Toughest preseason ever 2021

[greeneyed]

Canberra Raiders captain Jarrod Croker says premiership window is still wide open



Shoulder injury? Back for Round 1? Not really sure at the moment, never had a shoulder injury. Never missed a beat, a day at training. No setbacks, a little bit of soft contact, landings. Pushing for Round 1.

Premiership window open? Yeah for sure. Lost Batman and Cotric. Good young wingers coming through. Hudson Young, Corey Harawira Naera. Really strong forward pack, going to be some good players who don't make it. Been doing the rehab on my own at the moment, but the boys look like they're going well.

Are you training differently for the new rules for 2021? The boys are doing a lot of opposed training with the new rules in mind. I'm not involved in the opposed sessions, but I'm doing the boring days like the 10km metres in the anti gravity machine, just to take pressure off the joints, shoulder and knee. Just trying to get the shoulder right now, strength back.

Who is training the house down? Everyone is aren't they? Seb Kris, had a year off last year, got some things sorted out and he's absolutely flying. One of the young outside backs ripping in, along with HSS and Timoko. I'd single those guys out. Elliott Whitehead going pretty well for an old bloke. Leads the young blokes around really well, taking a leadership role.

City to Surf winner at the club? I'd say Josh Hodgson, it is his competitive nature.

Tom Starling, cleared of an incident. We were away at the time, not at training, we didn't come in until just before Christmas. First thing I did was to call Tom to see if he was alright, then I rang Sticky. I made sure the boys that there was nothing to worry about. We were on Starlo's side, backed him 100 per cent. He can now concentrate on getting into the top 17.

Bubble restrictions? Not heard from the NRL or RLPA. Not what I want to think about, to be honest. We are assuming there will be some guidelines, but we're yet to hear. The less the better if things are going well. Everyone's got to do the right thing.

Josh Papalii? Hard to beat. I don't know how Ben Hannant goes, but Papa is a very hard man.

AUDIO: The Canberra Raiders captain joined Summer Breakfast to give an update on his injury and pre season training: https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=785662

[BJ]

Apparently CHN and Horsburgh have both been charged with DUI

[Rick]

Here we were wondering how we would fit everyone in the side. This helps.


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[papabear]

I really like the jerseys.

Might pick one up.

[greeneyed]

[greeneyed]

Can George Williams avoid second season syndrome?



The Raiders have been on the cusp of a title for a couple of seasons - could this be their year?

STRENGTHS: A battle-hardened pack spearheaded by Josh Papalii and two halves as good as any in the comp in Jack Wighton and George Williams.

WEAKNESSES: Ruck infringements can kill a team in tight games - and the Raiders committed plenty in 2020 and need to clean up their act. Only Manly were penalised more.

Read more: https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/canberra-r ... 3b73e9424a

[greeneyed]

I don't have the slightest bit of concern about second year syndrome for George Williams. That might be an issue for a break out rookie, but that's not George Williams.

[-PJ-]

I reckon George will kill it..

He’s class A.

[BJ]

I’d just like George to improve his speed and accuracy of pass. This will help his existing strengths in other areas.

An effective short ball would add an extra element to his game.

[BadnMean]

I’d just like George to improve his speed and accuracy of pass. This will help his existing strengths in other areas.

An effective short ball would add an extra element to his game.

He throws a lot of nice short balls in his SL highlights reels. I know the defence is different yada yada. But I think if he had a settled backrower/centre combo to play with instead of the dogs breakfast he had to work with in 2020 we'll see more of that.

It's definitely in his skill set, we just haven't seen it used yet. (He was more often throwing the short ball on the left/to the left in the highlights though)

[Botman]

I don't have the slightest bit of concern about second year syndrome for George Williams. That might be an issue for a break out rookie, but that's not George Williams.

agreed
this is a 26 year old veteran of 200 FG games. Being good and back up good season on good season is not new for him.

[gangrenous]

I don't have the slightest bit of concern about second year syndrome for George Williams. That might be an issue for a break out rookie, but that's not George Williams.

agreed
this is a 26 year old veteran of 200 FG games. Being good and back up good season on good season is not new for him.

That’s one aspect of second year syndrome. But there’s also the aspect of having your game better understood by your competitors which george will still face.

[greeneyed]

Every NRL club’s sliding doors moment

RAIDERS

Slide one way: If Josh Hodgson returns from injury at his best the Raiders have the class to go one better than 2019 and push for a drought-breaking premiership.

Slide the other: If Curtis Scott and Jarrod Croker fail to fire as a centre combination for the second year running, the Raiders won’t have enough strike power in the backs to push the best teams.

Read more: https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-pr ... 886eb5d787

[radicalraider]

Croker is the El-masri of our club.. good for chasing kicks and kicking goals (sometimes).. he should of hung the boots 3 years ago.. Paps is mainly the reason we can beat some good teams.. When papalii can't carry us.. our window shuts.

[hrundi89]

Croker is the El-masri of our club.. good for chasing kicks and kicking goals (sometimes).. he should of hung the boots 3 years ago.. Paps is mainly the reason we can beat some good teams.. When papalii can't carry us.. our window shuts.

[Seiffert82]

We did rely on Papalii too much last season. He got us to a prelim, but our weaknesses were definitely exposed a number of times during 2020. We were definitely more fragile in defence on the edges.

I do agree with Foxsports that our biggest question mark is the centres - both in attack and defence. On the whole they were really poor last season for a variety of reasons. Other than Williams, I thought we were actually quite ordinary right across that right hand side. Bateman was almost ineffective and Rapana was all over the shop.

To that extent, I don't think our centres will be worse than last season. I hope that Harawira-Naera can give Williams a decent running option on the right hand side, with CNK giving him another option with the ball. For mine, it's potentially our biggest area of improvement from last season.

[sprintman]

Croker is the El-masri of our club.. good for chasing kicks and kicking goals (sometimes).. he should of hung the boots 3 years ago.. Paps is mainly the reason we can beat some good teams.. When papalii can't carry us.. our window shuts.

Agree 100%

[zim]

Croker is the El-masri of our club.. good for chasing kicks and kicking goals (sometimes).. he should of hung the boots 3 years ago.. Paps is mainly the reason we can beat some good teams.. When papalii can't carry us.. our window shuts.

Opinions on Croker aside you realize El-masri is regarded as doggies club royalty? Their fans would think you were complementing Croker.
Luke Covell might be a better comparison if you're wanting to stick the boot in.

[BadnMean]

Croker is the El-masri of our club.. good for chasing kicks and kicking goals (sometimes).. he should of hung the boots 3 years ago.. Paps is mainly the reason we can beat some good teams.. When papalii can't carry us.. our window shuts.

Opinions on Croker aside you realize El-masri is regarded as doggies club royalty? Their fans would think you were complementing Croker.
Luke Covell might be a better comparison if you're wanting to stick the boot in.

Sigh- do we still have to do this. His 2019 form spoke for itself. Biggest in the big games.

He dipped in 2020. Not Robinson Crusoe there.

But "Croker is not as good as Papa" is just a weird argument. One of those is an all time great in his position. Whole separate category.

The other just expected to do his job- lead the team, be solid in defence- and his side HAS become our solid side, no ifs or buts about it- kick the goals. At his best he offers nice variation in attack too- great timing on grubbers and bombs, slides into a gap, decent game awareness/passing. He's not ever going to be the boom attacking centre of the moment. But his game has outlasted a few of those...

Croker is El_Masri is even weirder. Hasim played 300 FG games. Scored 160 tries. That's a fantastic wingers career even if you weren't an all time great kicker and solid all round player. Which he was. I guess we can criticise him and Croker for not being video game marvel superheroes? Is that it? Jees that Cal Ripken was a rubbish baseballer. Jees that Nathan Lyon sometimes fails to win games on his pwn while collecting more wickets than any other test bowler in the last decade...

[gangrenous]

I think the bigger risk to the season performance is simply the inverse of the first case. Hodgson not being the player he was Campo style.

[zim]

Croker is the El-masri of our club.. good for chasing kicks and kicking goals (sometimes).. he should of hung the boots 3 years ago.. Paps is mainly the reason we can beat some good teams.. When papalii can't carry us.. our window shuts.

Opinions on Croker aside you realize El-masri is regarded as doggies club royalty? Their fans would think you were complementing Croker.
Luke Covell might be a better comparison if you're wanting to stick the boot in.

Sigh- do we still have to do this. His 2019 form spoke for itself. Biggest in the big games.

He dipped in 2020. Not Robinson Crusoe there.

But "Croker is not as good as Papa" is just a weird argument. One of those is an all time great in his position. Whole separate category.

The other just expected to do his job- lead the team, be solid in defence- and his side HAS become our solid side, no ifs or buts about it- kick the goals. At his best he offers nice variation in attack too- great timing on grubbers and bombs, slides into a gap, decent game awareness/passing. He's not ever going to be the boom attacking centre of the moment. But his game has outlasted a few of those...

Croker is El_Masri is even weirder. Hasim played 300 FG games. Scored 160 tries. That's a fantastic wingers career even if you weren't an all time great kicker and solid all round player. Which he was. I guess we can criticise him and Croker for not being video game marvel superheroes? Is that it? Jees that Cal Ripken was a rubbish baseballer. Jees that Nathan Lyon sometimes fails to win games on his pwn while collecting more wickets than any other test bowler in the last decade...

Did you mean to quote me instead of radical here? I wasn't saying Croker was bad. I was avoiding an argument that has been done to death previously by starting my own fresh argument, with blackjack and hookers. You guys keep me out of your Croker is good or bad stuff and stick to the real question of El Masri vs Covell.
On an unrelated point Croker is great.

[-TW-]

El Masri easy

Covell only had 2 good games a season, and they were both against us.

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[afgtnk]

I don't have the slightest bit of concern about second year syndrome for George Williams. That might be an issue for a break out rookie, but that's not George Williams.

agreed
this is a 26 year old veteran of 200 FG games. Being good and back up good season on good season is not new for him.

That’s one aspect of second year syndrome. But there’s also the aspect of having your game better understood by your competitors which george will still face.

To help prevent this, it's important that we get our right side in order then.

George needs to have runners short and long ready to go at pace in order to unlock his passing game, instead of players ambling outside him with no second receiver in sight.

[BadnMean]

Did you mean to quote me instead of radical here? I wasn't saying Croker was bad. I was avoiding an argument that has been done to death previously by starting my own fresh argument, with blackjack and hookers. You guys keep me out of your Croker is good or bad stuff and stick to the real question of El Masri vs Covell.
On an unrelated point Croker is great.

I did mean to quote you, but just because I was looking for a post to support, rather than to argue against, if that makes sense.

[zim]

Certainly does

[greeneyed]

GALLERY: Honing our craft: https://www.raiders.com.au/news/2021/02 ... our-craft/

[greeneyed]

[dubby]

Our team has great forwards, good halves but I'm a little concerned about our back five, mostly in the speed department.

Rapa has really lost some pace, and Semi, Bailey and Scott don't appear lightening fast.

What I'd give to have a speedster like JAC.

The loss of Cotric and even Leilua may be understated. These big lads were great at getting our set started. Tackle 1 and 2 hit ups from them got us going well, taking pressure off the forwards.

Last year our pack struggled to make meters, so we really need our backs to get in and run like crazy people to get our set started well.

I know he was off last year, but Scott seemed to lack the strength and tackle busting ability of Cotric and Rapa in his prime.

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[BJ]

I don’t think our pack struggled to make meters. But certainly our outside backs didn’t make the meters that other teams made and struggled in this area.

[Johno]

Looking at those images, cant say any of the players look a bit behind in fitness, the forwards look ready to go this weekend!

Gotta love Sammy Williams, saw him at the BB the other night with a few of the team, coud easily hide away and look for a move away but nope. Great to see how much he loves the club.

I stayed the night in Forrest and as I was about to drive home I thought I should see if I can see the boys train, had a quick search but wasnt 100% where to go or even what times, anyone here been and is it ok just to drive up and take some photos?

[papabear]

Semi is pretty fast.

[-TW-]

That run away try he scored he looked like he was in 2nd gear and still pulling away from defenders

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[Green Beers]

Niko is pretty fast

[BadnMean]

Niko is pretty fast

Thought the Raiders let Niko go though...

[Green Beers]

Sorry timiko