Round 9: RAIDERS vs TITANS

[K2G]

cheers mate.

i will re watch his tries again...but his first one he definitely had time and space to use two hands. second one he strode over and diced with a few defenders trying to get closer to posts...but even then you can use two hands.

last one was a miracle and only possible with one hand, both knees up, boths feet up, and sphincter tightened to extreme levels.

it was just a prevailing cavalier way of carrying ball that will one day come back to bite us if he isn't careful. more than that...i just never saw Don that way. Maybe its the bushie in him, but i thought he was a really cautious player.

Okay, I'll give you the first try. He could've used two hands on the put down there - Im sure he's argument would be that he was trying to help out his goal kicker as much as possible by bringing the kick in from the sideline as much as possible.

The second try right on half-time was a two hand carry right up until the the moment he bent over to put it down. Same argument as above, but he'd have to be experience zillman levels of un-cordination to fumble that put down.

Third try - had to be one handed.

I say - Keep it up Don!! Those hands are golden.

And, by the way 'Bushy' ??!! Have you ever been to Grafton?! Cracking night life.

[DavidBouveng]

Okay, I'll give you the first try. He could've used two hands on the put down there - Im sure he's argument would be that he was trying to help out his goal kicker as much as possible by bringing the kick in from the sideline as much as possible.

The second try right on half-time was a two hand carry right up until the the moment he bent over to put it down. Same argument as above, but he'd have to be experience zillman levels of un-cordination to fumble that put down.

Third try - had to be one handed.

I say - Keep it up Don!! Those hands are golden.

And, by the way 'Bushy' ??!! Have you ever been to Grafton?! Cracking night life.

i spent a month there one night let me tell you....

i edited my comment about the second try. he did have two hands the whole way.

[DIEHARD]

Wow, that is a disappointing result. But I managed to sit through the game. Highlight of the game was Don's hatrick and not too much else.

[DIEHARD]

Raiders romp to victory over Titans

Canberra have broken through for their first home win of the NRL season, smashing Gold Coast 56-16.

The Raiders had lost all three previous matches at GIO Stadium, something they hadn't managed to do since 1982 in the club's first year in the premiership.

But, led by their red-hot five-eighth Blake Austin, Ricky Stuart's men avoided such unwanted history with a dominant performance against a Titans outfit missing suspended star Greg Bird.

Austin and skipper Jarrod Croker scored two tries each, with Paul Vaughan, Jordan Rapana, Josh Papalii, Sia Soliola, Edrick Lee and Sam Williams also crossing over for the Raiders' third win on the trot.

Anthony Don was the Titans' only try-scorer with a hat-trick.

Croker's double takes his career tally to 73, making him the club's fifth-leading try-scorer of all time - overtaking Noa Nadruku.

Austin, fresh from scoring a hat-trick in last week's City-Country clash, opened the Raiders' account with a one-man try in the sixth minute.

With a clever goosestep the No.6 fooled big man Dave Taylor and strolled over the line unaided.

But an Austin mistake on the next set proved costly, his poor pass leading to an Anthony Don try on the left-hand edge from a perfectly-weighted kick by Aiden Sezer.

In-form prop Paul Vaughan bit back with a barnstorming four-pointer of his own in the 18th minute, the conversion giving the Raiders a 12-4 lead.

Back-to-back converted tries to skipper Jarrod Croker and Jordan Rapana blew that out to 24-4.

It was Rapana's 11th try in 15 games and came the day after signing a new two-year deal.

Despite dominating the half, the Raiders let Don through for his second of the afternoon just thirty seconds before the break.

Don added a career-first third early in the second half to close the gap to just eight points.

But it was Austin, yet again, who saved the day with more light footwork to bring up his double in the 52nd minute.

It all went the Raiders way after that, Croker nabbing his second and Papalii, Soliola, Lee and Williams adding the others over the final 25 minutes.

Canberra Raiders 56 (Blake Austin 2, Jarrod Croker 2, Paul Vaughan, Jordan Rapana, Josh Papalii, Sia Soliola, Edrick Lee, Sam Williams tries; Jarrod Croker 8 goals) def. Gold Coast Titans 16 (Anthony Don 3 tries; Aidan Sezer 2 goals) at GIO Stadium. Crowd: 8116. Half-time: Raiders 24-10.

http://www.nrl.com/

[Supergoose]

Wow, that was painful to watch. We just couldn't stop them. I agree that we didn't ingratiate ourselves with the refs and the Raiders seemed to get every 50/50 call. How were they allowed to stand and offload after 3 and 4 seconds of no motion and the held calls seemed to take forever. We were always milking but they attracted penalties. The reffing was no excuse but it was awful, nearly as bad as our defence. Our right side was bad but not as bad as our middle which was trampled. They just seemed too big and too strong, I hope it was just a case off us just not turning up today and not a sign of things to come.

[DIEHARD]

Raiders v Titans: Five key points

Canberra put 10 tries past Gold Coast in their Round 9 Telstra Premiership clash. Here are five key points from the Raiders' thrashing of the Titans.

Austin pushes Origin claim

Blake Austin's incredible 2015 season just keeps getting better. He was at his mesmerising best against Gold Coast, stepping off his dynamic left foot to make two clean try-scoring breaks.

Just one week after scoring a hat-trick in the Country-City fixture, Austin also defended well, most notably with a brilliant cover tackle to deny the Titans a certain try in the 62nd minute.

Despite being well and truly off the radar just two weeks ago, the Raiders five-eighth is now firming as a NSW Blues bolter with his sublime form.

After the game it seemed he had more admirers in the opposition team than his own.

"He's a runner and he's strong, he's quite quick and he supports the ball," Titans coach Neil Henry said.

"He can be a handful if you show him some space and we certainly gave him some opportunities today. We're just disappointed in how we let Blake Austin (through), you can talk about his step all you like… but he still went through us.

"We handled him in the back end of the game… but that needed to happen right at the start."

Meanwhile Raiders coach Ricky Stuart did his best to extinguish Origin interest in Austin.

"We're not looking at rep selection were just worrying about him playing for the Raiders and keeping a little bit of stability in his game," Stuart said.

"He's just doing his job for us… we wont be talking about rep football with our players."

Titans will continue to miss Bird's aggression

The Titans sorely missed Greg Bird against the Raiders, and they will continue to do so in his absence.

The suspended Origin star wouldn't have been able to do enough to arrest the 40-point deficit his team eventually fell to, but there were enough signs on Saturday to show that the Titans may struggle against big, aggressive forward packs in upcoming weeks.

Bird has been a constant presence of toughness and aggression in the middle of the field at his time in the Titans, a presence his teammates couldn't manage to cover for.

After the match Neil Henry touched on the controversial policy that has star players suspended whilst playing representative football missing out on Telstra Premiership matches for their clubs.

"We can't do anything about it," Henry said.

"It is a bit of a grey area around if you get suspended representing your country or playing State of Origin, but he had a loading regardless. We just need to cope with that, he could have been out eight weeks with an injury.

"We're fairly healthy as a squad at the moment, we're just missing Greg and it so that's not an excuse for that performance. We're very disappointed… we need to do some soul searching this week and turn up next week."

The Raiders' 2015 purchases shaping as NRL's best buys

Following the announcement of Anthony Milford's departure in 2014, Ricky Stuart and the Raiders mounted an aggressive recruitment drive.

They hotly pursued big names like Kevin Proctor, James Tedesco and Michael Ennis with little luck, and in turn they were widely written-off for season 2015.

In the end Stuart seemingly settled for a bunch of solid purchases, with names like Sisa Waqa, Sam Williams, Frank-Paul Nu'uausala, Josh Hodgson, Sia Soliola and Blake Austin agreeing to ply their trade in the nation's capital.

But against the Titans the 2105 Raiders proved that they are much more than just a solid bunch of recruits. Each of them were in blistering form, justifying Stuart's eye for a good buy.

With their first home win of the season the Canberra Raiders have confirmed they aren't pretenders in the 2015 NRL season.

"I think there's been some astute recruitment and it's working," Henry, a former NRL Coach of the Year recipient while coaching the Raiders, said.

"It's about getting some seasoned first graders around the young crop that they have here and they've brought through their development system.

"I think they do a great job with bringing players through - Croker and Wighton those guys are playing good footy."

James stands tall for fallen Titans

Against a big Raiders forward pack that have been rolling through their opposition in recent weeks, the pressure fell on Titans hard-man Ryan James to make up for Greg Bird's absence.

James ended up having a strong performance, refusing to take a backward step against some of the Raiders big forwards, especially Frank-Paul Nu'uausala.

Despite some commentators suggesting that James was ill-disciplined and allowed his running battles to take him off focus, his aggression was essential in order to halt the Raiders momentum.

"I don't think he overdid it," Neil Henry said.

"I think he was in a battle there with Frank-Paul, I think it was good footy.

"I don't mind that match up, I thought he was outstanding for us and we need more of it."

Canberra's forward pack are dominating the middle

For a third-straight week, the Raiders forward pack has looked at times unstoppable rolling down the middle of the field.

Big Shannon Boyd refused to be brought down, Frank-Paul Nu'uausala was hard as nails and Paul Vaughan never stopped charging the ball forward.

Without the big names of other packs, the Raiders forwards are all in a similar class and have no loose ends.

A proud man, Titans captain Nate Myles' curt response to questioning on how tough the Raiders forward pack were said a lot.

"Yeah they were good," Myles said flatly.

Raiders captain Jarrod Croker provided a little more insight, saying: "It's good to see 17 blokes on the field all playing well and doing their job."

http://www.nrl.com/

[DIEHARD]

Match Highlights: Raiders v Titans
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[Smakked]

Cant see how they are saying Austin for origin , i cant see it myself he is way off it yet.

[DavidBouveng]

i think he is playing out of his skin compared to other contenders. i wouldn't want him coming on just before half time at the moment.

even as first choice number 6, he will bring as much as reynolds and more. maybe not quite as much as Maloney CAN, but is bringing more right now.

i generally believe you need to do it for a full year before you get picked for rep, just to make sure you weren't on a short lived hot streak.

[Titanic]

No doubt Austin has the form … Ioane is just too small for this level and White a hangover of our past … otherwise just a really poor effort from the usual suspects.

[Whats Doing]

Sezer has been always been soft in defence but yesterday was a new low. Also whilst Mosely is good in attack, he is also an arm grabber in defence.

Overall yesterday's performance was totally unacceptable and the titans won't have credibility until their attitude and technique in defence improves markedly.

[teke]

Raiders shredded the Titans middle which allowed them to target specific areas on the fringe.

Ricky has that team going well

[TITAN PETE]

The game doesn't deserve a comment except to say well done to Austin #onfire

[DIEHARD]

It really was a bottom shelf, humiliation. 56 points at this level is awful. And we scored points outwide.

Hey Pete, surely Don deserves mention? Three tries!

[DavidBouveng]

Raiders scored in the 68th, 70th, 72nd, 74th, 75th and 77th minute. six tries in 10 minutes.... gotta be a record.