2020 Rd 9 V Storm: Teams and Previews *Teams p1*

[Timbo]

1. Nicoll-Klokstad
2. Oldfield
3. Croker
4. Cotric
5. Simmonson
6. Wighton
7. Williams
8. Papalli
9. Hodgson
10. Lui
11. Young
12. Whitehead
13. Havilli

14. Tapine
15. Sutton
16. O’Donnell
17. Starling

I’d have Tarps off the bench so there is a big impact player to come on, I don’t want four tradesmen on there. Havilli at lock is a bit of a roll of the dice, but I think he can do a good job in the middle as a starter and gives us a ball playing option.

We are getting very thin across the park depthwise.

[julian87]

O’Donnell is a genuine second rower isn’t he? Big ask spending any time at all there in your first game or 2 against the Storm or Roosters. Especially given the problems in defense on the right edge so far.

[greeneyed]

Raiders v Storm: Membership and ticketing update

The Canberra Raiders are awaiting confirmation from the ACT Government today on the possibility of increasing crowds at Canberra Stadium this Saturday night. Once this information has been received, the club will communicate the process for purchasing tickets for Saturday’s match: https://www.raiders.com.au/news/2020/07 ... ng-update/

[papabear]

given the opposition this is probably the one match you would want crowds low.

[greeneyed]

Canberra Raiders' Ryan Sutton says NRL referees should be respected

Ryan Sutton has some simple advice: speak to the referee like you'd speak to your mother. It comes in the wake of Addin Fonua-Blake facing up to a three-week ban for calling referee Grant Atkins a "**** ****".

"It's a big respect thing. They have a tough job, the referees, and you can't speak to them the way you think you can. You sort of see it as if you're speaking to your mother. You don't talk to your mum that way, so don't talk to the ref like that."

Read more: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/ ... #gsc.tab=0

VIDEO: Raiders players Jack Wighton and Ryan Sutton talk about the loss of Sia Soliola and who will fill his role: https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/07/06/you ... s-absence/

Canberra Stadium set to be a quarter full for Canberra Raiders game against the Storm

Almost 6000 Canberra Raiders fans will get the chance to do the Viking clap when they take on the Melbourne Storm at Canberra Stadium on Saturday night.

"What we'll be working towards is around 25 per cent of seated capacity. It's around 6000, which is still not going to be what either the Raiders could draw to the ground in normal circumstances. So tickets will still be a little rare, but not quite as rare as they were on the weekend."

Read more: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/ ... #gsc.tab=0

VIDEO: Jack Wighton and Ryan Sutton spoke about how great it was to play in front of fans last Friday night: https://www.raiders.com.au/news/2020/07 ... -game-for/

Up to 6000 fans to attend Storm game

The Canberra Raiders are still waiting on clarification from the ACT Chief Health Officer and GIO Stadium venue management before communicating to members surrounding tickets for this Saturday's match against the Storm.

Once tickets become available, 2020 access members who did not attend Friday's match against the Dragons will have the first opportunity to purchase tickets in a pre-sale window. Any additional tickets will then be available for all remaining 2020 members including supporter membership categories. If tickets are still available after these windows, all remaining tickets will be made available to the general public.

Read more: https://www.raiders.com.au/news/2020/07 ... ng-update/

[CBR82]

What was the final arrangement with tickets last week? Members only (even if it didn't sell out)?

Are they likely to open up sales to non-members? I haven't followed the ticketing situation closely as I have a newborn but I will be making the drive down the Hume this week if I can buy a ticket!

[Raiders666]

Any word on the severity of the Guler ankle injury?

[-TW-]

What was the final arrangement with tickets last week? Members only (even if it didn't sell out)?

Are they likely to open up sales to non-members? I haven't followed the ticketing situation closely as I have a newborn but I will be making the drive down the Hume this week if I can buy a ticket!

Ticketed members only last week.

It will probably be a members presale and then if there's any left the public can buy this week, I'd assume

Sent from my ELE-L29 using Tapatalk

[greeneyed]

@TheGHRaiders on Twitter

VIDEO: Hear from Canberra Raiders Jack Wighton and Ryan Sutton, as news breaks that up to 6000 fans might be pemitted to attend Saturday's clash with the Storm. WIN News Canberra reports: http://ow.ly/DSO650AqmJg

#NRL #WeAreRaiders #wearecbr

[Neeeegz]

Ruben porter ? Smokey debut ?

[greeneyed]

What was the final arrangement with tickets last week? Members only (even if it didn't sell out)?

Are they likely to open up sales to non-members? I haven't followed the ticketing situation closely as I have a newborn but I will be making the drive down the Hume this week if I can buy a ticket!

Members will receive preference via different ticket windows. Updated story here: viewtopic.php?p=1739421#p1739421

[Botman]

Have to get Oldy out of centre
He got bullied all game out there. The problems at that centre spot continued on the same trejectory.
He's not the answer there. And frankly he never had a chance, he's always struggled at centre. It's not his position and it's not his fault, the coaching staff put in a position to fail.
He's a very competent and professional winger though and i would have 10000% confidence in him in that spot.

If the coach doesnt feel confident in HSS or one of the other kids, Cotric simply MUST move into centre. And the coach can figure out what to do with Raps/Simo/Oldy pending fitness.

[yeh raiders]

Have to get Oldy out of centre
He got bullied all game out there. The problems at that centre spot continued on the same trejectory.
He's not the answer there. And frankly he never had a chance, he's always struggled at centre. It's not his position and it's not his fault, the coaching staff put in a position to fail.
He's a very competent and professional winger though and i would have 10000% confidence in him in that spot.

If the coach doesnt feel confident in HSS or one of the other kids, Cotric simply MUST move into centre. And the coach can figure out what to do with Raps/Simo/Oldy pending fitness.

Yep 100%. Just no time to muck around this season, we have to move quickly and I reckon Cotric is the answer.

[greeneyed]

Have to get Oldy out of centre
He got bullied all game out there. The problems at that centre spot continued on the same trejectory.
He's not the answer there. And frankly he never had a chance, he's always struggled at centre. It's not his position and it's not his fault, the coaching staff put in a position to fail.
He's a very competent and professional winger though and i would have 10000% confidence in him in that spot.

If the coach doesnt feel confident in HSS or one of the other kids, Cotric simply MUST move into centre. And the coach can figure out what to do with Raps/Simo/Oldy pending fitness.

Agree. Oldfield really shouldn't be in the centres. He had a poor game on Friday. Cotric to centre and Simonsson and Rapana on the wings for mine, if Rapana is fit.

[Botman]

Have to get Oldy out of centre
He got bullied all game out there. The problems at that centre spot continued on the same trejectory.
He's not the answer there. And frankly he never had a chance, he's always struggled at centre. It's not his position and it's not his fault, the coaching staff put in a position to fail.
He's a very competent and professional winger though and i would have 10000% confidence in him in that spot.

If the coach doesnt feel confident in HSS or one of the other kids, Cotric simply MUST move into centre. And the coach can figure out what to do with Raps/Simo/Oldy pending fitness.

Yep 100%. Just no time to muck around this season, we have to move quickly and I reckon Cotric is the answer.

Yep, we're going to go through a pretty rough stretch here and that centre spot is a huge target for the teams we're about to face. Cotric can plug that no problems.

I would usually be VERY VERY keen to see HSS get the nod, but i dont know that im comfortable with debuting the kid off no footy given this next 6 weeks of footy. Its a tough run. And we dont need to expose him to that. I dont see any other option.

[zim]

What were Oldifield's try cause and line break cause stats for the dragon's game?

[greeneyed]

What were Oldifield's try cause and line break cause stats for the dragon's game?

Fox Sports Lab only reports them for the season. He currently has two try causes and one line break cause from four games. https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-pr ... y=lbCauses

[julian87]

I agree that I think Cotric is the answer at centre.

Though I’ve been thinking about an interesting theory I saw on here last week that was Rapana at centre. If he could crash course in defense and do ok there and also continue his rucking from our own end on plays 2/3/4..... I think it could be an astute move that could lengthen his career. I actually think he’d be very good there in attack but I just don’t think he’d convert in defense to make it worth it.

[Lui_Bon]

What was the final arrangement with tickets last week? Members only (even if it didn't sell out)?

Are they likely to open up sales to non-members? I haven't followed the ticketing situation closely as I have a newborn but I will be making the drive down the Hume this week if I can buy a ticket!

Ticketed members only last week.

It will probably be a members presale and then if there's any left the public can buy this week, I'd assume

Sent from my ELE-L29 using Tapatalk

Having been last Friday, and it wasn't even a sellout of available tickets, I'm not all that impressed that since I went on a cruddy 6pm Friday night I may not be able to go on a cruddy freezing 7.30pm Saturday...

Given that there clearly wasn't an utter rush on tickets, I don't really grasp the fairness of making a first-up exclusion of fans who bothered to go the first time round. Obviously I just want to go to more games, but I do have vague feeling that fans who really want to go to as many games as they can are being a little bit punished.

I don't know if that comes as off as being entitled or what. Happy to take criticism on board. But the social distancing at the ground seemed a bit over the top for a territory with no virus for a month and a 28,000 person stadium...

[TongueFTW]

I agree that I think Cotric is the answer at centre.

Though I’ve been thinking about an interesting theory I saw on here last week that was Rapana at centre. If he could crash course in defense and do ok there and also continue his rucking from our own end on plays 2/3/4..... I think it could be an astute move that could lengthen his career. I actually think he’d be very good there in attack but I just don’t think he’d convert in defense to make it worth it.

Yeah, this is an issue I always have with people advocating for a switch in positions, they never consider the defensive part of the game, they always think how it looks ball in hand.

Oldfield was totally outplayed at centre, so much so that his opposite got a Dally M point in a loss. We need to move Cotric there, as soon as possible. I think there is some chance Stuart left Cotric on the Wing because he knew the Dragons would be bombing to Saab (and Vunivalu this weekend will be similar). It’s a strange one, because without Leilua last year, our back 5 was solid when we had Rapana and Cotric on one side, Simonsson and Croker on the other. Hopefully, with Rapana back from injury, we go back to that. I like having 4 solid metre eaters coming out of trouble, will help our forwards given the injury issues we are having.

[Botman]

I agree that I think Cotric is the answer at centre.

Though I’ve been thinking about an interesting theory I saw on here last week that was Rapana at centre. If he could crash course in defense and do ok there and also continue his rucking from our own end on plays 2/3/4..... I think it could be an astute move that could lengthen his career. I actually think he’d be very good there in attack but I just don’t think he’d convert in defense to make it worth it.

I wouldnt be opposed to trying Rapana in at centre, i agree he's got the skills to do it. But as you say, its tough to project how he'd handle it defensively.
Similar to HSS, i dont know that we want to be finding that out in the next 6 weeks against some very good football teams

[GreenMachine]

Have to get Oldy out of centre
He got bullied all game out there. The problems at that centre spot continued on the same trejectory.
He's not the answer there. And frankly he never had a chance, he's always struggled at centre. It's not his position and it's not his fault, the coaching staff put in a position to fail.
He's a very competent and professional winger though and i would have 10000% confidence in him in that spot.

If the coach doesnt feel confident in HSS or one of the other kids, Cotric simply MUST move into centre. And the coach can figure out what to do with Raps/Simo/Oldy pending fitness.

100% on the Oldy analysis.
I actually think they will opt for Scott at centre, knowing this is a big game for him.It may be the sort of game he recovers his confidence with.
Alternatively, he could get hammered too...
I would play Cotric at centre (just to see him get early ball with more space) but I get the impression the club doesn't want to unsettle him while they are negotiating a new deal. This is why I've always believed that Cotric would rather play on the wing and master his craft as a Winger.

[Raiders666]

Surely Cotric plays Centre this week

[Raider47]

Our pack is looking pretty bleak now. We need Papalii to step up because we're lacking big metre eaters now.

8. Papalii
9. Hodgson
10. Lui
11. Young
12. Whitehead
13. Sutton

15. Tapine
16. O'Donnell
17. Havili

Concerning...

[greeneyed]

George Williams off to a fine start in NRL career

English recruit George Williams is off to a fine start in his NRL career - and side from scoring his first try in the NRL in Friday night's win over the Dragons, the 25-year-old has eight try assists in eight games.

"I'm enjoying testing myself against other players every week and learn something new every day," Williams said. "The speed of the game is a massive difference and the new rules probably help that but even before then I felt it was a bit quicker to Super League.

Read more: https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/07/07/you ... -williams/

Set of Six: Raiders v Storm: https://www.raiders.com.au/news/2020/07 ... s-v-storm/

MATCH PREVIEW: Raiders v Storm: Papalii steps up; Munster a chance: viewtopic.php?p=1739581#p1739581

https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/07/06/rai ... e-revenge/

[BadnMean]

Playing Oldy at centre last week only makes sense if you give him time to build up the match fitness.

Our left edge attack looked the best it has looked since... well since Croker and Cotric were out there.

I don't buy this "Oldy was rubbish" at centre crap. It's not his best position but defensively he was good for 70 mins- watch the actual game. Croker is having a very, very hard day against Lomax and only after the 70-75th minute does our right edge begin to look ragged.

Personally I'd like 4. Rapana 5. Oldfield but if it's the faster combo of 4. Oldfield 5. Simo I'm fine with that since we just invested last week getting Oldfield fit and into a combination. He deserves at least half the shots at it Scott had.

Moving Cotric there now would just be weird- why not last week when the big changes were finally made? The wingers finally looked like they were playing on the correct side last week. RIght centre is the issue. Putting Cotric there now feels like a permanent solution/move. A major play by Ricky- which is why I feel he would have done it last week if he were to at all.

Personally I think the backs should run out the same way. But I have a feeling Stuart will go back to Scott for this one.

I think Olam is the centre out there- he's just big and strong and runs one direction. Not a subtle attacker, just have to watch his inside line charges and get the body in the way. Whoever defends him is just a test of will and strength really.

Papenhuyzen out there on the sweep plays is the big problem- when he skips to William outisde shoulder the centre and winger need to work as one if they are jamming in to help or trusting Williams. Scott just about got away with it vs Melbourne it was skin of the teeth effort (always is vs Melbourne). His stats btw that game were worse than Oldy last week vs Aitken but yeah that doesn't fit the current narrative of Scott being a "defensive centre".

[Dusty]

This is what I'd be doing at the moment

1. CNK
2. Rapana
3. Croker
4. Cotric
5. Oldfield
6. Wighton
7. G.Williams
8. Papalii
9. Hodgson
10. Sutton
11. Young
12. Whitehead
13. Havili

14. Scott/Simmonson
15. Tapine
16. Lui
17. O'Donnell

Tapine from the bench is just to balance the line up.

18. Starling
19. Medlyn
20. New Singing
21. New signing

[Raiders_Pat]

100% on the Oldy analysis.
I actually think they will opt for Scott at centre, knowing this is a big game for him.It may be the sort of game he recovers his confidence with.
Alternatively, he could get hammered too...
I would play Cotric at centre (just to see him get early ball with more space) but I get the impression the club doesn't want to unsettle him while they are negotiating a new deal. This is why I've always believed that Cotric would rather play on the wing and master his craft as a Winger.

I'm thinking we will see Scott at centre this game too

[Dusty]

Currently with TAB Raiders $1.85 and Storm $1.95 wowsers

[zim]

What were Oldifield's try cause and line break cause stats for the dragon's game?

Fox Sports Lab only reports them for the season. He currently has two try causes and one line break cause from four games. https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-pr ... y=lbCauses

Cheers. I didn't think we knew. Be great if the NRL site could work those in per match.

[SeeBee101]

What happened to Matt's Matchups... I miss them...

[Raiders666]

Currently with TAB Raiders $1.85 and Storm $1.95 wowsers

Seems fair enough to me

[greeneyed]

What happened to Matt's Matchups... I miss them...

Matt decided to discontinue them... I'm trying to fill the gap with some match-ups in the game day previews. But no doubt, not as successfully.

[cat]

With Melbourne's spike in cases I doubt we will see an increase in fans on Saturday

[bonehead]

With Melbourne's spike in cases I doubt we will see an increase in fans on Saturday

considering the border closing tonight I wouldn't expect so

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