Through green eyes 2017

pickles · Post by **pickles** » April 9, 2017, 8:20 am

How good are Paulo's hands? Some of the ball playing he did was as good as I've seen from a prop!

Aside from a few poor defensive lapses it was a controlled performance and what we needed to produce.

CJR · Post by **CJR** » April 9, 2017, 1:41 pm

Wow what does Rapa have to do to get a 10 around here

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Post by **greeneyed** » April 9, 2017, 1:45 pm

No one's perfect. Two errors, one missed tackle.

Ginga · Post by **Ginga** » April 9, 2017, 1:53 pm

greeneyed wrote:No one's perfect. Two errors, one missed tackle.

If he keeps this form up we may have to borrow John Eales nickname and start calling him Nobody

BadnMean · Post by **BadnMean** » April 9, 2017, 2:01 pm

CJR wrote:Wow what does Rapa have to do to get a 10 around here

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Mal's 5 must be the 10 standard. Tough school!

Post by **greeneyed** » April 13, 2017, 9:44 pm

Through green eyes: Quarter time

Here we are... Round 7... and we've already had a quarter of the matches of the regular season.

It's been a bit of a mixed bag for the Raiders. They are three and three and are placed sixth on the ladder - but are on the same competition points as six other teams. They have handed out a couple of thrashings to some teams in crisis of different sorts - the Wests Tigers and Gold Coast Titans. They've been on the receiving end in a clash with the 2016 premiers. And they've lost a couple of tight, grinding games in Queensland - by a point and a golden try - where a lot of courage was shown. They were probably matches that the Raiders shouldn't have been in, but they were, due to their sheer determination.

Coach Ricky Stuart has said that his strategy is to build to a peak at the back end of the season. Many of the top squad had minimal game time in the pre-season. Many of them did not play in the pre-season at all. There was just one trial match and it was mostly fringe players in action. So it was a deliberate plan to start the season slowly.

It wasn't part of the plan to see quite so many injuries and suspensions. Captain Jarrod Croker missed the first two matches due to a knee injury - a dislocation of his knee cap - suffered in the All Stars match. Joseph Tapine missed two matches due to a broken finger. Jack Wighton was a very late withdrawal in Round 1 due to illness. Junior Paulo (one week) and Dave Taylor (two weeks) were suspended for off field indiscretions at previous clubs. Clay Priest (head slam) and Elliott Whitehead (tripping) were both suspended for a week for minor on field incidents.

The loss of the captain was felt more deeply than many expected - which shows how far Jarrod Croker has come in a very short space of time as a leader. The forward pack was left very thin on the bench in some games, particularly the loss to the Sharks. So there has been a fair bit of adversity to overcome.

Attack: There's not much doubt that the Raiders can attack. Canberra is just one point behind the top point scorer in the league. They have scored 27 points on average per match (only exceeded by the Dragons on 27.2 points per match). They have scored the most tries in the competition (29) at a rate of 4.8 per match.

Canberra score points but have relatively low running metres and kicking metres and a low share of possession. The Raiders are 11th in the competition for running metres (1541 metres per match - compared to 1676 metres for the Broncos). Only the Panthers kick less than the Raiders in general play... and Canberra has averaged the least amount of kicking metres in the league (371 metres on average per match - compared to 541 metres for the Broncos).

I guess you can't make running metres if you don't have the ball. Errors, completions and discipline have been an issue, but the team has been working on all. Completions average at 74 per cent (ninth in the NRL) while errors average 10.7 per match (seventh lowest in the NRL). Most progress has been made on penalties conceded - which stand at under six per match (four lowest in the NRL). But the upshot of all that is that Canberra averages a 48.7 per cent possession share.

It says a lot about the skill and strength of the team that they still produce the amount of points that they do. As a team, the Raiders don't pass a lot (second least with 81 per match), nor do they offload a lot (eight per match, compared to 13 for the Tigers). They don't get an above average number of shots in the opposition's red zone (24 per match, compared to 36 for the Cowboys). But they are the top of the competition, or close to, for tackle breaks, line breaks and try and line break assists.

The style of the Raiders attack means they probably won't ever lead the league in areas like completions. But there is scope to improve consistency in completions and for the forwards to lift their contribution to metres gained. Given there is room to improve, it is scary to think how much better the attack can become.

Rating: A

Defence: Canberra has conceded just over 19 points and 3.3 tries per match so far in 2017 - with eight other teams conceding fewer points. The Raiders' positive points differential is second only to the Dragons - so the attack compensates. But Ricky Stuart knows that giving away 19 points per match is not going to win games in September or October. Premiership teams generally concede 16 points or less per match over a season. The Melbourne Storm have conceded under 10 points and 1.5 tries per match in the first six games this year.

Sometimes, the Raiders can nod off for a period - conceding soft tries on the goal line, for example. But the team has demonstrated that they can defend when they have the right attitude and intensity - with the best performances probably the narrow losses to the Broncos and Cowboys. Canberra has kept the Titans, Broncos and Tigers to 16 points or less - and kept the Cowboys to 16 points in regulation time. The only real blow out was the loss to the Sharks in Round 2.

The other thing to remember is this: they are fifth in lowest line breaks conceded (3.5 per match), sixth in lowest running metres conceded (1343 metres per match), sixth in lowest missed tackles (23 per match) and are around the benchmark for lowest offloads conceded. I've gone with a C rating, but it is on the edge of a B - and they know what to do to improve.

Rating: C

Spine: The Raiders spine is still a work in progress - but there are signs they're getting there. Hooker Josh Hodgson was one of the players of the year in 2016. He dominates matches and makes a lot of dummy half runs -
but as a result, the halves can be a little starved of the ball. Last year, a deliberate decision was taken to put half Aidan Sezer in the drivers' seat - and it looks like the play makers are again working to ensure they "gel" well this year.

Aidan Sezer and Blake Austin have both spoken publicly on the need for the halves to control the team and see more quality ball. That is now happening and the form of both half and five eighth has lifted accordingly. Unfortunately, Hodgson has been playing injured in recent weeks - a combination of sternum and ankle problems - and his form has suffered a little. Meanwhile, fullback Jack Wighton has just continued to power ahead.

Wighton (four) and Austin (three) are in good try scoring form - and all the spine players are making good contributions to try and line break assists and in total try involvements. It's actually very tough to pick out just one as the top performer, and I'll go with a tie between Austin and Wighton. Aidan Sezer is not far away.

Best performers: Blake Austin, Jack Wighton
Spine rating: B

Forwards: The Raiders have a big name forward pack - and they're the biggest in terms of size. I would like to see some posting some bigger numbers to match. As mentioned, it is hard to clock up big metres if the team doesn't have the ball - and performances so far have been affected by injury and suspension. But there is room to lift - and the Round 6 win over the Titans was a good start.

Josh Papalii has has been out of this world and is surely the best edge forward in the game. He's averaged 151 metres per match from 14 runs and 26 tackles and has totalled two tries, three line breaks, two try assists, 11 offloads and 16 tackle breaks. Junior Paulo has been the strongest of the props. After making over 200 metres against the Titans, he's averaged 124 metres from 13 runs and 21 tackles per match. Sia Soliola has been a defensive workhorse, posting an average of 32 tackles per match.

Best performer: Josh Papalii
Forwards rating: C

Backs: Jordan Rapana has been sensational in the opening rounds of the season, clearly the best winger in the NRL by a long way. And it is a rare thing to say for a winger, but he's also been one of the two best players in the whole team - along with Papalii. He operates like an extra forward and his involvement is outstanding. But he's also brilliant in attack. He's averaged 178 metres from 17 runs per match - and is top four for running metres in the NRL. He is the NRL's top try scorer, with seven. He's made 51 tackle breaks (second in the NRL), 30 dummy half runs (second in the NRL) and nine line breaks (most in the NRL).

Joey Leilua has been building in form - but other back to mention is rookie Nick Cotric. It's been a sensational start to his NRL career. He's scored three tries and averages 120 metres from 11 runs per match. He is fifth in the NRL for tackle breaks (32). He has huge potential.

Best performer: Jordan Rapana
Backs rating: A

So overall, it's a B rating from me. The team is not yet really back to its best, the level of performance we saw in 2016. But there is a very big positive: the team has lots of improvement left. Plus, the Raiders are just two wins behind first place on the competition ladder. There's the prospect of much better things to come.

***

The Raiders face a strong test at home on Easter Saturday against a New Zealand Warriors team that is building in performance and confidence. The Warriors' spine of Luke, Johnson, Foran and Tuivasa-Sheck is one of the strongest in the NRL on paper - and with Kieran Foran now having played a couple of matches at his new team, they are starting to translate that onto the field. It's a worry, given Johnson and Foran have separately orchestrated some big wins over the Raiders in the past. They just seem to have a style of play that trouble Canberra. The Warriors have a poor record at Canberra Stadium - but this is not the Warriors of the past.

It's a milestone match for Jack Wighton, who will celebrate his 100th NRL appearance - and his 100th appearance in the green. Saturday also marks Joe Tapine's 50th NRL match. Let's hope it is special in terms of the result!

As covered in our game day preview I'm tipping that the Raiders will win, but it'll be no picnic. So get out to the game, and make it as intimidating for the visitors as we can!

****

The team is heading back to Raiders Belconnen after the match, and we will hopefully be presenting Josh Papalii with his 2016 Fans' Choice Award. It is a bit late, but it's the first members function since the end of last season when he's been available for the presentation. I hope it's a celebratory mood at the club, after a win, and we see a lot of GH'ers! If you cannot be there, you'll be able to see and hear the presentation on The Greenhouse Live - via our Facebook page.

****

Every week I rate the players on a scale of 0-10... and here are the leader boards after six rounds.

Total points after Round 6:

Jordan Rapana 45
Josh Papalii 45
Blake Austin 41
Iosia Soliola 40
Joey Leilua 40
Nick Cotric 40
Aidan Sezer 39
Josh Hodgson 37
Luke Bateman 35
Shannon Boyd 35
Jack Wighton 34
Junior Paulo 34
Elliott Whitehead 31
Clay Priest 29
Jarrod Croker 26
Joseph Tapine 26
Adam Clydsdale 24
Dave Taylor 12
Dunamis Lui 9
Jeff Lima 9
Zac Santo 6
Scott Sorensen 3

Average points per match after Round 6:

Jordan Rapana 7.5
Josh Papalii 7.5
Blake Austin 6.8
Jack Wighton 6.8
Junior Paulo 6.8
Iosia Soliola 6.7
Joey Leilua 6.7
Nick Cotric 6.7
Aidan Sezer 6.5
Jarrod Croker 6.5
Joseph Tapine 6.5
Elliott Whitehead 6.2
Josh Hodgson 6.2
Dave Taylor 6.0
Zac Santo 6.0
Luke Bateman 5.8
Shannon Boyd 5.8
Clay Priest 5.8
Dunamis Lui 4.5
Jeff Lima 4.5
Adam Clydsdale 4.0
Scott Sorensen 3.0

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zim · Post by **zim** » April 13, 2017, 10:52 pm

Great read mate. Crazy we're already defensively better than at the same time last year.

-TW- · Post by **-TW-** » April 13, 2017, 10:54 pm

We'd been pumped twice by this time last year, were about 36 points better off as we spanked the eels, rather than have them spank us

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CJR · Post by **CJR** » April 14, 2017, 8:03 am

We are in a better position this year so far I guess. But that only holds up if we win this week

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RedRaider · Post by **RedRaider** » April 14, 2017, 9:22 am

Good write up as usual GE. Considering that of our 6 matches so far, 4 have been against 2016 Top 8 sides and 2 of those have been against 2016 Top 4 sides, we are going ok.

The strategy of little match preparation during the pre-season has not yet run its course. We'll never know if a little more match preparation would have seen us finish stronger against the Broncos and Cowboys. Certainly we were blown off the park against the Sharks and their bustling defensive style threw our 'rusty' weakened side into attempting 'miracle' plays which came unstuck. You mentioned the loss of our Captain early in the season and that certainly put our depth to the test. Hopefully we can now get a bit of a winning roll going. No easy matches in the NRL and I am looking for some more consistency in our performance and particularly defensively - locking up the ball, no more soft tries from near our goal line, first contact with a little more sting and driving the opposition ball carrier back. Not much to ask

Post by **greeneyed** » April 16, 2017, 12:21 pm

Through green eyes: As I saw it

Round 7 2017. 20-8 over the New Zealand Warriors at home. It was gritty, it was determined and the defence was outstanding. The Warriors were held to just eight points... and even then, their only try was a dubious one and scored from a bomb. The visitors had almost 60 per cent possession in the first half, and had repeat set after repeat set. But even when Canberra's goal line was breached, the Raiders would not let the opposition score. There was no soft goal line defence, no easy tries this week. And then in the second half, when the possession turned, the Raiders' brilliant backs took over.

The opposition was good. Very good. They came with a tactic of moving off the line quickly - even blatantly standing offside. But the Warriors showed they are a quality team. Foran, Johnson and Tuivasa-Sheck played as we expected - and showed some brilliance in attack. However, they were repeatedly turned back. It was one of the best Canberra performances of the season.

Stats that mattered:

As mentioned, the Warriors had the lion's share of possession in the first half... a 58 per cent possession share. However, it all turned around in the second half and Canberra ended up with 54 per cent of the ball. The Raiders completed at 76 per cent, which is less than their best this season - but the Warriors completion rate was just 67 per cent. The Raiders made 12 errors - but the Warriors were even worse at a whopping 17. And the Warriors ended up conceding nine penalties to the Raiders' four. The Warriors could have been penalised a lot more, given their tactic of standing off side. Canberra won the running metres (1823m-1474m) but not the kicking metres (465m-559m). In the end, the Warriors were forced into more tackles (343 for the Warriors, 280 for the Raiders) and missed more tackles (37 for the Warriors, 25 for the Raiders).

Memorable moments?

The best moment was not a try. It was a tackle from Raiders captain Jarrod Croker. In the 37th minute, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck made a break 20 metres out and set sail for the try line. It was pace and guile encapsulated. He looked certain to score, he went over line, but Croker was there. Somehow, Croker got underneath Tuivasa Sheck and prevented him from planting it on the grass, he turned him over, and the ball was lost. It was a stunning try save. "It was a wonderful desire to stop it and that's what's right through the team, covering your mates' back," Ricky Stuart said after the match. "The strength in their brotherhood here sees those types of actions. When it comes from your captain, it was just an amazing effort and I thought it was a real turning point. That type of action from Jarrod was an action of 'get on board'."

There's some other defensive plays to mention too. At one stage, the Raiders grabbed the Warriors' Ligi Sao and waltzed him around the goal post, and forced him back into the field of play. In the 22nd minute, Blake Austin knocked on kick, giving the Warriors a scrum feed just 10m from the try line. It was quickly spread wide and Nick Cotric was left covering a wide open space on the western touch line. David Fusitua seemed certain to score, but Cotric sized him up and pulled off a fantastic one on one tackle on the line. Stopped him in his tracks. Absolute try save.

The Raiders' tries were not of the usual spectacular variety. Joey Leilua scored two, and the best of the match was his first in the 20th minute. He took the ball 10 metres from the line and he looked well covered... but he just pumped the legs and bumped and just willed himself over the try line.

Best performers?

Joey Leilua. Two tries, 139 metres from 15 runs, eight tackle breaks, two line breaks, 11 tackles.

Junior Paulo. 185 metres from 22 runs, one tackle break, two offloads, 19 tackles.

Josh Hodgson. One try, 65 metres from 13 runs, one line break, 45 tackles.

Leading tacklers: Josh Hodgson (45), Elliott Whitehead (37), Sia Soliola (33).

Leading metres gained: Jack Wighton (177m from 20 runs), Junior Paulo (185m from 22 runs), Josh Papalii (180m from 18 runs).

My player ratings:

Jack Wighton 7
Nick Cotric 7
Jarrod Croker 7
Joey Leilua 8
Jordan Rapana 7
Blake Austin 7
Aidan Sezer 6
Junior Paulo 7
Josh Hodgson 7
Shannon Boyd 7
Josh Papalii 7
Elliott Whitehead 7
Joseph Tapine 6

Adam Clydsdale 0*
Luke Bateman 6
Sia Soliola 7
Dunamis Lui 0*

* Did not play

Do you agree or disagree with the ratings? Let me know!

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Boomercm · Post by **Boomercm** » April 16, 2017, 12:46 pm

Great read as always.

Warriors came ready with the Sharks blueprint. Stand offside, rush up in defence, and slow down the play-the-ball. Test the referees at every opportunity. The Warriors couldn't maintain it for 80 like the Sharks who are more disciplined and have more forward depth. We can expect more of this. While watching the referees ignore it can be frustrating, I think long term we will be better off if the refs do not police it. The 10 meters and ruck is a free-for-all in big games anyway, so we are better off learning to deal with it now.

CJR · Post by **CJR** » April 16, 2017, 12:46 pm

Good read. Another memorable moment for me was Rapana taking that catch on the full while on the other side of the field of where he should be to stop a potential try/repeat set. Just brilliant awareness from him, he really is like having a second fullback.

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Green eyed Mick · Post by **Green eyed Mick** » April 16, 2017, 12:56 pm

Listening to sports ears it was interesting that the refs were having a conversation about the 10 metres when the Raiders scored their first try.

Not that it matters today. We won and we're looking better each week.

BadnMean · Post by **BadnMean** » April 16, 2017, 1:35 pm

Green eyed Mick wrote:Listening to sports ears it was interesting that the refs were having a conversation about the 10 metres when the Raiders scored their first try.

Not that it matters today. We won and we're looking better each week.

Well, don't leave us hanging, what was the gist of said conversation?

Post by **greeneyed** » April 20, 2017, 10:15 am

Through green eyes: Clear and present danger

The Canberra Raiders meet the Manly Sea Eagles this week at home - and they have not been warmer favourites in a match so far this season.

For those who take an interest in the punt, the Raiders are paying around $1.25, while the Sea Eagles are paying a whopping $4.00. There's reportedly three times the money wagered on a Raiders victory, than on a Sea Eagles win. Manly has 11.5 points start. Lots of people are expecting a big margin, as well.

However, I don't think that disparity truly reflects the difference between the teams that face off on Friday night. With apologies to the movie quote, these Manly Sea Eagles represent a clear and present danger to the Canberra Raiders.

As covered in our game day preview, the statistics all point to a Canberra Raiders win. Manly has conceded an average of 32 points in their last two games, both losses. And the Raiders have conceded just 12 in their last two victories.

But the Sea Eagles can certainly put on some points. The Melbourne Storm found that out last week, when Manly made a big second half comeback, and Melbourne escaped with a 30-26 win. That's the Melbourne Storm team that normally concedes just 12 points and two tries per match.

Manly are equal first in the NRL for line breaks and equal second - with the Raiders - for try assists. The trio of Daly Cherry-Evans, Blake Green and Tom Trbojevic can be very dangerous in attack.

I've tipped the Raiders, but cautiously. Previous Raiders teams would go into this match with a sense of complacency, to their cost. Canberra can still tend to become complacent during a match - and they switch off for a period. They can't afford that.

This is a danger game.

Aidan Sezer spoke about just that during the week.

"We don't take any team for granted. Every game is tough in this competition. If you're looking at games like 'danger games' you're underestimating the team initially. So we will be preparing accordingly," he said.

Ricky Stuart will no doubt have been hammering that message home all week.

****

It has been 30 years since the Canberra Raiders first ever Grand Final appearance - against the Manly Sea Eagles - in 1987.

I recall going to the game, the very last at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and it was brutally hot. We had seats in the tiny Dally Messenger Stand, which was uncovered, and we took shelter underneath it, in seats unsold because of the obstructed view.

I also recall singing the club song with a group of slightly inebriated Canberrans in front of the El Alamein fountain the night before, to the bemusement of the local constabulary. And when I say club song, I mean the original: "We are the Canberra Raiders".

It was a fairytale run to the Grand Final, for a team co-coached by Don Furner Snr and Wayne Bennett - with wins over the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Eastern Suburbs Roosters. They were matches full of exciting attack.

Memorably, Mal Meninga came back for the Preliminary Final, with a huge arm guard, protecting the arm that had been broken in a collision with a Seiffert Oval goal post. That day he trampled right over the top of Roosters lock David Trewhella on the way to the try line, leaving him behind in a huge hole in the SGC turf.

It wasn't to be a fairy tale end to the season on Grand Final day. But it was the start of green fever in the national capital - and of bigger things to come. We'll be looking for a very different result on Friday night!

****

You often hear people pining for the days of the suburban grounds and sitting on the hill... for the days when the Raiders played out of Seiffert Oval.

Those days are gone for NRL matches. The NRL is a highly professional sport, and requires stadiums that can house big crowds in comfort and provide facilities for sponsors.

But if you're pining for the suburban grounds... you can have that experience on Saturday! The Raiders play on Friday night, so this is the perfect opportunity to get out to a Canberra Raiders Cup match.

I get out to as many matches as I can and I do enjoy setting up the fold up chair and sitting right on the sideline. Not that you need to do that at most grounds... as there are some very high quality local grounds with grandstand seating.

And if you cannot get to one of the grounds, you can now watch a live stream of a feature match each week through the Bar TV Sports YouTube channel. In addition, you can watch a replay of every first grade game, along with lots of highlights packages of all grades.

Canberra Raiders Cup Round 2 highlights

It's good quality football. There are lots of former Raiders like Terry Campese, Troy Thompson, Lincoln Withers and Scott Logan involved in coaching or playing. It's a good afternoon out.

Find out where the games are being played this weekend - or how to watch games on line - at our Canberra Raiders Cup preview.

****

It is not long until the representative round and the ANZAC Test at Canberra Stadium. And there has been a lot of talk about the representative claims of Canberra Raiders players.

Ricky Stuart has gone on record, saying he does not expect any Raiders to be selected for New South Wales - and politely expressing his disappointment that, mostly, Canberra's players only seem to be selected in exhibition games.

There have been reports that Canberra captain Jarrod Croker is seriously being considered by coach Mal Meninga for the Kangaroos vacant left centre spot. I'd love to see it, though he has been hampered by a knee injury this year.

Sadly it looks like Joey Leilua will be ignored. He's a diamond in the rough. Sure his defence and handling was a little untidy early in the season. But he's very quickly worked on that. And the incredible strike in attack is surely too impressive to ignore?

It appears not, when you listen to the rugby league establishment.

Coach Laurie Daley was asked this week if he'd select Leilua for the Blues if Joey were selected for Australia in the ANZAC Test. The response was "not necessarily". The rest of the answer left the impression: "definitely not".

Former Broncos captain Corey Parker said this week that Leilua was not yet a "green and gold centre".

Jordan Rapana is a certain selection for the Kiwis. Josh Papalii is a certain selection for Queensland - and probably the Kangaroos.

But it's not looking like Leilua will get the nod for NSW and probably the Kangaroos. I'm not sure what else Joey Leilua has to do to prove worthy of representative jumpers. He's been in blistering form. He was the 2016 Dally M Centre of the Year. Yet he can't dislodge a fullback - who did not perform well in the Four Nations - from the Kangaroos right centre position?

Incumbents have always had some advantage in representative selections. But surely at some point, form comes into the equation?

****

Every week I rate the players on a scale of 0-10... and here are the leader boards after six rounds.

Total points after Round 7:

Jordan Rapana 52
Josh Papalii 52
Blake Austin 48
Joey Leilua 48
Iosia Soliola 47
Nick Cotric 47
Aidan Sezer 45
Josh Hodgson 44
Shannon Boyd 42
Jack Wighton 41
Junior Paulo 41
Luke Bateman 41
Elliott Whitehead 38
Jarrod Croker 33
Joseph Tapine 32
Clay Priest 29
Adam Clydsdale 24
Dave Taylor 12
Dunamis Lui 9
Jeff Lima 9
Zac Santo 6
Scott Sorensen 3

Average points per match after Round 7:

Jordan Rapana 7.4
Josh Papalii 7.4
Blake Austin 6.9
Joey Leilua 6.9
Jack Wighton 6.8
Junior Paulo 6.8
Iosia Soliola 6.7
Nick Cotric 6.7
Jarrod Croker 6.6
Aidan Sezer 6.4
Joseph Tapine 6.4
Elliott Whitehead 6.3
Josh Hodgson 6.3
Dave Taylor 6.0
Shannon Boyd 6.0
Zac Santo 6.0
Luke Bateman 5.9
Clay Priest 5.8
Dunamis Lui 4.5
Jeff Lima 4.5
Adam Clydsdale 4.0
Scott Sorensen 3.0

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zim · Post by **zim** » April 20, 2017, 1:41 pm

Great read. The eagles do have a very good recent record against us at GIO and they have enough attacking power to pull our pants down if we are not defensively on our game. Hopefully we continue to see that defensive steel that has been present for all but 1 game.

Kryptonite · Post by **Kryptonite** » April 20, 2017, 5:55 pm

zim wrote:Great read. The eagles do have a very good recent record against us at GIO and they have enough attacking power to pull our pants down if we are not defensively on our game. Hopefully we continue to see that defensive steel that has been present for all but 1 game.

Also one of Harrison Fords best movies, whatever happened to Bronson Harrison?

Bay53 · Post by **Bay53** » April 20, 2017, 7:52 pm

Whitehead was a nine last week for mine.

Had a great game. So much of that defence in the first half was his.

Post by **greeneyed** » April 22, 2017, 10:48 am

Through green eyes: As I saw it

Round 8 2017. A 20-18 loss in golden point. That's two golden point losses this season and a one point loss. In eight matches that's more close losses than you'd like. The Sea Eagles came with a plan to hold the ball, force repeat sets, slow down the play and kick for the touchlines to keep the ball out of the hands of the Raiders' back three. And the plan worked. They forced the Raiders to get in the grind - and while the Raiders may be in the process of learning how to win the grinding matches, they're not that comfortable doing it at the moment.

Stats that mattered:

The Sea Eagles had 55 per cent possession and completed at 92 per cent. They had 35 complete sets from 38 opportunities. In the first half, Manly completed at 100 per cent. The Raiders completed at just 76 per cent, with just 26 complete sets. Manly produced just three errors - the Raiders nine. Manly were prepared to concede a penalty (12 of them), but Canberra conceded far too many themselves (11). The Sea Eagles also forced four line drop outs on the Raiders (with Canberra forcing just one). Austin responded with some magnificent drop kicks to re-start, going 60-65 metres on a couple of occasions, but that was not enough.

It is hard to make metres without the ball, but I'm going to be blunt here. The Raiders' big name forward pack is being dominated far too often. Junior Paulo and Josh Papalii made some big metres against the Sea Eagles, but the other forwards did not make enough impact. And it is not just the bench forwards. Five of the Sea Eagles forwards broke the 100 metre mark, compared to two for the Raiders. The back three - and Leilua - often compensate. But in this match, they had very limited opportunities and were well down on metres. Only Wighton (135 metres) and Rapana (104 metres) broke the 100 metre mark. All up, the Sea Eagles made 1585 metres with the ball in hand - the Raiders just 1101 metres.

Canberra's defence responded magnificently to the Sea Eagles assaults on the Raiders line - with the away team held try-less in the first half. The Raiders had to make more tackles than their opponents (284 to 261) and missed just slightly more (31 to 28). The trouble was that there were some crucial lapses in defence at crucial times.

Manly's first try was the result of a rebound - a Cherry-Evans kick hit Sia Soliola and fell into the hands of Jake Trbojevic. There's not much you can do about tries like that. But in the 58th minute, Walker caught Croker going for the outside man, and the Sea Eagles centre sliced back inside through the smallest of gaps between Sezer and Croker. And then in the 75th minute, Cherry-Evans set things in motion on a late tackle and there were gaps on the Raiders' right side - resulting in a Tom Trbojevic four pointer.

There were a couple of big "what-ifs" in the match. The first was in the 12th minute, when Junior Paulo bulldozed over the line. The referee called it a try on field, and sent it to the bunker to check the grounding. It certainly hit the grass, as you can see the dirt and grass falling off the ball when it comes back up off the ground. The vision shows no gap between the ball and the ground. There is no way the bunker officials should have said there was "conclusive evidence" that the ball did not come in contact with the turf. But they did. We're still waiting for a "further explanation" from the NRL refereeing boss on that one.

The second came in golden point time. In the 82nd minute, Blake Austin came tantalisingly close to going over the line. Canberra was in position to go for a field goal on the last tackle. But Aidan Sezer sent it left - and sadly Jarrod Croker could not keep his feet and take the advantage of the two man overlap outside him. If the Raiders are practising for field goals at training, it's certainly not bearing out on field.

The bottom line is that the Raiders put themselves in position to win the match more than once. They led 12-2 and then led 18-14. They should have been able to lock up the game and win - but didn't. Manly missed some opportunities to lock it away earlier than they did as well. And in the end, a Walker penalty goal - which bounced off the post and went over - clinched it.

I should say something about the final penalty which produced that winning goal in golden point. The decision was absolutely correct. Joe Tapine stripped the ball in what he no doubt thought was a one on one tackle. But Josh Hodgson also came in earlier contact and clearly there were two Raiders defenders involved. It's cruel, it's heartbreaking, as Hodgson's contact was incidental. But the rule is there in black and white, so there's no complaint from me.

Memorable moments?

I've mentioned a number already - and unfortunately a few were memorable for the wrong reasons. But I'd like to highlight some positives for the Raiders here. First, how good was Josh Papalii's try? It was a barnstorming moment from the second rower, breaking a couple of tackles to go over. He's in outstanding form and must be selected for Australia in the ANZAC Test. But the best try came in the 73rd minute - from who else, but Jordan Rapana. With the scores tied at 14-14, Blake Austin put in a terrific kick to the corner, and Rapana chased. Just when it looked like the ball would go dead, Rapana somehow grasped it and planted it in the corner of the in goal, most of his body in the air, hovering outside the field of play. Only his hands and the ball on the ground were inside it.

The other thing I wanted to mention was an incredible effort from Nick Cotric. It wasn't a match in which he featured heavily, making just 39 metres from six runs. But in the 67th minute, Dylan Walker attempted a penalty and missed and was taken in goal by Cotric. He ran cross field, in goal and just got over white paint of the goal line. It was a massive effort from the rookie.

Best performers?

Josh Papalii. One try, 144 metres from 13 runs, one line break, one off load, seven tackle breaks, 30 tackles.

Junior Paulo. 156 metres from 15 runs, one off load, 15 tackles.

Josh Hodgson. 89 metres from 10 runs, 38 tackles.

Blake Austin. 40 metres from four runs, one try assist, three tackle breaks, 14 tackles, 203 kicking metres.

Leading tacklers: Elliott Whitehead (39), Josh Hodgson (38), Josh Papalii (30).

Leading metres gained: Junior Paulo (156m from 15 runs), Josh Papalii (144m from 13 runs), Jack Wighton (135m from 15 runs).

My player ratings:

Jack Wighton 7
Nick Cotric 5
Jarrod Croker 6
Joey Leilua 6
Jordan Rapana 7
Blake Austin 7
Aidan Sezer 6
Junior Paulo 7
Josh Hodgson 7
Shannon Boyd 6
Josh Papalii 8
Elliott Whitehead 7
Joseph Tapine 6

Adam Clydsdale 3
Luke Bateman 5
Dunamis Lui 3
Sia Soliola 6

Do you agree or disagree with the ratings? Let me know!

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Post by **greeneyed** » April 27, 2017, 2:47 pm

Through green eyes: Time again to keep the Dogs at bay

So, it's a trip to Sydney on Saturday for the first time this season - after three visits to Queensland already.

The Olympic Stadium. The Canterbury Bulldogs.

The last time the Canberra Raiders travelled to Homebush, they met the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the result was 54-4 in favour of the Green Machine. It'd be nice to think that scoreline could be repeated on Saturday evening.

When Canberra went to Sydney last year to play the Dogs, the fixture was played at Belmore Sports Ground. It was an impressive performance in an intimidating environment. The crowd was even throwing bottles at the Raiders' bench. Canberra was quick off the line in defence and they were resolute on their own goal line. The Raiders pack dominated their opposition. The Raiders let in just eight points.

They kept the Dogs at bay and that is what the Raiders must do again this weekend. Canberra's goal line defence has improved significantly in the last couple of weeks. No doubt that's one of the areas where Ricky Stuart has seen improvements. But in last week's loss, the Sea Eagles made far too many easy metres up field. Of course, it came off the back of too many errors from the Raiders and too much possession for Manly. But I'd like to see the Raiders get off the line more quickly this week.

And I'd like to see some domination from the Raiders' pack. As last week showed, you can't make metres without the ball, but I'd also like to see some of the Raiders forwards posting bigger numbers this week.

As covered in our game day preview, there's not an awful lot between the teams - apart from in attack.

And there have been a couple of teams that have shown how - legally, or not quite so - to nullify that Raiders' attack. The Dogs will be aiming to get off the defensive line quickly themselves. They'll also be looking to hem in Canberra's players on the edges, where all the points are generated.

That's why it's so important that the forwards lay the platform and beat the Dogs in the middle.

I've tipped the Raiders, but it could be a very tough evening and a slog it out affair.

****

Like many other fans, I was surprised to see the NRL accede to the Bulldogs' decision to make all their players unavailable for City-Country selection during the upcoming representative round.

The Bulldogs have a Thursday night clash at home in Round 10, just four days after the very last City-Country match in Mudgee on Sunday. And Canterbury decided that, for player welfare reasons, no Dogs players would participate in the Mudgee clash.

"As in previous years, we have worked with clubs to find the best outcome for their players. We understand the Bulldogs position and support their stance on the basis of player welfare, therefore, we will not select any Bulldogs players for City vs Country" City coach Brad Fittler said.

It appears the governing bodies have acceded, as there's not much they can do in response to the Bulldog's decision. The City-Country match is played in a stand-alone representative round. The governing bodies can't do what they used to, and make players miss that round of football for their club, if, for whatever reason, they did not turn out when selected in a representative team.

Last season, the Raiders faced the same circumstances, playing the Dragons four days after City-Country - and had four players backing up. I don't recall the NSWRL or NRL being too concerned about the player welfare of either club last year.

The City-Country match has not been a genuine representative fixture for years - because the certainties for Blues selection were not considered. Eventually, it was recognised that the relevance of the match had passed. It has been axed from the rugby league calendar - from next year.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has expressed his surprise at the favourable treatment given to Canterbury. And that he will "wait and see who's picked and see if they're healthy."

I would not have the slightest concern if the Raiders' doctors decided that all of the Canberra players picked for City-Country had some niggling injuries that require an extra week's recovery... after a tough match against the Bulldogs on Saturday night.

****

Josh Papalii turned out to be the only player selected for the Kangaroos in the Test match to be played at Canberra Stadium on Friday week - with Shannon Boyd selected at 18th man.

It's the Kangaroos team you have when the Kangaroos selectors stay loyal to incumbents. And indeed, Shannon Boyd probably benefited from that, given his form has been down in the early rounds of 2017.

Unfortunately, Jarrod Croker and Joey Leilua didn't have their best games against the Sea Eagles - and were overlooked.

Leilua is the best right centre in the game, in my view. And even though the Kangaroos incumbent in that position plays fullback for his club, Leilua needed a "bash the door" down start to the season to get a guernsey. Clearly, he still hasn't done enough in the eyes of the selectors.

Croker can consider himself unlucky, with Will Chambers named in the Kangaroos' vacant left centre spot. Croker this year has averaged more tries, line breaks and tackle breaks - and fewer missed tackles - than Chambers. Chambers has averaged more running metres, offloads and try assists. Perhaps if Croker played for Queensland, he'd have had some Origin games to his name... like Chambers. That may have proven to be the ultimate difference.

****

Good luck to the Canberra Raiders Harold Matthews (Under 16s) team this weekend when they face the Newcastle Knights in their Preliminary Final.

The Knights have not lost a match all season. And the Raiders lost to the Knights 42-24 in Round 2. But they've shown some good form in the finals so far... and, as they say, the finals are a brand new competition. Here's hoping they can make the Grand Final!

****

Every week I rate the Raiders players on a scale of 0-10... and here are the leader boards after six rounds.

Total points after Round 8:

Josh Papalii 60
Jordan Rapana 59
Blake Austin 55
Joey Leilua 54
Iosia Soliola 53
Nick Cotric 52
Aidan Sezer 51
Josh Hodgson 51
Jack Wighton 48
Junior Paulo 48
Shannon Boyd 48
Luke Bateman 46
Elliott Whitehead 45
Jarrod Croker 39
Joseph Tapine 38
Clay Priest 29
Adam Clydsdale 27
Dunamis Lui 15
Dave Taylor 12
Jeff Lima 9
Zac Santo 6
Scott Sorensen 3

Average points per match after Round 8:

Josh Papalii 7.5
Jordan Rapana 7.4
Blake Austin 6.9
Jack Wighton 6.9
Junior Paulo 6.9
Joey Leilua 6.8
Iosia Soliola 6.6
Jarrod Croker 6.5
Nick Cotric 6.5
Elliott Whitehead 6.4
Aidan Sezer 6.4
Josh Hodgson 6.4
Joseph Tapine 6.3
Dave Taylor 6.0
Shannon Boyd 6.0
Zac Santo 6.0
Clay Priest 5.8
Luke Bateman 5.8
Dunamis Lui 5.0
Jeff Lima 4.5
Adam Clydsdale 3.9
Scott Sorensen 3.0

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Post by **greeneyed** » April 30, 2017, 9:47 am

Through green eyes: As I saw it

Round 9 2017. A 16-10 loss to the Bulldogs at the Olympic Stadium. It was a disappointing performance. The Raiders have some serious problems. And the idea that everything is on track, that things are improving despite the continued close losses, has to be questioned.

Arrogance, complacency, effort. I mention all three words because last night, the attitude on field did not seem to be right. I'm not quite sure I can put my finger on it. Arrogance is something you need in sport, a belief that you can do whatever is needed to win. Maybe a more positive word for it is confidence. But at the moment it seems to be translating into complacency. Is it that the team is expecting to win, without putting in whatever needs to be done to win ugly games? In the second half, it certainly looked like the team didn't want to be there.

It's probably a harsh call to question the effort. The team no doubt has the will to win. But at the moment, the team is not showing they're prepared to do the work that is needed in the middle before spreading it wide. It seems like there's an expectation that the brilliance of the players on the edges can pull out the magic trick to get the team out of any sticky situation. But last night, the edges were again closed down. There were too many errors trying to pull the rabbit out of the hat. There probably were enough opportunities created to win the game. But the last pass - or worse - seemed to repeatedly go to ground.

I've seen it suggested that not moving off the defensive line quickly is a tactic, when the Raiders are not in the red zone. That it keeps the energy conserved for the red zone defence, that it keeps the defensive line straight. But the last couple of weeks, the speed off the defensive line has been virtually non existent. There's a lot of standing and waiting. It's allowing the opposition to repeatedly march up-field, get easy metres and dominate field position. What's worse, the defence in the red zone against the Dogs was not good enough - particularly on the right edge. There were too many missed tackles from Joey Leilua (eight), Jordan Rapana (six) and Blake Austin (five). The were too many missed tackles full stop (49 for the Raiders, 36 for the Bulldogs).

The Raiders forwards were again dominated. There's no doubt that it's pretty hard to make metres without the ball. Against the Dogs, Canberra completed at just 69 per cent (82 per cent for the Bulldogs) and had just 46 per cent possession. The Raiders made 12 errors, the Bulldogs nine. And again the Raiders lost the running metres (1470 metres for the Raiders, 1848 metres for the Bulldogs). In the forwards, Junior Paulo (185 metres), Josh Papalii (126 metres) and Joe Tapine (123 metres) broke the 100 metre barrier. But they were more than matched by Tolman, Klemmer, Kasiano and Jackson. Somehow, the Raiders are missing some aggression in the forwards, missing the inspiring run or big tackle when it's needed - and the foundation is not being built in the forwards to allow the ball to be spread to the edges.

Canberra won the kicking metres, but the kicks were often from poor field position, didn't get the metres needed, going down the throat of the opposition. Or they went askew.

So the Raiders head into the two week hiatus caused by the representative round with a 4-5 record and have again lost a position in the top eight. Canberra is only two wins away from the top four. I don't want to be overly pessimistic or overly dramatic. But the top teams are starting to get a bit of a break on the Raiders. And the other teams are now following a fomula on "how to beat the Raiders". Get off the line "quickly", hem in the edges -
stand off side if needed - slow down the play and get into the grind.

Commentators on the game keep saying that the Raiders are practising "the grind". How to win the tight matches, the sorts of matches played at the end of the season. How to win ugly. Ricky Stuart has said in recent weeks that the Raiders are improving in areas that most people can't see. We heard comments from the camp after the loss to the Sea Eagles that the team is "really comfortable" with where they're at, at this stage of the season. But the bottom line is this: it's time to stop "practising" and to start winning these tight games. There's now some time for the brains trust to think through how to address the emerging problems. I'm confident they can.

Memorable moments?

Despite the disappointing performance, the Raiders' tries were extremely good. For Canberra's first try, Aidan Sezer delivered a brilliant ball to Josh Papalii, who tore away... and set up Jarrod Croker for a try in the corner with another great offload. The second was the result of some great work from Nick Cotric. He has a knack of searching the defensive line for a weakness and then powering through it. He did it again last night, deep in the Raiders' own half - and made a long break. A quick play the ball to Jack Wighton set him on another deep incursion. And then Josh Hodgson was there to take the ball at dummy half and stroll in under the posts. It was clinical, but breathtaking.

Cotric also produced another great intercept this week to stop a try. It was in the 11th minute, and it looked certain that the Bulldogs would go over in the corner and extend their early lead. The Bulldogs had two on one, but Cotic got between them and took the pass effortlessly... and made a huge break up field to boot. It was another touch of class from the 18 year old.

Best performers?

Before I get there, I should say something about the play makers. I thought that Aidan Sezer showed some great signs in the first half, creating a number of scoring opportunities. He didn't get a try assist for the Croker try, but his involvement was crucial. He was taking on the line and put in some very good kicks. It all went a bit awry in the second half. Blake Austin had an unhappy night, particularly in defence. Josh Hodgson is not in 2016 form either. I know it is tough when the forwards are being dominated - and the Raiders do not play a style which involves dominant halves. But they are going to have to lift if the Raiders are to win these tight matches.

Nick Cotric. 147 metres from nine runs, one line break, seven tackle breaks.

Junior Paulo. 185 metres from 19 runs, three off loads, three tackle breaks, 17 tackles.

Leading tacklers: Josh Hodgson (39), Elliott Whitehead (38), Luke Bateman (27).

Leading metres gained: Junior Paulo (187m from 19 runs), Nick Cotric (147m from nine runs), Josh Papalii (126m from 15 runs).

My player ratings:

Jack Wighton 6
Nick Cotric 8
Jarrod Croker 6
Joey Leilua 5
Jordan Rapana 6
Blake Austin 5
Aidan Sezer 6
Junior Paulo 7
Josh Hodgson 6
Shannon Boyd 4
Josh Papalii 7
Elliott Whitehead 6
Luke Bateman 5

Joseph Tapine 7
Adam Clydsdale 3
Clay Priest 5
Sia Soliola 6

Do you agree or disagree with the ratings? Let me know!

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Post by **greeneyed** » May 4, 2017, 3:02 pm

Through green eyes: Rep Round

It's representative round and that means no Green Machine on the field this week.

It looks like those Raiders players who did not make the representative teams - or who were "unavailable due to injury" - spent at least some time at Raiders HQ this week. If it is the case that there's been no reward of time off it seems appropriate - because there's a fair amount of work to do to get the season back on track.

Of course, it doesn't mean there's no football action in the national capital. The final ANZAC Test match will be held tomorrow night at Canberra Stadium. Australia V New Zealand in three matches - with a Junior Test and Women's Test also on the program.

Next year, the representative program changes, with the Kangaroo Test matches to take place after the conclusion of the NRL season. It makes sense, as the international football most sensibly takes place after State of Orgin - rather than the other way around. It places Tests at the pinnacle in the schedule, which is the way it should be.

It was interesting to see Kangaroos coach, Mal Meninga, criticise the New Zealand team for failing to base themselves in Canberra this week - only arriving on Wednesday night.

"Every day this week the Australian players have been out doing their bit to promote the game and international footy. The New Zealand players have been nowhere to be seen. While we are promoting the code in Canberra... the Kiwis have been in Sydney — under instruction from the New Zealand Rugby League — bunkering down and expecting us to do the work for the good of the game" he told News Limited.

And that's a fair enough criticism.

However, where have the Kangaroos been? Sure they've been doing media calls every day. But where were the events for the fans? Representatives from the teams participated in the Last Post ceremony at the Australian War Memorial last night. I'm not aware of any public appearances being advertised for the fans to attend. There was a cocktail reception at the War Memorial last night advertised to Canberra Raiders members - for $300 a pop! But there was no Fan Day for the public to meet their heroes. No visits to schools or junior rugby league clubs. No community based events as far as I can see.

So Mal, time to get off your high horse. It's been a pretty poor effort from the Kangaroos as well. And I'm surprised -
given that ACT taxpayers are footing the bill to "attract" the event to Canberra - that promotion of the game through community events were not part of the plan. In fact, I'm surprised they're not part of the NRL's plans regardless.

Naturally, I'm heading to the matches on Friday night. It looks like quite a lot of tickets have been sold - but there's still quite a few good seats available. It doesn't look like it'll be a repeat of the sell out crowd at the same venue in 2013.

Sadly, there's only one Canberra Raiders representative in the ANZAC Test - Kiwi winger Jordan Rapana. As has been well documented, Josh Papalii was suspended from the match after being initially selected for the Kangaroos. Prop Shannon Boyd, who was the Kangaroo's 18th man, was brought into the top 17 when Papalii was suspended - but was quickly ruled out with a lower leg injury.

It's hard to take issue with the lack of Raiders' representation any longer - after the last couple of weeks' performances. But, to be honest, I don't have much affinity for a Kangaroos team which includes the likes of Andrew Fifita. So it looks like the green eyes, not the green and gold eyes will prevail. I'll just be barracking for Rapana!

****

We saw the New South Wales City-Country selection process descend into farce this week, and when you look at the teams, they're certainly not representative teams. They're teams comprised of those who answered the phone.

As soon as the NSWRL acceded to the Bulldogs' demand their players not be selected for the City-Country match, it was always going to end badly.

I said last week that I would not be at all concerned if the Raiders' doctors ruled out any player from the match due to "niggling injuries". And that's exactly what happened in the end.

Ricky Stuart rightly took the view that if it's good enough for the Bulldogs, it's good enough for the Raiders - and while Canberra players were released to Test teams, they were not released to City-Country.

There were critics of his stance. But the responsibility for the whole mess lies with the governing bodies. They were responsible for scheduling NRL matches four days after a City-Country match. They were responsible for giving the Bulldogs favourable treatment over other clubs. And they were responsible for City-Country becoming irrelevant to Origin selection and not selecting the best players. It was no longer a representative match. If people are looking for someone to blame, look no further than the NSWRL, CRL and NRL.

****

There are quite a few Raiders to look out for in other matches in the Rep Round. Emre Guler and Jack Murchie have been selected for the junior Kangaroos, while Fabien Puletua-Kiri has been selected for the junior Kiwis. Makahesi Makatoa will turn out for the Cook Islands.

But the match I'm looking forward to most is England V Samoa on Saturday night - given four Raiders will be in action. Josh Hodgson and Elliott Whitehead for England. Junior Paulo and Joey Leilua for Samoa. Samoa has selected a team full of NRL players. It should be a cracking match!

****

Given the ANZAC Test will be on Friday night... and there are no club matches... why not get out to a Canberra Raiders Cup match this weekend? It's good footy, and it's a good experience to get to the district's local rugby league grounds. Check out our preview of this weekend's games: here

****

Every week I rate the Raiders players on a scale of 0-10... and here are the leader boards.

Total points after Round 9:

Josh Papalii 67
Jordan Rapana 65
Blake Austin 60
Nick Cotric 60
Iosia Soliola 59
Joey Leilua 59
Aidan Sezer 57
Josh Hodgson 57
Junior Paulo 55
Jack Wighton 54
Shannon Boyd 52
Elliott Whitehead 51
Luke Bateman 51
Jarrod Croker 45
Joseph Tapine 45
Clay Priest 34
Adam Clydsdale 30
Dunamis Lui 15
Dave Taylor 12
Jeff Lima 9
Zac Santo 6
Scott Sorensen 3

Average points per match after Round 9:

Josh Papalii 7.4
Jordan Rapana 7.2
Junior Paulo 6.9
Jack Wighton 6.8
Blake Austin 6.7
Nick Cotric 6.7
Iosia Soliola 6.6
Joey Leilua 6.6
Jarrod Croker 6.4
Joseph Tapine 6.4
Elliott Whitehead 6.4
Aidan Sezer 6.3
Josh Hodgson 6.3
Dave Taylor 6.0
Zac Santo 6.0
Shannon Boyd 5.8
Clay Priest 5.7
Luke Bateman 5.7
Dunamis Lui 5.0
Jeff Lima 4.5
Adam Clydsdale 3.8
Scott Sorensen 3.0

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Post by **greeneyed** » May 7, 2017, 11:11 am

Through green eyes: As I saw it

Rep Round 2017. The Canberra Raiders had a number of players in action in Test football this weekend - with the majority of them appearing in the Samoa V England Pacific Test invitational on Saturday night.

The round kicked off with the ANZAC Test between Australia and New Zealand in our own backyard at Canberra Stadium. In fact it was a triple header of Tests with the Junior Kangaroos and Kiwis and the Jillaroos and Ferns also on the program.

Canberra had three representatives in the Junior Test - with Emre Guler and Jack Murchie selected for the Kangaroos and Fabien Puletua-Kiri for the Kiwis. I didn't see the whole of this match, due to the question and answer session with NRL CEO Todd Greenberg. But from what I saw, Guler was the best of the Raiders trio, with some big runs and good offloading. It was never in doubt for the Kangaroos - with the Kiwis putting points on late in the 46-22 victory for Australia.

The Raiders had only one representative in the ANZAC Test - Jordan Rapana for the Kiwis. The build up to the match was first rate, and there was some good atmosphere generated, despite the disappointing crowd of 18,000 odd. The NRL had clearly withheld a lot of seats in the Mal Meninga Stand for sponsors and guests - but there were large swathes of seats left empty. The game itself? I thought it was disappointing too. It was totally one sided in the first half. The Kiwis showed some promise in attack at times, but didn't convert opportunities. And the Kangaroos invariably struck back as soon as the Kiwi opportunities were lost. The second half saw the Kiwis out score the home team, but it was a scrappy affair and Australia closed up shop when they hit 30 points. The match was essentially a no contest and it seemed to lack emotion, passion and intensity... and that translated to the mood of the crowd.

I've said it before, I don't feel much affinity for this Kangaroos team. Some may have decided to take a "forgive and forget" approach to Josh Dugan and Blake Ferguson. I should probably be a better person, more forgiving. But sorry, I can't forget how those two blokes walked out on the Canberra Raiders and the damage they did to the club I support. So I wasn't one cheering when they scored the first two tries.

Then there's Andrew Fifita's selection for the Kangaroos. Mal Meninga said Fifita had redeemed himself and now was living up to the ideals Meninga is aiming to instil in the Australian team. That good people make good players. Well, I can't see how he's redeemed himself. He's never genuinely apologised for his actions last year. He's simply continued to be belligerent and failed to accept any punishment as far as I can see. Then there's Sam Thaiday... look, I'm just going to stop there.

The bottom line is that that Kangaroos team had quite a few players who I didn't much feel like cheering for. Add in the Kangaroos selection process, where form seems to be completely ignored...

You know, Australia is so good, they can get away with not selecting on form and relying on incumbency. But it doesn't make it right.

So, feel free to call me old and grumpy, but I was cheering for Jordan Rapana and that was about it. How did he go? He was one of the better Kiwi players and would have scored a try in the first half, but for the pass to his wing being called forward. He made 169 metres, from 18 runs. He's not playing at his best, however, and there was one very ugly knock on.

On Saturday, Makahesi Makatoa represented the Cook Islands, along with Mounties players Reubenn Rennie and Isaac John. Makatoa is yet to make a first grade appearance for Canberra. However he was one of The Cooks' best forwards in the match, making 126 metres from 14 runs and 31 tackles in a stint of 61 minutes. John and Rennie also had good games, with Rennie making one memorable try saving tackle, plus plenty of metres on the wing.

The match I was looking forward to most was the England V Samoa Test on Saturday night. There were four Raiders turning out - Josh Hodgson and Elliott Whitehead for England and Junior Paulo and Joey Leilua for Samoa.

The atmosphere at Campbelltown was outstanding, with the Fiji, Tonga and Samoa fans turning out in droves. Again, the match itself was a bit of a disappointment - as Samoa, a team chock full of NRL players, didn't really fire. England were in control for the vast bulk of the match, so it lacked something as a contest.

Hodgson and Whitehead were the best on field for England - with Whitehead named man of the match. It could just as easily have been Hodgson. Whitehead made 125 metres from 13 runs and 37 tackles. Hodgson topped the tackle count for England with 42, and was at his organising best. He scored a four pointer and made 58 metres from six runs at dummy half. Both terrific.

For Samoa, Junior Paulo was solid, making 106 metres from 12 runs and 25 tackles in 55 minutes. Leilua scored a try and a line break, made 131 metres from 15 runs. Those are pretty good stats, but somehow I felt like both were a bit below their best. I don't give half points in my ratings, but on the "eye test", both were probably a tad below their "7" ratings. Joey Leilua, in particular, seemed to be hampered by injury.

My player ratings:

Jordan Rapana (New Zealand) 6
Makahesi Makatoa (Cook Islands) 7
Elliott Whitehead (England) 8
Josh Hodgson (England) 8
Junior Paulo (Samoa) 7
Joey Leilua (Samoa) 7

Do you agree or disagree with the ratings? Let me know!

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-TW- · Post by **-TW-** » May 7, 2017, 1:17 pm

Bout right, I've give Rapana a 5 tbh he wasn't that flash hot

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CJR · Post by **CJR** » May 7, 2017, 1:27 pm

That whole team wasn't flash hot but Rapa was easily one of their best on field.

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Notaroboticfish · Post by **Notaroboticfish** » May 7, 2017, 1:32 pm

-TW- wrote:Bout right, I've give Rapana a 5 tbh he wasn't that flash hot

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I'd be giving him a 7 actually. Made a lot of good strong runs and didn't really have any opportunities to do anything particularly flashy

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Post by **greeneyed** » May 11, 2017, 10:32 pm

Through green eyes: It's not panic stations... not yet!

We're back into the swing of the NRL season and this week it is a road trip to the Hunter Valley. I saw the redeveloped Hunter Stadium under construction, but this will be the first time that I've been there for a match.

The Raiders have lost two matches in a row, and the last time they lost three in a row was in late 2015.

I'm glad to see some of the comments this week from Raiders HQ to the effect that the last couple of performances were not up to scratch.

After the loss to the Sea Eagles, we heard that the team was "really comfortable" with where they were at so far this season. It seemed complacent.

This week Aidan Sezer said: "We've come off the back of two tight losses and we're thoroughly disappointed with that. It hasn't been up to the Raiders standard we set and pride ourselves on so we'll be ready to rectify that and replicate it at training. We base ourselves on effort plays and that hasn't been there. Those things are important and go a long way to winning a game."

I can understand why Ricky Stuart wasn't pressing panic buttons after a defeat in golden point - but the problems that were evident in the loss to the Sea Eagles became very evident in the loss to the Bulldogs.

When we hear comments like that from Sezer - and others like Rapana and Bateman - I think we know that the coach has been firm in his assessments and that everyone is working hard to rectify the problems. Things like the lack of line speed in defence, lack of metres in the forwards, and too much early lateral ball movement.

I'm confident that it will be a very switched on Raiders outfit on Sunday.

If Canberra were to lose... then maybe it would be panic stations. The Raiders' start to this season is not too different to the start to the 2016 season. But the remaining draw in 2017 is much tougher than the draw of 2016.

In addition, the Knights have won just two matches in their last 35 appearances. We know the Knights never go away. Just look at what happened in Canberra's clashes with Newcastle last year: a draw and a golden point win. However, teams genuinely contending for a premiership do not lose matches like the one on Sunday.

It's must win, and I'm tipping the Raiders will do it. I'm hoping they will anyway!

****

If you're heading to Newcastle, why not make a weekend of it and catch the Mounties match up with the Knights at the Cessnock Sports Ground on Saturday afternoon at 3:00pm? The ground looks terrific, with a grandstand for 1400 built in 2004. It'll be a good chance to check the form of some of the Raiders' squad - and despite the fact new recruit Masivesi Dakuwaqa has not been named... who knows? He might be a late inclusion.

****

Last week prior to the ANZAC Test, NRL CEO Todd Greenberg had a question and answer session with the Canberra Raiders members. He had a similar session with club members after the NRL season launch this year and he's had similar sessions at other clubs. It's a very good thing to do, and he's very open, direct and honest with his answers. I can't imagine the previous CEO doing it a session like it. So he deserves credit for doing it.

When it became known that the session was going to be held... there was quite a rash of questions that people on The Greenhouse wanted to be posed... given that they were not going to be there so early, or not attending the Test match at all.

I think it's fair enough to say there was a consistent theme in the questions - the unequal treatment of the clubs by the NRL. Free to air TV exposure, scheduling of matches and turnarounds, the salary cap and third party agreements, venues for preliminary finals, officiating. All issues where the fans feel some clubs get the rough end of the pineapple.

Of course, all of those issues could not be raised in the Q and A session, though I let Greenberg know that unequal treatment of the clubs by the NRL seemed to be a consistent concern underlining the questions posed on The Greenhouse.

One question I did ask was about the salary cap and third party agreements (TPAs).

The people at the NRL have their hands full at the moment just settling the salary cap for 2018 - and we're already a third of the way through the 2017 season.

However, the thing that concerns me most about the cap is the disparity between clubs being created by TPAs. There is no official information available on TPAs. But around a year ago, Penrith's Phil Gould said that the total value of TPAs differed by at least $1 million, possibly $2 million, between the club with the highest value of TPAs and the club with the lowest. When $1 million a season buys the best play maker in the NRL, it's clear how big a loophole this is in the salary cap.

TPAs were originally conceived so players could take advantage of commercial endorsements, which are often available for top sportspeople. They were supposed to be completely independent of the club and the club at which the player played. They cannot be offered by club sponsors.

It's obvious, however, that most TPAs are not genuinely independent of the club at which a player plays. Groups of business people like "The Thoroughbreds" - which informally support the Brisbane Broncos - organise TPAs so as to attract players to particular clubs.

When the fans see the likes of Jack Bird heading to the Brisbane Broncos, despite the Sharks making their biggest ever offer to a player, they smell a rat.

The independence of TPAs is clearly very difficult to test. So difficult, that in my view, the salary cap should incorporate the value of any third party sponsor arrangement. It's simply too big a loophole. There are two steps that are needed to get there:

1) make the value of TPAs at each club transparent. At least the fans can then see how much has been spent to put a team together at each club;

2) place a reasonable notional cap on TPAs, freeze the nominal amount of that cap and include it in an aggregate cap for all player payments - let's call it the Salary Cap Plus. The TPA component would decline in significance over time, as the component for regular player payments grows. Clubs would only have to meet the overall Salary Cap Plus - they'd be given flexibility on the mix between club payments and TPAs. But it would finally put every club on a truly equal footing.

My question to Todd Greenberg was: would the NRL at least make the value of TPAs at each club transparent every year? The short answer was no. The long answer?

First of all, Greenberg said the salary cap is doing its job - and his evidence was that no team has won back to back premierships since 1998. He said the second way the NRL is planning to equalise the competition is to cap the budgets of the football departments (coaching and other staff, and other costs of running each football team).

But it's clear the NRL doesn't want to do anything about TPAs. Not even transparency on their value. I didn't hear a very clear reason for that. But Greenberg was clear in saying that the NRL didn't want to do anything which would constrain what players could earn through TPAs.

Greenberg cited the case of Beau Ryan, a player so marketable in the media, that the Sharks had the highest value of TPAs when he was at that club. The payments he was receiving from the media didn't correlate to his value on the park. So because of this one case, we are meant to conclude that TPAs don't matter.

But Ryan is the exception, not the rule. I, for one, think TPAs do matter. If the effective salary for one team is $2 million more than another, that's a problem. It's not fair now, and I can only see the disparities between the clubs increasing. Something needs to be done.

The other question I asked Greenberg was this: The AFL CEO was recently in town and said, publicly, that he wants to make AFL the number one code in Canberra. What's the NRL's vision for rugby league in Canberra?

Greenberg pointed out, rightly, that the NRL has a team in Canberra 52 weeks a year and it will be here next year, and the year after that, and the year after that... The AFL has no team based in Canberra and there is no certainty games will be played in Canberra permanently. He also spoke of major rugby league matches like the ANZAC Test and World Cup being played in Canberra. And he said the NRL is pressing for a new Canberra Stadium and a centre of excellence for the Raiders.

But the thing that worries me is development. The AFL is pouring a heap of development money into Canberra and, from all accounts, they're running rings around rugby league. Others have pointed out that the AFL also ensures Greater Western Sydney is on FTA TV in Canberra every single week. The Raiders are almost never on free to air TV anywhere.

Rugby league is facing a huge challenge in the district and I'm not sure the NRL truly understands what AFL is doing in Canberra. The AFL CEO does not just say he wants to make his sport the number one code in Canberra. He'll back it up with cold, hard cash.

I see the NRL has plans to inject $100 million into development in western Sydney, another battle ground for junior participation. I prompted Greenberg about development resources for Canberra - and he said they want to do more in the country, in Canberra, but it takes time. Unfortunately, I don't think the NRL understands the urgency.

****

Every week I rate the Raiders players on a scale of 0-10... and here are the current leader boards.

Total points after Round 9:

Josh Papalii 67
Jordan Rapana 65
Blake Austin 60
Nick Cotric 60
Iosia Soliola 59
Joey Leilua 59
Aidan Sezer 57
Josh Hodgson 57
Junior Paulo 55
Jack Wighton 54
Shannon Boyd 52
Elliott Whitehead 51
Luke Bateman 51
Jarrod Croker 45
Joseph Tapine 45
Clay Priest 34
Adam Clydsdale 30
Dunamis Lui 15
Dave Taylor 12
Jeff Lima 9
Zac Santo 6
Scott Sorensen 3

Average points per match after Round 9:

Josh Papalii 7.4
Jordan Rapana 7.2
Junior Paulo 6.9
Jack Wighton 6.8
Blake Austin 6.7
Nick Cotric 6.7
Iosia Soliola 6.6
Joey Leilua 6.6
Jarrod Croker 6.4
Joseph Tapine 6.4
Elliott Whitehead 6.4
Aidan Sezer 6.3
Josh Hodgson 6.3
Dave Taylor 6.0
Zac Santo 6.0
Shannon Boyd 5.8
Clay Priest 5.7
Luke Bateman 5.7
Dunamis Lui 5.0
Jeff Lima 4.5
Adam Clydsdale 3.8
Scott Sorensen 3.0

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If you can put some sentences together and you'd like to write a regular column for The Greenhouse, let us know! We are keen to have more contributing writers!

BadnMean · Post by **BadnMean** » May 12, 2017, 1:39 am

Limit on TPA's would be challenged as a restraint on trade. So far I don't think such a restriction has been challenged (as none exists in the NRL really) but likelihood is it would be overturned if ever challenged.

Otherwise it would already be regulated. NRL is the emperor with no clothes on that one, pretending they have some control for appearance sake and Joe Blow accepts the reasoning.

Post by **greeneyed** » May 12, 2017, 6:54 am

I don't believe it would represent a restraint of trade. This is because it's a legitimate interest of the NRL to establish rules so as to ensure an even competition. No player is restricted from choosing their employer. This is why the existing cap is legal. Here's an interesting legal journal article on the issue: https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/4659/ ... s_2006.pdf

pickles · Post by **pickles** » May 12, 2017, 7:09 am

It is normal for an employee to seek permission from their employer for secondary employment in every organization I have ever worked for and that can be granted or denied based on a wide range of reasons from the risk of losing IP to a competitor to concerns over the impact on worker fatigue and safety. I can't see why the nrl doing the same thing would be considered a restraint of trade.

I also think fans can see the difference between a player being paid for a media role, or a job they actually do and being given money for not much at all.

I think there was a bunnies player who was paid over $100k a year to work one day at a real estate office and they c racked t because the player never turned up.

From my perspective if the payment is attached to playing for a specific club it isn't a TPA and should be included in the cap so everything the thoroughbreds organize should be illegal.

Post by **greeneyed** » May 12, 2017, 7:43 am

I think the article is interesting in that it suggests an uneven salary cap would be more open to legal challenge... as the governing body would lose the reasonable justification of having an even competition. Guess what we've got now, due to TPAs? Rules that do not provide for a fully even competition.

gangrenous · Post by **gangrenous** » May 12, 2017, 8:19 am

Get the lawyers on it Ricky! Overturn TPAs on restraint of trade!

The argument that no TPAs is a restraint of trade is poor, and has been pointed out doesn't reflect the rest of society.

Green thumbs · Post by **Green thumbs** » May 12, 2017, 6:28 pm

Great read, and thanks for raising those key issues with the CEO. Sounds like he's a little deaf and blind to real issues unfortunately. Just on the FTA issue, the Broncos clearly get five star treatment and other teams can rot. Constantly frustrating!!

Post by **greeneyed** » May 12, 2017, 6:58 pm

Green thumbs wrote:Great read, and thanks for raising those key issues with the CEO. Sounds like he's a little deaf and blind to real issues unfortunately. Just on the FTA issue, the Broncos clearly get five star treatment and other teams can rot. Constantly frustrating!!

Thanks!

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