Round 22: Raiders v Dragons preview
Two sides outside the NRL top 8 battle it out as the Canberra Raiders season clings onto to life support as they take on the St George Illawarra Dragons in a Sunday afternoon battle in the nation's capital.
Despite the lack of humility and deflection tactics of Ricky Stuart to avoid questions on his team, there are plenty of questions about the Raiders after they were completely outplayed by a weakened Panthers side losing 26-6. The Green Machine dominated the Panthers early on but then once the defending premiers got their game going the Panthers took victory.
The Raiders come into the contest sitting in ninth and with another loss they could be out of finals contention with a potential four-point gap separating them between eighth should they lose. Canberra have struggled at times this season and a game like last week against the Panthers the Raiders should have backed up their pre-game talk about an ambush but they surrendered quicker than Sultan Khalid in the Anglo-Zimbabwe war which at least lasted an hour. Canberra do have an easier run to the finals that could see them find form but they will need be better than last weekend.
Canberra will be missing Nick Cotric who is out after his being suspended for one match for hitting Panthers star fullback Dylan Edwards with a high tackle. Xavier Savage comes into the side at fullback with Albert Hopoate moving to the wing. Joseph Tapine is also out with a rib injury, Emre Guler starts and Corey Horsburgh the Raiders are also missing coach Ricky Stuart for the whole the week after his slanderous comments regarding Panthers five-eighth Jaeman Salmon in last weeks bizarre rant after the Raiders loss.
The St George Illawarra Dragons are another side that have shown glimpses of form and they were within striking distance of an upset victory over local rivals the Sharks last week in their 24-18 defeat at Shark Park. The Dragons started slowly but stayed in touch with the Sharks early before needing to fight for a comeback late that didn't come off.
Sitting in 11th spot, the Red ‘V' are more or less out of top 8 contention although they could still mathematically make it, a poor for-and-against will cost them being over 120 points to the negative to teams around them on the ladder. The Dragons season has been marked by up and down performances although they did controversially hold onto victory against the Raiders in the last meeting.
The Dragons have lost Tariq Sims for the remainder of his season and time as a contracted player with the Red ‘V' after accepting his Grade 3 charge for his high shot on Connor Tracey last week. Josh McGuire comes into the starting line-up while Tyrell Fuimaono and Billy Burns are added to the bench.
Last meeting: Round 16 2022 - Dragons 12 Raiders 10
Who to watch: Raiders five-eighth Jack Wighton was a star in Origin 1 and many "experts" were tipping him to dominate against the Panthers but he was missing in action for the Raiders as their attack looked stagnant and very side-to-side and the running game of Wighton only came out on rare occasions. If the Raiders want to win this game, then Wighton needs to stand up and lead his team to the front.
Moses Mbye joined the Dragons at the beginning of 2022 bringing some much-needed experience to their side but his performances this season have been lacklustre and a lack of consistency in position hasn't helped. Mbye's experience should be something that the Dragons are using to help their stagnant attack but unfortunately, Mbye has left it up to Ben Hunt to be a one-man show in attack. The Dragons will need Mbye to put in a strong performance at the back should they look to get over the Dragons this week.
The favourite: Canberra have the backing here with the Dragons looking to plan for 2023 now.
My tip: This is a game that could go either way because both sides can bring out indifferent performances and then absolute brilliant efforts. The Raiders will be looking to put in a better effort and I think that after a week of turmoil they will be wanting to put on a show and they know they will need to after talking big and delivering zilch last week. Raiders by 6.
