2020 Rd 19 V Warriors: Teams and Previews *Teams p1*

[greeneyed]

I'm glad this one is not on Nine.

Don't have the time nor the energy to hear Ruan Sims disrespecting the great man by pronouncing his name "Papa-li-ii" once again, as if he is some nuffy from the Warriors and not the greatest prop in the game.

That annoys me too. His name probably was pronounced that way somewhere back in family history (not that I know one way or the other). But that's not how he wants it pronounced, nor how it is spelled.

[Seiffert82]

One of my biggest criticisms of Stuart early in his coaching career was that he chopped and changed young players based on one or two poor games.

Now he backs his guys if he thinks they are good enough (notably guys like Wighton and Rapana in the past). I'll back him on Valemei, who had some mistakes in him, but also made some top shelf plays in both attack and defence.

[greeneyed]

Sia Soliola likely to make return against the Sharks, Curtis Scott could have a fractured leg: Stuart

Do you want the good news, or the bad news first?

Life can be tough for a rugby league coach, and Ricky Stuart has surely been reminded of that in season 2020.

The good news is that prop Sia Soliola will likely make his return to the field in the final match of the regular season against the Sharks.

Soliola suffered a horror facial fracture in the Round 8 clash with the Dragons, requiring 20 screws to repair. He's fit to play this weekend against the Warriors at Canberra Stadium, but Stuart's forward pack is playing so well, he's having trouble finding a spot for him - while giving some of the bench players the game time they need. Even Josh Papalii is saying he wants more minutes this week.

"There's still a couple of days to go, but I still can't find a spot for him in regards to the 17," Stuart said of the veteran forward.

"Not to say he won't play, but he'll definitely play against Cronulla. I want to get him some time before the play offs, which is hard at the moment."

"All the boys played well last week. All the boys, such as Corey [Harawira-Naera] and Liva [Havili], they need some extra minutes. Hopefully, I'll be able to get that for them this week."

"So we'll probably just up the workload of Sia through our training here this week. But he'll play against Cronulla the week after."

Stuart says Soliola won't have the match fitness to play long minutes in his comeback, so he wants to be careful about getting the balance of players right on the interchange bench.

"It's nice to have someone in the wings now wanting to come back in and play. I've just got to balance it right, though, because there won't be a whole lot of minutes in Sia."

Stuart says he won't be resting Josh Papalii.

"I still want to win, and I'm sure the Warriors will come down here wanting to win too," Stuart said.

"If I had the opportunity to rest players this week or next week, I would, but at the moment we don't. I'm in a position where I've got players telling me they want to play more minutes. And one of those is Josh [Papalii]."

"He made sure he emphasised that point very clearly to me yesterday that he'd like to play a few more minutes. It's a good sign."

"What everybody sees with his input and the way players get around him and play with him on the field, he's exactly the same off the field. He's got a wonderful relationship with the club and that obviously starts with all the players."

"He's a big part of our business here. He's a big part of the team itself and that's not just what he does on the field with his football, it's off the field too."

"He helps drive the standards and the mateship. He helps drive the cameraderie. He makes you want to come to work."

The bad news is that Curtis Scott might have a fractured leg, which would put him out for the season. Doctors are having some difficulty in diagnosing his leg problem.

Scott's previously had a break, and a plate inserted in his leg - but that's now causing some problems in getting scans.

"Curtis is still in some pain with that injury, but he can't get the certain scan we need because he has a plate in his leg. I think it is an MRI scan and I don't think he can get that because with the plate in his leg, he's unable to scan that part of his leg," Stuart said.

"The bone they want to scan is right under the plate, but there's every possibility that could be fractured..It could be season for Curtis."

"But I don't want that to gospel. He's still unable to train, but it might only be one to two weeks. But I'm hoping over the next 24-48 hours we can get a little bit more clarification on whether it is a fractured leg again."

A report for The Greenhouse

VIDEO: Soliola likely to return against the Sharks: https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/09/16/sol ... he-sharks/

VIDEO: I want to win every game: https://www.raiders.com.au/news/2020/09 ... very-game/

Sia Soliola to be given one more week before Canberra Raiders return

The Green Machine engine room has been running so well, Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart is struggling to find room in it for veteran Sia Soliola.

Read more: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/ ... re-return/

Medical mystery: Raiders star Curtis Scott still awaiting scan on injured leg

Curtis Scott will visit a specialist next week, with Raiders medical staff fearful the Melbourne Storm recruit may have fractured his leg which would potentially require an operation to heal.

"It's been such a frustrating season for Curtis with not only the incident at the start of the year but a couple of injuries," Stuart said. "When you've had a really disrupted season it does get you frustrated."

Read more: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/ ... gn=sidebar

The bizarre barrier blocking Raiders from finding out if Scott’s season is over: https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-pr ... 8fccf4a3c8

MATCH PREVIEW: Raiders V Warriors: https://thegh.com.au/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 8#p1758058

GAME DAY GUIDE: Raiders V Warriors: https://www.raiders.com.au/news/2020/09 ... -warriors/

PODCAST: Behind the Limelight: Corey Harawira-Naera: https://www.raiders.com.au/news/2020/09 ... ra-naera3/

[IBG]

Well that sucks for Curtis. I simply don't see how we can win a comp with Valemei on a wing and Rapa in the centres. Valemei has great potential but I think at this stage he is a liability in defence.

[Raider Azz]

I'm glad this one is not on Nine.

Don't have the time nor the energy to hear Ruan Sims disrespecting the great man by pronouncing his name "Papa-li-ii" once again, as if he is some nuffy from the Warriors and not the greatest prop in the game.

That annoys me too. His name probably was pronounced that way somewhere back in family history (not that I know one way or the other). But that's not how he wants it pronounced, nor how it is spelled.

The NRL media guide contains a pronunciation guide that helps commentators and pundits on the correct way to say player names. There's honestly no excuse. It's not like Papalii is some obscure player or a rookie. He's only the number 1 prop in the game.

But remember, this is the same "expert" that voted for the Dally Ms on a game she didn't even watch, so it seems doing the job you're paid for correctly is something she clearly struggles with.

[Mickey_Raider]

I'm glad this one is not on Nine.

Don't have the time nor the energy to hear Ruan Sims disrespecting the great man by pronouncing his name "Papa-li-ii" once again, as if he is some nuffy from the Warriors and not the greatest prop in the game.

That annoys me too. His name probably was pronounced that way somewhere back in family history (not that I know one way or the other). But that's not how he wants it pronounced, nor how it is spelled.

The NRL media guide contains a pronunciation guide that helps commentators and pundits on the correct way to say player names. There's honestly no excuse. It's not like Papalii is some obscure player or a rookie. He's only the number 1 prop in the game.

But remember, this is the same "expert" that voted for the Dally Ms on a game she didn't even watch, so it seems doing the job you're paid for correctly is something she clearly struggles with.

Surely as a Nine pundit the bare minimum would be that you watch every game of footy every week so that you have a good feel for every team and their players. It is not like it is an arduous job, I'd gladly crack a beer and watch 7 games of footy and get paid for it. Sometimes I do it on an unpaid basis anyway.

Instead, it is blatantly obvious from Nines coverage that many of their pundits don't watch games outside of their beloved Broncos-oriented coverage. I am genuinely surprised when they exhibit anything above rudimentary analysis of the Raiders.

Contrast this with Fox, whose analysis is always pretty decent.

In conclusion, inexcusable to mispronounce Papa's name.

[The Nickman]

In conclusion, why the **** are any of you ***** watching Nine, ever?

My TV antenna blew down in a cyclone roughly 5 years ago, and I've never replaced it, or needed to.

[luffraider]

Well that sucks for Curtis. I simply don't see how we can win a comp with Valemei on a wing and Rapa in the centres. Valemei has great potential but I think at this stage he is a liability in defence.

Pretty sure oldie is due back next week which helps a little

[raiderskater]

And if you can't get Foxtel, there's always Kayo.

That's awful news for Curtis and I hope it's not the case.

[Finchy]

I'm glad this one is not on Nine.

Don't have the time nor the energy to hear Ruan Sims disrespecting the great man by pronouncing his name "Papa-li-ii" once again, as if he is some nuffy from the Warriors and not the greatest prop in the game.

That annoys me too. His name probably was pronounced that way somewhere back in family history (not that I know one way or the other). But that's not how he wants it pronounced, nor how it is spelled.

The NRL media guide contains a pronunciation guide that helps commentators and pundits on the correct way to say player names. There's honestly no excuse. It's not like Papalii is some obscure player or a rookie. He's only the number 1 prop in the game.

But remember, this is the same "expert" that voted for the Dally Ms on a game she didn't even watch, so it seems doing the job you're paid for correctly is something she clearly struggles with.

Surely as a Nine pundit the bare minimum would be that you watch every game of footy every week so that you have a good feel for every team and their players. It is not like it is an arduous job, I'd gladly crack a beer and watch 7 games of footy and get paid for it. Sometimes I do it on an unpaid basis anyway.

Instead, it is blatantly obvious from Nines coverage that many of their pundits don't watch games outside of their beloved Broncos-oriented coverage. I am genuinely surprised when they exhibit anything above rudimentary analysis of the Raiders.

Contrast this with Fox, whose analysis is always pretty decent.

In conclusion, inexcusable to mispronounce Papa's name.

I've never understood why Billy Slater pronounces Jesse Bromwich's surname as "Brom-wich". He's the only one that does it. You'd think being his ex-teammate he'd know, but literally everyone else pronounces it "Brom-ich", like Greenwich or Warwick, silent W.

[greeneyed]

Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart calls for NRL bunker to get out of referee's ear

The NRL decided to cut the bunker review officials from two to one this week - but Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart feels the referees just need to be left to do their job.

"Was it wrong previously for them to change it now?" he said. "I stand here and say again, it's not until we get the voice out of the ear of the referee that we're going to see any improvement there either.

Read more: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/ ... /?cs=14239

[radicalraider]

Scott injury EDIT

[greeneyed]

@TheGHRaiders on Twitter

Hear from Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart as his side prepares for Sunday's clash with the New Zealand Warriors. Nine News Canberra reports: http://ow.ly/G3nM50Bsbhs

#NRL #WeAreRaiders

[1992]

Geoff Toovey says he did not rate Papalii until he saw him run down Fogarty.

This guy absolutely hates Canberra. He has never said a positive word. Most of you go on about Brandy but this flog is much worse. Manly scum.

[Finchy]

Geoff Toovey says he did not rate Papalii until he saw him run down Fogarty.

This guy absolutely hates Canberra. He has never said a positive word. Most of you go on about Brandy but this flog is much worse. Manly scum.

Someone that poor a judge of (or willingly blind to) a player's ability such as Papa, should not be an NRL coach. Probably why he hasn't been able to get a job since getting sacked from Manly. Fair dinkum. Australian and QLD rep. Probably the best front rower in the game the past 2 seasons, and one of the best before that.

[afgtnk]

Geoff Toovey says he did not rate Papalii until he saw him run down Fogarty.

This guy absolutely hates Canberra. He has never said a positive word. Most of you go on about Brandy but this flog is much worse. Manly scum.

There's a reason why he hasn't been able to land another coaching gig after being sacked by Manly, you know.

[gerg]

I'm no doc or x-rayologist but why don't they roll him over and x-ray his leg from the other side. Or better yet why don't they just remove the plate, x-ray him and then put the plate back in.

Sent from my SM-G570F using Tapatalk

[-TW-]

Scott injury EDIT

Considering the bloke went down in a screaming heap on the field, I'm pretty sure he's injured.

Sent from my ELE-L29 using Tapatalk

[Ruben Daley]

Surely as a Nine pundit the bare minimum would be that you watch every game of footy every week so that you have a good feel for every team and their players. It is not like it is an arduous job, I'd gladly crack a beer and watch 7 games of footy and get paid for it. Sometimes I do it on an unpaid basis anyway.

Instead, it is blatantly obvious from Nines coverage that many of their pundits don't watch games outside of their beloved Broncos-oriented coverage. I am genuinely surprised when they exhibit anything above rudimentary analysis of the Raiders.

Contrast this with Fox, whose analysis is always pretty decent.

In conclusion, inexcusable to mispronounce Papa's name.

This drives me absolutely nuts. It frustrates me no end when guys at work have strong opinions but only watch one game a week. But it’s clear a lot of the Nine team are the same. Rabs is the worst. He’d be dead without his cheat sheet and/or research assistant.

Though I’m pretty sure I’m right in saying Daley once admitted to not watching every game when he was NSW coach. Which is just a flat-out sackable offence in my book.

[Ilanraiders]

Jeff Toovey he’s probably thinking taupau or AFN are the best props in the game...... there’s got to be an investigation into this!!

[EJ]

I'm no doc or x-rayologist but why don't they roll him over and x-ray his leg from the other side. Or better yet why don't they just remove the plate, x-ray him and then put the plate back in.

Sent from my SM-G570F using Tapatalk

lol legit my first thoughts. "just flip him over"

I'm sure that's not how it works tho

[Hong Kong Raider]

Geoff Toovey says he did not rate Papalii until he saw him run down Fogarty.

This guy absolutely hates Canberra. He has never said a positive word. Most of you go on about Brandy but this flog is much worse. Manly scum.

Should be fined $10,000 for that - putting the game in disrepute. There must be an investigation.

Manly baldy short ass scum. Loser. Because we constantly beat Manly in the early 90s.

[Hong Kong Raider]

Well that sucks for Curtis. I simply don't see how we can win a comp with Valemei on a wing and Rapa in the centres. Valemei has great potential but I think at this stage he is a liability in defence.

Agreed. I hope I'm wrong, but we won't get through the first semi with Semi playing on the wing and Rapa at centre, no matter who we play. Semi currently lacks positional sense and judgment in attack and defence. Particularly in defence when you look at the two Ramsay tries on the weekend - they were one on one. I'm sorry to say, but other teams have better second string wingers than us - Melbourne - Lumelume; Penrith - Staines; Easts - Ikuvalu.

Ricky needs to recognise his stubbornness. We cannot be gifting 6 to 12 points every match - like we did to St George (Semi), Roosters (dropped ball and failing to find touch after a penalty), Wests Tigers (bomb for Brooks' try), Newcastle (Scott's defence and Whitehead's poor defence on Ponga), Melbourne (CNK failing to put it dead or force it), Canterbury (kicks), Titans (kick), Brisbane (kick). All teams will target Semi in defence and kicks. It's too early for him to be playing finals matches. Don't get me wrong - I want him to do well but it will be sudden death and there's too much at stake. He's not ready, and it's unfair for him as well. Oldfield has to play centre if Scott is unavailable, with Rapa on the wing.

[Hong Kong Raider]

Sticky being his old stubborn self. His loyalty to players is admirable, but can consequently hurt the team as a whole. You can't fix Valemei's issues in a week, and they're the type of issues that can be exploited throughout the entire game for great cost.

I agree with you on this one buddy!

[Hong Kong Raider]

I’m backing Nickman. Semi made a few major errors but also saved a couple of tries. He improved as the game went on and I don’t think he let the errors affect his confidence or input.

At this stage of the season we need to stick with and support him instead of bagging him. There’s no use in chopping and changing rookie players now in the hope one may be slightly better.

Hopefully he’ll end up scoring the winning try in the GF.

I'm not really concerned whether he will score tries. But can he stop tries ? From what I've seen in a few games, no. Twice one on one - two tries. And there will be bombs to his wing all the time. It will be like what we did to Steve Mavin in a 1987 semi final. And he was hopeless against the Roosters.
Not once did he go up for a kick or even chase a kick on the last tackle. I notice these things. Would Timoko at centre and Rapa at wing be better options for stopping tries?

I have no confidence in Semi for the finals games, and I have followed rugby league closely since 1982. It's hope for the best now. That doesn't mean he's not going to be a good player, but clearly he's not ready for finals matches NOW. I'm not talking about next year or the future. It frustrates me when our fans are blinded by their loyalty, which affects their judgment on what we need to do to win and succeed, against all the available evidence.

And the chopping and changing - Stuart brought this on himself for being crazy enough to select him for the Roosters match, instead of the logical selection of Timoko, given his strong showing against Canterbury, and not having to move an asset like Rapa to centre.

[The Nickman]

Geoff Toovey says he did not rate Papalii until he saw him run down Fogarty.

This guy absolutely hates Canberra. He has never said a positive word. Most of you go on about Brandy but this flog is much worse. Manly scum.

There's a reason why he hasn't been able to land another coaching gig after being sacked by Manly, you know.

Because he doesn’t rate Papalii or because he hates Canberra? Sorry, I wasn’t following along closely enough

[Sid]

I wonder if Oldbeard is close to coming back

[greeneyed]

I wonder if Oldbeard is close to coming back

Injury/Suspension

Curtis Scott, Leg (Rd 20)
Michael Oldfield, Thumb (Rd 20)
Corey Horsburgh, Foot (Indefinite, possibly season)
Emre Guler, Ankle (Indefinite, likely season)
Bailey Simonsson, Shoulder (Season)
Josh Hodgson, Knee (Season)
Andre Niko, Knee (Season)
Sebastian Kris, Extended sick leave

[Finchy]

Geoff Toovey says he did not rate Papalii until he saw him run down Fogarty.

This guy absolutely hates Canberra. He has never said a positive word. Most of you go on about Brandy but this flog is much worse. Manly scum.

There's a reason why he hasn't been able to land another coaching gig after being sacked by Manly, you know.

Because he doesn’t rate Papalii or because he hates Canberra? Sorry, I wasn’t following along closely enough

More the fact he’s a poor judge of world-class NRL talent. It’s like saying you don’t rate James Tedesco.

If you’re that poor a judge of talent, I can’t imagine you’d be adequately preparing your own team for who the biggest threats are in the opposition sides.

Also, you’d be poor at recruiting talent if you only think Manly players are the best and everyone else sucks, regardless of whether they are an Australian and Origin rep, and a clear match winner and big-game player.

[BadnMean]

I'm amazed at the amount of posters who have written a rookie winger who made positional errors in defence completely off.

A young player who can learn from his mistakes will prove to be a pretty good player. He hasn't been given the chance to correct yet. You don't scrap a first season player for making errors of inexperience- unless- they repeat them and fail to learn.

So far Semi has played a few games and has only made those defensive errors in one. His hands are a slight issue. But Cotric is the only rookie I can remember who didn't come in and drop one or two early.

He showed more positives in that game than any other; 1 try saving tackle; 1 other big hit to snuff out an attack from starting; a couple of half breaks and strong runs.

He got caught out by probably a yard in positioning, twice. Poor play but let's see if he can fix it. Particularly as Rapana looked better at centre than anyone else we've put there all year and he's went better there than he has been going on the wing. It's also advantageous to leave him there as if Oldy gets back to fitness, he's a far better winger than centre himself. That way if Semi doesn't shape up, we have a reasonable replacement with minimum disruption. At least on the wing while he's getting match fit, Oldy can select his workload to some extent on rucking carries, with Rapana carrying the load. Harder to run traffic at him in D.

[afgtnk]

I don't see anybody writing Valemei off completely. There's a difference between wanting him dropped, both for his benefit and the team's, and never wanting him back in the side again.

We simply can't afford to have someone learning on the job to the extent that he is at the moment, at this point of the season and in the position that we're in. That's it, really. You can spin it anyway you want, but he's making huge errors at both ends of the field. Those two defensive mistakes were well below first grade - especially the second one. The opposition have now got him as a clear and easy target.

I think fans can cop an error or two on one end, but not both. You need to be good at a large portion of your job in first grade, regardless of your age or experience level. Making huge mistakes in defence, attack, and under the high ball in a game more than once is not compatible with a team that has high aspirations like ours right now.

[Botman]

Geoff Toovey says he did not rate Papalii until he saw him run down Fogarty.

Toovey flat out telling on himself if that's what he said. I would absolute never hire a guy who said something like that.

[Botman]

I don't see anybody writing Valemei off completely. There's a difference between wanting him dropped, both for his benefit and the team's, and never wanting him back in the side again.

We simply can't afford to have someone learning on the job to the extent that he is at the moment, at this point of the season and in the position that we're in. That's it, really. You can spin it anyway you want, but he's making huge errors at both ends of the field. Those two defensive mistakes were well below first grade - especially the second one. The opposition have now got him as a clear and easy target.

I think fans can cop an error or two on one end, but not both. You need to be good at a large portion of your job in first grade, regardless of your age or experience level. Making huge mistakes in defence, attack, and under the high ball in a game more than once is not compatible with a team that has high aspirations like ours right now.

100% agree. Valemei clearly has some talent and physical attributes that make him a very viable NRL footballer, but we dont have the luxury to have him learning on the job here. Next year, he should continue to improve and with a proper reserve grade he'll have an avenue to work on aspects of his game if he isnt selected for FG. My expectations are that next year he would very much be in the mix to replace Cotric (im not as sold on Simo as others) but for now, we cant afford those types of errors if we want to try and compete for a title

[The Nickman]

I'm amazed at the amount of posters who have written a rookie winger who made positional errors in defence completely off.

A young player who can learn from his mistakes will prove to be a pretty good player. He hasn't been given the chance to correct yet. You don't scrap a first season player for making errors of inexperience- unless- they repeat them and fail to learn.

So far Semi has played a few games and has only made those defensive errors in one. His hands are a slight issue. But Cotric is the only rookie I can remember who didn't come in and drop one or two early.

He showed more positives in that game than any other; 1 try saving tackle; 1 other big hit to snuff out an attack from starting; a couple of half breaks and strong runs.

He got caught out by probably a yard in positioning, twice. Poor play but let's see if he can fix it. Particularly as Rapana looked better at centre than anyone else we've put there all year and he's went better there than he has been going on the wing. It's also advantageous to leave him there as if Oldy gets back to fitness, he's a far better winger than centre himself. That way if Semi doesn't shape up, we have a reasonable replacement with minimum disruption. At least on the wing while he's getting match fit, Oldy can select his workload to some extent on rucking carries, with Rapana carrying the load. Harder to run traffic at him in D.

I wish I could say I was surprised by own fans' treatment of a rookie winger, but I'm just not anymore, old friend.

[nachopants]

Agree with most sentiments above, Valemei has a stack of potential, but I can't think of many 'wingers with potential' who have won grand finals

I'll feel a little more comfy with Oldy back and Raps back on his edge.

For me personally, has anyone else recognised the compression on our left edge in attack? I'm absolutely not trying to sledge us or anything like that, but sometimes Jack coming accross kind of compresses Whitehead, Croker, Valemei so badly that we're sort of suffocated.

That said we've scored some great tries there when there's a defensive lapse... but against the Roosters, Melbourne, they'll know that's where all our traffic will be coming from. That probably makes me most nervous.