Canberra Raiders led by a master class by Josh Hodgson thumped New Zealand Warriors 46-12 tonight at Mt Smart stadium.
The Green Machine were ruthless in dismantling the hosts, piling on 30 points in a first half blitz that secured their fourth straight success. Tonight's thumping has helped the Raiders for-and-against and temporarily moved them into second spot.
Tonight was a masterclass from Canberra's english forwards. Josh Hodgson like a mischevious child, had a hand in everything tonight and picked up a late four-pointer for himself. His countryman John Bateman showed off his kicking skills alongside some barnstorming work in the forwards.
The intent was there early doors for the Raiders, Iosia Soliola slid across for the opener, quickly followed Josh Papalii crashing over. Canberra were making metres at will down the middle against a Warriors side that despite last week's controversy didn't show up for the fight.
Michael Oldfield, Bailey Simonsson and Joseph Tapine kept the scoreboard ticking over, the Raiders registered a 30-nil scoreline at the break. The rampaging Green Machine were looking ominous to help their for-and-against in the second half.
Half-time brought some respite for the Warriors and a massive spray from coach Steve Kearney. Chanel Harris-Tavita a late inclusion tonight supported well to get them on the board in the ideal response to give them some hope.
That hope was quickly dashed as the Simonsson refused to go down in the tackle, pumped his legs and made fools of several Warriors defenders. From there, it was party time for the Raiders - Hodgson and Jack Wighton crossed late to extend the result to 46-12.
The result might night extinguish the Warriors finals hopes, but after a tough fortnight with their close loss to Parramatta then a thrashing tonight makes it a tough ask. There will be plenty of questions asked about the New Zealand side after a failure of the season.
For the Raiders, the good times keep on rollin'. Four straight victories, sat in second spot for now, the Green Machine are confirmed for the finals so now, coach Ricky Stuart will want to manage his side in the run to the finals.