Warriors squeeze rusty Raiders

'Magic Johnson' was at it again this evening at Mt Smart Stadium, with the Warriors' halfback guiding his side to a convincing 30-8 victory over the Canberra Raiders in front of 13,110 onesie-clad fans.

The key architect of the Warriors recent run of good form, Shaun Johnson scored a try and had a hand in several more as the Warriors crossed three times in the second half to put the Raiders in a dangerous position going into the latter part of the season.

Having taken a 14-8 lead into the break, Johnson jinked and weaved his way to the line just six minutes after the resumption of play. Not long after, his grubber through the line from 15 metres out was chased keenly by Tuimoala Lolohea who snuck a try from the feet of Jack Wighton to put the home side comfortably ahead.

Manu Vatuvei capped another strong game for his side with a late try of a silly Sam Williams intercept just four minutes from fulltime.

Earlier, both sides started confidently by trading early tries to have the scoreboard reading 6-all after twenty minutes. The Warriors dominance in possession became a feature of the clash while the Raiders continued to hammer themselves by committing poor errors.

The Raiders took and 8-6 lead through a penalty goal several minutes later before the Warriors jumped back in front off a rampaging Konrad Hurrell who flicked it outside to Lolohea. The subsequent conversion and a late penalty goal before the halftime siren gave the Warriors a lead of 14-8 at the change of ends.

Next week the Warriors and Raiders both get a rest with the bye ahead of Origin 3, before the Raiders host Newcastle in Friday night football in Round 18. The Warriors are at home to the Storm on the Sunday.

Match Details

New Zealand Warriors 30 Canberra Raiders 8
Venue: Mt Smart Stadium
Crowd: 13110
Halftime Score: New Zealand Warriors 14 Canberra Raiders 8

NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS (30)
Tries: Bodene Thompson, Shaun Johnson, Tuimoala Lolohea (2), Manu Vatuvei
Conversions: Shaun Johnson (4/5)
Penalty Goals: Shaun Johnson (1/1)

CANBERRA RAIDERS (8)
Tries: Jack Wighton
Conversions: Jarrod Croker (1/1)
Penalty Goals: Jarrod Croker (1/1)

LeagueUnlimited.com Players of the Match:

3 points - Shaun Johnson
2 points - Tuimoala Lolohea
1 point - Manu Vatuvei

LeagueUnlimited.com Live Commentary

A big game for both teams trying to get out of the mid-ladder logjam. It's the Warriors in the better form - let's see if that carries on today.

TEAM NEWS: The Warriors are unchanged, while the Raiders have opted for new acquisition Joey Leilua on the bench ahead of Jarrad Kennedy. Today is Warriors & Maroons forward Jacob Lillyman's 200th NRL game.

Both sides out onto Mt Smart Stadium. The Warriors donning their regular black home strip. The Raiders are in their white and gold away jersey, referee Gerard Sutton and his counterparts are in red.

2: We are underway, solid sets from each side to get us started.

5: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Jack Wighton makes an unforced error.
Forward pass from Wighton near halfway gives the Warriors a shot at attacking football inside the visitors' half.

6: First penalty of the evening goes the Warriors just 10m from the Raiders line.

7: UNFORCED ERROR NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Konrad Hurrell makes an unforced error.
Koni not happy. The Warriors produce a wonderful backline movement only for Hurrell to spill the Tomkins pass. Raiders scrum.

8: Canberra concede a penalty after a break down the right side, a grubber ahead from Jordan Rapana - but Sam Tomkins cleans it up and is tackled, a bit too much. Warriors with it now.

10: Warriors force a drop-out by trapping Wighton in goal, but we have some afters from that. Edrick Lee and Konrad Hurrell took exception to each others' presence there.

10: VIDEO REFEREE for a possible Bodene Thompson try for the Warriors. Checking grounding.

11: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Bodene Thompson. Kick to come.
Thompson takes the line on and dives over out wide!

12: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
Johnson makes no mistake with his first attempt.

17: Warriors with more attack at the Canberra line but the last tackle grubber is collected and given to Blake Austin who makes a neat break to help his side up the park.

18: Canberra get a penalty and finally start a set inside Warriors half. Their first real chance of the contest.

20: TRY CANBERRA RAIDERS
Scored by Jack Wighton. Kick to come.
Straight through! Sam Williams and Sia Soliola set up fullback Wighton and it's only taken one foray into the Warriors red zone to deliver results!

21: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CANBERRA RAIDERS
Conversion attempt by Jarrod Croker successful.
No problems for Croker, scores back on level terms.

22: Sam Williams tries a 40/20 but it falls just short. Warriors scrum.

25: Relieving penalty for the Warriors coming out of their own end with Josh Hodgson pinged for being offside from a kick.

27: SUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL CANBERRA RAIDERS
Penalty goal attempt by Jarrod Croker successful.
Canberra now with a penalty and it's in perfect position for Croker to kick the visitors into the lead.

29: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Tuimoala Lolohea. Kick to come.
HURRELL! He charges down the right flank with Lolohea backing up outside him... draws the defenders and delivers a clever flick pass to the unmarked man outside him, Tuimoala then improves the position.

30: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
SJ makes it two from two. No misses for either kicker yet today.

33: A couple of Warriors penalties coming off their own line, the latest for Nuuausala flopping. Wait, here's a third - Leilua this time for laying on the tackled player too long.

35: A messy end to the set there with Friend throwing the ball 20m backwards from dummy half - eventually Lolohea receives it and is forced to kick, and the ball is easily retrieved by Canberra's Josh Hodgson. Canberra work it off their own line.

38: Raiders forced into a drop-out again here, plenty of pressure coming from the home side.

39: In what can be best described as a cluster....fluff, there's a line drop-out here with a minute left to halftime. Townsend put the ball up, it hits uprights, players and probably a native bird somewhere in there too before its grounded by a Raider. We think.

40: Jordan Rapana is off for the Raiders with a leg injury. Warriors with a penalty just ten seconds from halftime.

40: SUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Penalty goal attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
Three from three despite the hard angle, and a six point margin going into the sheds.

40: An early penalty for the Warriors and Shaun Johnson takes advantage of a quick tap, which puts his side hot on the attack!

41: VIDEO REFEREE | Possible Warriors TRY to Manu Vatuvei in the corner. Checking grounding/touchline.

42: NO TRY. Vatuvei's foot had brushed the sideline.

44: Blake Austin down! He's tackled Solomone Kata awkwardly.He'll head off for a concussion test.

46: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Shaun Johnson. Kick to come.
Step, jink, reach out - TRY! Johnson is in!

47: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
The man of the moment converts his own four pointer to make it a six pointer.

49: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Iosia Soliola makes an unforced error.
Soliola tries to take a clever ball hitting the line but it bounces off him forward. Warriors scrum.

50: VIDEO REF | Johnson puts a grubber through 15m out... it holds up as the Raiders watch it go dead and LOLOHEA! HE'S GOT THIS!

51: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Tuimoala Lolohea. Kick to come.
Lolohea blitzes Wighton! It's GREEN LIGHTS!

52: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Shaun Johnson unsuccessful.
Starting to look a bit easy for the hosts but there is still half an hour to go. Johnson misses his first attempt of the night.

55: Canberra struggling for any ball at the moment - just 32% possession during this one. You'd think if they get some ball they're a chance here.

56: UNFORCED ERROR NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Sam Tomkins makes an unforced error.
Tomkins goes wide for Lolohea but the ball beats him into Row A. Canberra scrum on their own 30m.

58: Austin back on after being cleared by the docs.

66: Raiders pressure not mounting to anything and to compound it here they've given away a penalty to the Warriors coming out of their own end.

68: Warriors heavy on the attack here, a good chance to put the result beyond doubt...

69: Johnson puts a grubber in which trickles touch in-goal. Raiders 20m restart.

69: Johnson puts a grubber in which trickles touch in-goal. Raiders 20m restart.

71: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Sisa Waqa makes an unforced error.
Big Sisa loses it trying to retrieve a pass. Warriors come up with possession.

72: Edrick Lee is down after a tackle, meanwhile in backplay Warriors' centre Konrad Hurrell is also not looking 100%.

73: That tackle on Lee ruled to be a "crusher". Warriors involved there are on report.

75: VIDEO REFEREE - possible try for Jarrod Croker. Checking grounding but it looks ok. Will shrink the margin to ten points when converted too!

75: Ouch. NO TRY. He appears to have bounced the ball on that front angle! Red lights and that will put the Raiders to bed tonight.

76: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Manu Vatuvei. Kick to come.
Big Manu gets into the clear after the Raiders tried to be tricky. That's it. Manu scores try 146 and moves to 12th on the NRL all time scorers list.

77: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
Scoreboard goes to thirty points and a comfortable two competition points for the home side.

80: One last little bit of fun from the Warriors down the right sideline but it goes out. The Raiders have a go themselves but nothing doing. 22 points the victory for the team celebrating it's 20th anniversary!