Raiders blitz clips Eagle wings

v BYE

Canberra produced a 24-point blitz to overcome a busted up Sea Eagles team in front of 9,157 fans at Canberra Stadium.

For 65 minutes - it was an impressive performance from the Raiders which pleased coach Ricky Stuart but the late fade that allowed the Sea Eagles some points. That will give him room for improvement ahead of next week's trip to Suncorp. 

Jake Wighton rebounded from his horror show against the Bulldogs unleashing his full range of tricks in the second half. He leapt high to pull down an Aidan Sezer kick then laid on a try for Queensland second-rower Josh Papalii. His most impressive effort was chasing down Sea Eagles fullback Tom Trbojevic late on to quell the comeback. 

Overall, it was a typical Raiders performance - they still had the brain fades which let the scoreline remain so close also the one which allowed Daly Cherry-Evans to shimmy his way to the opening try. 

When they want to play it is hard to stop Canberra though. Joseph Leilua and the heaviest forward pack in the National Rugby League give the platform for the livewires in Brenko Lee, Wighton and Jordan Rapana to electrify. 

Lee could've had himself a double in the early stages for a fumble in the in-goal but he made up with it as the former Holden Cup back finished off a nice backline movement. Hodgson waltzed through after Leilua steamrolled a path to give us the 12-6 halftime score. 

The opening twenty of the second half was all Green Machine. It was almost elementary once they got over the advantage line, the Raiders invariably scored. Whitehead crossed in the 43rd minute and by the time Jarrod Croker kicked his fifth it was 30 points to six. 

In a week that started with scandalous headlines, the Sea Eagles put in an industrious effort even when the score blew out. They put on a few quick scores through Matt Purcell and Apisai Koroisau to give a good account of themselves. 

They counted the cost of matching it with the Raiders though, with injuries to Cherry-Evans, Jamie Lyon and Brenton Lawrence stretched the depth of the team from the peninsula to it's edges.

Manly now host Penrith next Sunday afternoon while Canberra have a Thursday night booking in Brisbane against heavyweights the Broncos.