues to commentate our games - largely the reason many fans were forced to attend the game last week in person (yet i considered forgiving him when he described Blake Austin as "a national treasure" displaying uncharacteristic verve and daring for a Sydney-sider). Even though the Edrick Lee try was against the run of play, Manly knew they were in a contest all day. Yet, at critical times, in critical games, our big players havent stood up. Simple as that. Pass the set square.
This week the Green travel to the Gold Coast to take on the Titans. I don't think Newton would have liked the Gold Coast. Given the natural proclivities of the locals towards sunshine and stigma, I suspect Newton, like many Canberrans forced to travel north, would have feared Galileo-like treatment at the hands of those heretics. Flat-earthers.
The Titans are without their superstar halfback, purveyor of great taste and soon to be Green half back Aidan Sezer who is sitting this one out while he contemplates the importance of our inevitable quest for the title in 2016 (get well soon Aidan). How Aidan must pray for the Blake Austin exponential Raider acceleration spurt.
The Raiders return a near full strength squad. The trouble for the Raiders is that somewhere along the line the momentum we had that was carrying us to the finals defied Newtonian physics. Green Nation has been left to ponder whether the laws of inertia have brought us to a terminal rest or whether an "unbalanced force" can manufacture motion again. If only we had a coach that fit that description.
Green by an action and an opposite reaction.
