Round 24: Raiders v Sea Eagles preview
Raiders finals dream still alive as Manly look to spoil the party.
The Canberra Raiders will continue their fight to play finals football as they host the Manly Sea Eagles on Saturday afternoon. Ricky Stuart's side has had a far from straightforward season, and sitting in ninth with just two rounds to go in the home-and-away competition, Canberra will be confident of accounting for Manly this weekend.
With their season on the line, the Raiders have shown plenty of fight in the past few weeks to stay in the running for the top eight. After losing to Penrith in round 21, it was always going to be an uphill battle. They scraped their way to two points against the Dragons two weeks ago, before putting on a big second half come-back against Newcastle last weekend.
What has made the past few weeks especially tough for the Raiders is the suspension of their coach, Ricky Stuart. The one week suspension handed down by the NRL for Stuart's comments regarding Penrith player Jaeman Salmon meant that the team was led into a must-win match by their assistant coaches. But the club dealt with it well, and with Ricky back at the helm, Canberra are now a serious finals chance.
One of their stand out players from their six point victory over the Knights was prop forward Joseph Tapine. Tapine ran for 176m (80 of which were post-contact), and made the crucial break and subsequent match winning try-assist for his team. After being out of action due to a rib injury, Tapine has shown just what an important component of the Raiders side he is. Ricky Stuart has named the same 17 that took down Newcastle.
Things have gotten very bad at Manly very quickly. On a five game losing streak, any chance of them playing finals dissipated a few weeks ago. Conceding forty points to a strong Cronulla outfit at home last weekend, their defence will need to be a lot better this Saturday in Canberra or otherwise things could get ugly.
Sitting in eighth after eighteen rounds, Manly lost to the Dragons before the pride jersey saga saw the club implode. This two week period can certainly be seen as a turning point in the club's 2022 campaign, and will no doubt continue to be a major talking point for years to come. The decision by seven players to sit out such a crucial match has certainly haunted the team.
The loss of star fullback Tom Trbojevic is another major point in Manly's campaign so far, with the NSW representative ruled out for the majority of the season with a shoulder injury. With his brother Jake also out, the Manly casualty ward has certainly not helped matters this year. The list of players out with injury for the Sea Eagles includes Reuben Garrick, Karl Lawton, Jason Saab, Sean Keppie, and Taniela Paseka.
Last meeting: Round 4 2022 - Sea Eagles 25 Raiders 6
Who to watch: Corey Harawira-Naera will come off the bench for the sixth straight game for Canberra this weekend. Playing the first eight rounds of the season as a starting second rower, he then shifted to lock before being moved back to the bench to make room for some of the outstanding performers in the Raiders forward pack. He'll be keen to show that he deserves a starting spot going forward, as he is signed with the club until the end of 2025.
The youngest of the three brothers, Ben Trbojevic will make his fourth straight appearance off the bench for Manly this weekend. The back rower has also played an NRL game at centre this season, and has played in that position for the Blacktown Workers in reserve grade throughout the year. Signed with the Sea Eagles for next season, he will want to show the club that he should be a regular part of the NRL side in years to come.
The favourite: Canberra are the comfortable favourites to extend Manly's losing streak and to keep their finals hopes alive.
My tip: Playing a must win game in front of their home crowd, Canberra will rise to the challenge. Raiders by 26.
