That’s was downright beautiful.Pigman wrote: ↑January 19, 2019, 8:29 pm To further Captain Punish's post
The coach, playing group and fans will collectively agree it's time to install a new culture of accountability at all levels of the club, to stop harping on about tight, 50/50 refereeing decisions and their impact on our results.
The Raiders, head to toe, begin to fully embrace a NO EXCUSES culture in which the fans, the coaches and players all hold themselves accountable for their own errors and faults and seek to address them.
As a result the coach is not quoted speaking directly about a specific (perceived or otherwise) officiating error. He is not fined all year. The coach and captains dismissed attempts to goad them into these debates by choosing to simply focus on their own issues, the players react accordingly, not a single member of the playing group is penalised in 2019 for dissent.
The fans react accordingly and adopt this mentality, they slowly ween themselves off the victim-mentality.
All prosper as a result. A new reality emerges from the ashes of 2018. Hope returns. Vibrant but tough football. Led from the front by an English quartet which has powerhouses scrambling to find the next John Bateman, Josh Hodgson, Elliott Whitehead and Ryan Sutton. Fans are delirious. National reporters wonder aloud "who are these Raiders?", whilst local beat writers smirk and file copy which could be surmised succinctly as "we tried to tell you, this is not the Raiders you used to know".
The Raiders storm into the finals, a top 4 spot and a home field advantage. Despite this, concerns remain, is this team really built for a run? Or are they just a flat track bully?
The ever present Melbourne Storm await them in a 2v3 contest. The "first real test" says noted goober Phillip Ronald Gould.
The Raiders come out of the gates with some nerves, they struggle through a tough first half and go into the break down 4. But a reinvigorated Ricky Stuart delivers a message to his troops - "Enough of this mess. It's time to play Raiders football", the Raiders come out in the second half and carve out a win, an unlikely hero - Luke Bateman, they earn the week off but the declining play of the storm is the national story. Is the dynasty over?
Awaiting them in the GF qualifier is the Penrith Panthers, a team choc full with talent. Struggles early in the season are long forgotten after an irresistible run to get them here. They're on a 10 game winning streak. They come into the game confident. They are widely tipped as the favourites to emerge as victors.
The Raiders beat them like a drum, from start to finish. They're never in the game. The narrative emerging from the game is that the Panthers simply didn't show up and whilst this has been a stunning run from the Raiders, they've running into a buzz-saw. The roosters await, looking to establish a dynasty of their own. The Raiders are installed as $3.45 outsiders to win the game. The result is a fait accompli. The celebrations are already underway.
Stunner.
32-18... Raiders win. Josh Hodgson Clive Churchill Medalist.
Parade down Northbourne. Beautiful,wild carnage ensues. The GH rejoices. We were all wrong, we were all right. No one cares. This is only the beginning. Our children revel in the spoils to come.
Unfortunately the inability for the first half of that to happen will stop the second half becoming a reality.