Toughest preseason ever 2024

[greeneyed]

It’s already a rebuild. And then another if Ricky Stuart hangs up coach’s whistle?!

And how on earth are the Eels and Sea Eagles in a premiership window now?

[Botman]

Kris was very good at fullback in 2023

We need to demand more from people paid to report on the game we love.
The best case scenario for the person who wrote this would be to make an admission they did not watch raiders football in 2023.
If they actually did watch Raiders football... lord help us.

My initial reaction is to agree with you, immediately followed by "what's the point?". But after a bit of a think about it, I realise that when I watch a Raiders match I am trying to see everything that my team does and I barely even notice what the tackle counts for the opposition are, (which is why I'm no good at analysing Origin, because I don't care about either team...), though I would notice errors, dumb plays, and halves who fail to get themselves in position for last tackle plays and so forth.

So unless you are watching every game of the season... argh **** it, I do and you are right, the internet and media are full of cretins who clearly don't, whereas I would say I missed maybe two games this past season and half-watched probably another six. The rest I had eyes on the screen for. These clowns are clueless.

One idiot on Zero Tackle even had the hide to admit that he was just a fool with an opinion while saying that Woolford was utterly ordinary (arguable) while saying he couldn't for the life of him understand why Tom Starling wasn't starting every game. Frankly, I rest my case there.

Which is why it's probably not worth getting upset about outside opinion, because they will never have the depth of experience of watching one's own team. And besides, it makes it fun seeing things like all the sudden Wighton adulation. Wait for the explosion...

You're a fan. You're not paid to provide commentary and insight into the game
As you rightly point out, its clear that half the people drawing a wage to comment and report on this game dont even do the bare basics of watching every game, which is the bare minimum as to what should be expected.

And yeah I know it's not worth getting upset about and it's pretty funny seeing the idiotic **** that gets spewed out but from the 10,000 foot view, the standard of coverage this game gets, be the game day broadcasts, and the various people paid to cover the sport is actually embarrassingly bad. Compare it to how other sports are presented and analysed and it's just not up to scratch.
Like all sport this game can be boiled down something incredibly simple and dumb, but there is also a TON of nuance and complexity in the game and there is almost no time taken by media partners to present it as anything but the dumb simple version

A big part of that is because those paid to analysis, report on and present the games aren't even doing the bare minimum of their job and spitting out takes like Seb Kris was very good at fullback. It's utterly confusing to me as to why the NRL don't demand a better standard from their media partners.

[bonehead]

It’s already a rebuild. And then another if Ricky Stuart hangs up coach’s whistle?!

And how on earth are the Eels and Sea Eagles in a premiership window now?

because manly at full strength have the x factor to beat anyone and so do the Eels with 3 origin level spine players plus 2 origin props

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[greeneyed]

It’s already a rebuild. And then another if Ricky Stuart hangs up coach’s whistle?!

And how on earth are the Eels and Sea Eagles in a premiership window now?

because manly at full strength have the x factor to beat anyone and so do the Eels with 3 origin level spine players plus 2 origin props

Sent from my SM-S911B using Tapatalk

Those teams might have been that two years ago. Not today. DCE over the hill, Turbo never on the field, all ageing. Eels have lost an awful lot in terms of playing strength too.

[RedRaider]

It’s already a rebuild. And then another if Ricky Stuart hangs up coach’s whistle?!

And how on earth are the Eels and Sea Eagles in a premiership window now?

because manly at full strength have the x factor to beat anyone and so do the Eels with 3 origin level spine players plus 2 origin props

Sent from my SM-S911B using Tapatalk

Those teams might have been that two years ago. Not today. DCE over the hill, Turbo never on the field, all ageing. Eels have lost an awful lot in terms of playing strength too.

GE, I don't recall you saying DCE was 'over the hill' when he led the Qld side to win SOO earlier this year. I thought he was very much on his game during that series. If DCE is 'over the hill' who is your Qld half back for next year?

[greeneyed]

He was over the hill playing for Australia last Saturday.

[Raiders_Pat]

It’s already a rebuild. And then another if Ricky Stuart hangs up coach’s whistle?!

And how on earth are the Eels and Sea Eagles in a premiership window now?

because manly at full strength have the x factor to beat anyone and so do the Eels with 3 origin level spine players plus 2 origin props

Sent from my SM-S911B using Tapatalk

Eels have the talent in their squad and the ability to beat anyone but they also have the ability to lose to anyone with their inconsistency. Of their spine, Dylan Brown is a class player and Gutherson always has a proper crack but then Moses tends to dip in and out of form, plus their hookers are as ordinary as ours. Their outside backs aren't fantastic. I have no doubt that they are able to beat the best teams in the comp on their day but I do doubt that they can do it back to back for three weeks which is what they would need to do to win a premiership.

[RedRaider]

He was over the hill playing for Australia last Saturday.

I didn't think DCE was the reason Australia lost. I think there were a few in the Australian pack who did not match the Kiwi's enthusiasm. Also 51 missed tackles didn't help. NZ had 59% possession and completed at 83% compared to Australia's 41% possession completing at 74%.

I like Liam Martin but 9 missed tackles is not good enough. Neither is 7 for Hunt and 6 for Cotter and Munster, 5 for Grant and 4 for Staggs.

[greeneyed]

Every club’s spine rated: Melbourne Storm beat Penrith Panthers for best playmakers

17. CANBERRA RAIDERS

1. Seb Kris/Xavier Savage, 6. Kaeo Weekes, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 9. Zac Woolford/Tom Starling

The Raiders could be in for a long year on the back of losing Jack Wighton to the Rabbitohs. Ricky Stuart’s squad is looking significantly weaker across the park. The Raiders have some quality forwards but their spine could be up against it and it’s hard to see Canberra making the finals.

Read more: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport ... f457996494

[The Nickman]

Haha they think that’s bad?

Wait until Stuart rolls out Danny Levi in Week 1.

[Raider47]

Every club’s spine rated: Melbourne Storm beat Penrith Panthers for best playmakers

17. CANBERRA RAIDERS

1. Seb Kris/Xavier Savage, 6. Kaeo Weekes, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 9. Zac Woolford/Tom Starling

The Raiders could be in for a long year on the back of losing Jack Wighton to the Rabbitohs. Ricky Stuart’s squad is looking significantly weaker across the park. The Raiders have some quality forwards but their spine could be up against it and it’s hard to see Canberra making the finals.

Read more: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport ... f457996494

Can't argue with that. It's pretty shocking.

I can already picture Rd 7 2024 when we are 1 and 6. Rickheads will be saying "well what do you expect when you have so much youth in the side" whilst blatantly ignoring the fact that Ricky has been in charge of our roster for over 10 years and this is solely his responsibility....

[RedRaider]

I don't know that Weekes will start at 6 in Rd 1. Strange things happen at the Raiders.

I read this story in the Sunday Telegraph this morning and looked at the higher ratings of some sides which did not make the finals last year. It was written by a Qld based journo called Travis Meyn. He rated the Storm having the best spine. He lives on the Gold Coast and rated the Titans at 13, Broncos at 3, Cowboys at 4 and Dolphins at 12.

[Billy Walker]

Every club’s spine rated: Melbourne Storm beat Penrith Panthers for best playmakers

17. CANBERRA RAIDERS

1. Seb Kris/Xavier Savage, 6. Kaeo Weekes, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 9. Zac Woolford/Tom Starling

The Raiders could be in for a long year on the back of losing Jack Wighton to the Rabbitohs. Ricky Stuart’s squad is looking significantly weaker across the park. The Raiders have some quality forwards but their spine could be up against it and it’s hard to see Canberra making the finals.

Read more: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport ... f457996494

There isn’t a chiropractor alive that could manipulate that spine to get any value out of it.

[Raiders_Pat]

Every club’s spine rated: Melbourne Storm beat Penrith Panthers for best playmakers

17. CANBERRA RAIDERS

1. Seb Kris/Xavier Savage, 6. Kaeo Weekes, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 9. Zac Woolford/Tom Starling

The Raiders could be in for a long year on the back of losing Jack Wighton to the Rabbitohs. Ricky Stuart’s squad is looking significantly weaker across the park. The Raiders have some quality forwards but their spine could be up against it and it’s hard to see Canberra making the finals.

Read more: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport ... f457996494

Can't deny we've got the weakest spine on paper but I don't think losing Wighton will be as bad as league journos think it will be. And the guy says we're looking weaker across the park... well we've lost Wighton and that's it, the rest of the squad is pretty much the same. Smithies will likely be an improvement. We will likely run with a specialist fullback too rather than Kris. And we've got max three players who are at the age where they could be regressing next year - Whitehead, who I predict will be on less minutes, Rapana and Papalii. Others should all improve.

Wighton had small patches of brilliance but was a liability probably more than he was brilliant, and the rest of his minutes could have been replaced by pretty much anyone with the same level of defence. So I don't see how we struggle without Wighton unless Strange or Weekes are useless in defence.

[BadnMean]

Every club’s spine rated: Melbourne Storm beat Penrith Panthers for best playmakers

17. CANBERRA RAIDERS

1. Seb Kris/Xavier Savage, 6. Kaeo Weekes, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 9. Zac Woolford/Tom Starling

The Raiders could be in for a long year on the back of losing Jack Wighton to the Rabbitohs. Ricky Stuart’s squad is looking significantly weaker across the park. The Raiders have some quality forwards but their spine could be up against it and it’s hard to see Canberra making the finals.

Read more: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport ... f457996494

Can't argue with that. It's pretty shocking.

I can already picture Rd 7 2024 when we are 1 and 6. Rickheads will be saying "well what do you expect when you have so much youth in the side" whilst blatantly ignoring the fact that Ricky has been in charge of our roster for over 10 years and this is solely his responsibility....

And ignored the chance to put games in the youth in 2023...

[Billy Walker]

Every club’s spine rated: Melbourne Storm beat Penrith Panthers for best playmakers

17. CANBERRA RAIDERS

1. Seb Kris/Xavier Savage, 6. Kaeo Weekes, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 9. Zac Woolford/Tom Starling

The Raiders could be in for a long year on the back of losing Jack Wighton to the Rabbitohs. Ricky Stuart’s squad is looking significantly weaker across the park. The Raiders have some quality forwards but their spine could be up against it and it’s hard to see Canberra making the finals.

Read more: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport ... f457996494

Can't deny we've got the weakest spine on paper but I don't think losing Wighton will be as bad as league journos think it will be. And the guy says we're looking weaker across the park... well we've lost Wighton and that's it, the rest of the squad is pretty much the same. Smithies will likely be an improvement. We will likely run with a specialist fullback too rather than Kris. And we've got max three players who are at the age where they could be regressing next year - Whitehead, who I predict will be on less minutes, Rapana and Papalii. Others should all improve.

Wighton had small patches of brilliance but was a liability probably more than he was brilliant, and the rest of his minutes could have been replaced by pretty much anyone with the same level of defence. So I don't see how we struggle without Wighton unless Strange or Weekes are useless in defence.

You don’t think we will miss Croker?

[gangrenous]

Every club’s spine rated: Melbourne Storm beat Penrith Panthers for best playmakers

17. CANBERRA RAIDERS

1. Seb Kris/Xavier Savage, 6. Kaeo Weekes, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 9. Zac Woolford/Tom Starling

The Raiders could be in for a long year on the back of losing Jack Wighton to the Rabbitohs. Ricky Stuart’s squad is looking significantly weaker across the park. The Raiders have some quality forwards but their spine could be up against it and it’s hard to see Canberra making the finals.

Read more: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport ... f457996494

There isn’t a chiropractor alive that could manipulate that spine to get any value out of it.

Ah Billy’s back cracking jokes…

[Raiders_Pat]

Every club’s spine rated: Melbourne Storm beat Penrith Panthers for best playmakers

17. CANBERRA RAIDERS

1. Seb Kris/Xavier Savage, 6. Kaeo Weekes, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 9. Zac Woolford/Tom Starling

The Raiders could be in for a long year on the back of losing Jack Wighton to the Rabbitohs. Ricky Stuart’s squad is looking significantly weaker across the park. The Raiders have some quality forwards but their spine could be up against it and it’s hard to see Canberra making the finals.

Read more: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport ... f457996494

Can't deny we've got the weakest spine on paper but I don't think losing Wighton will be as bad as league journos think it will be. And the guy says we're looking weaker across the park... well we've lost Wighton and that's it, the rest of the squad is pretty much the same. Smithies will likely be an improvement. We will likely run with a specialist fullback too rather than Kris. And we've got max three players who are at the age where they could be regressing next year - Whitehead, who I predict will be on less minutes, Rapana and Papalii. Others should all improve.

Wighton had small patches of brilliance but was a liability probably more than he was brilliant, and the rest of his minutes could have been replaced by pretty much anyone with the same level of defence. So I don't see how we struggle without Wighton unless Strange or Weekes are useless in defence.

You don’t think we will miss Croker?

Gee, that's a tough one

[zim]

GALLERY: Pre-Season Week Three: https://www.raiders.com.au/news/2023/11 ... eek-three/

Who's Shaun Packer?

[bonehead]

Packer is the nsw cup hooker we got late last season I think.

taateo is ex parra and ex panthers prop

Sent from my SM-S911B using Tapatalk

[greeneyed]

GALLERY: Pre-Season Week Three: https://www.raiders.com.au/news/2023/11 ... eek-three/

[zim]

Packer is the nsw cup hooker we got late last season I think.

taateo is ex parra and ex panthers prop

Thanks

[Raiders_Pat]

Ricky Stuart facing massive 'headache' over inability to replace Jack Wighton

The Raiders have lost more than 600 games of top grade experience for 2024… and replaced it with very little. And that shapes as something of a red flag for the club as it attempts to replicate last season's feat of making the finals.

The Raiders haven't come up with a signing capable of replacing Wighton, whose class and ability to shine in the big games allowed the Raiders to sneak into eighth spot last season with a late burst of wins.

Read more: https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/news-2023- ... 267c5a7e0c

"The Mole" didn't watch any Raiders games in 2023, reckons Wighton's "class and ability to shine in the big games" was the reason we made the finals.

Jack Wighton under pressure to deliver for South Sydney after 'bitter disappointment' in 2023

Few players will start 2024 under more pressure than South Sydney's superstar recruit Jack Wighton. The Rabbitohs were a bitter disappointment in the second half of last season and have put all their eggs in Wighton's basket - he's the only big name buy the club has made.

Read more: https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/news-2023- ... 8e258faaf6

Then in this article he says Wighton will be the difference that gets Bunnies into the finals.

There's every chance that he's invigorated by the change of scenery and recaptures some of his old form but I'm tipping these people will be in for a surprise when they actually watch him play for the first time in years next year.

[Shiv]

You know, I really do think they are all literally making this stuff up. For example, the article says ofJack "whose class and ability to shine in the big games" I can't think of one game in 23 where that happened. Conversely, I can think of a number of games where we desperately needed our Marque player to stand up and, "shine" and he was in fact missing and/or throwing passes over the sideline.
I get in their heyday, Jack and Jarrod were awesome, and did in deed shine in big games. But that wasn't this year, it wasn't last year and it wasn't going to be next year either. On paper we've lost huge amounts of experience - but in the real world, that stopped being the shining lights quite some time ago.

I get they need columns in the offseason, and this is an easy subject, but oh dear is it so wrong.

[greeneyed]

We didn’t even “sneak into eighth spot last season with a late burst of wins”. We limped into the finals, just held onto a finals place despite late season losses.

[Raiders_Pat]

We didn’t even “sneak into eighth spot last season with a late burst of wins”. We limped into the finals, just held onto a finals place despite late season losses.

Exactly, we were lucky with other results too. As shiv mentioned, we needed Wighton to step up in games, especially the last few rounds... and he never did. These people don't watch us play.

[Andymachine]

His class and ability to shine in big games is a memory of 3-4 years ago. Jack was diabolically bad this year at 5/8. Terrible. At times we would have been better off playing with 12 men. BUT, you've got to admit that once he was moved to centre at the end of the year he did play very well. He was making around 200m per game, a couple of tries, line breaks, defence was good...

I think he'll go well in the centres for Souths next year, especially with so much threat around him in Walker, Johnson and Latrell. By comparison he was shining in the centres for us in the last few games with Hoppa outside and Frawley inside.

That said, I think we lost him at a good time (will be 31 by the start of next season) and we'll be better for it to not have a $1.1M playmaker of his current ability in the halves. Now if only we had an actual recruitment team that could bring some quality players in using his former salary...

[cat]

You know, I really do think they are all literally making this stuff up. For example, the article says ofJack "whose class and ability to shine in the big games" I can't think of one game in 23 where that happened. Conversely, I can think of a number of games where we desperately needed our Marque player to stand up and, "shine" and he was in fact missing and/or throwing passes over the sideline.
I get in their heyday, Jack and Jarrod were awesome, and did in deed shine in big games. But that wasn't this year, it wasn't last year and it wasn't going to be next year either. On paper we've lost huge amounts of experience - but in the real world, that stopped being the shining lights quite some time ago.

I get they need columns in the offseason, and this is an easy subject, but oh dear is it so wrong.

I reckon being a sports journo ( and maybe even entertainment journo) must be the easiest gig going around.
No more lurking around training/ dressing sheds/ carparks all you need to do is skim read a few forums, check out the players socials and log into your AI account and produce an article!

I'd be surprised if some of these journos even know who these guys are or watched a game of footy

Easy easy gig

[Finchy]

His class and ability to shine in big games is a memory of 3-4 years ago. Jack was diabolically bad this year at 5/8. Terrible. At times we would have been better off playing with 12 men. BUT, you've got to admit that once he was moved to centre at the end of the year he did play very well. He was making around 200m per game, a couple of tries, line breaks, defence was good...

I think he'll go well in the centres for Souths next year, especially with so much threat around him in Walker, Johnson and Latrell. By comparison he was shining in the centres for us in the last few games with Hoppa outside and Frawley inside.

That said, I think we lost him at a good time (will be 31 by the start of next season) and we'll be better for it to not have a $1.1M playmaker of his current ability in the halves. Now if only we had an actual recruitment team that could bring some quality players in using his former salary...

I won’t admit that because it’s not true. He played centre in our last two games and didn’t score any tries.

[Shiv]

actually, as an interesting aside, given all the press around how much better Souths are going to be with Jack there, how he is their big signing etc etc. I do wonder if the pressure will get to him, and if he will overplay his hand. Just a thought.

[greeneyed]

Senior players to return for training on Monday.

[cat]

actually, as an interesting aside, given all the press around how much better Souths are going to be with Jack there, how he is their big signing etc etc. I do wonder if the pressure will get to him, and if he will overplay his hand. Just a thought.

We saw how Jack handled pressure when he first went to 6, big games he still over plays and stuffs it.

All eyes will be on Jack to be the saviour for the rabbits , big city life, big city pressure will be very challenging for Jack

[greeneyed]

Jarrod Croker predicts young Canberra Raiders rollercoaster



Jarrod Croker says the Canberra Raiders' future is bright, but he's expecting there to be growing pains along the way.

"It's certainly a changing of the guard. We've seen some of the talent we have between Ethan Strange, Chevy Stewart and guys like Matt Timoko getting experience and another pre-season under their belt, it's going to make a hell of a difference. It's not all youth, but it's just those key positions that are going to take time. There's going to be some really good days and there's going to be some tough days.

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

GALLERY: Pre-Season Week Four: We welcome back some more familiar faces: https://www.raiders.com.au/news/2023/11 ... week-four/

[Danaman137]

Won’t post the pic here since it’s a bit gruesome, but Hudson’s story shows a pretty gnarly compound fracture of Chevy’s right big toe he picked up at training today.


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[Chicka Chicka Chicka]

It’s not pretty