Round 20: Finals hopes on the line as Raiders host the Warriors
Round 20 NRL action gets underway in Canberra on Friday night as two teams are looking to keep their outside finals hopes as the Raiders play host to the Warriors who themselves make a rare 7:30 Friday appearance in Australia.
The Raiders come off a much-needed Bye last week after a string of losses sees them sitting in 11th on the NRL ladder and needing to pick up a win to make sure that they can stay within two points of the top 8. The Green Machine have been pretty spluttering this season as they have only won once in their past six matches which was a golden point win over the Dolphins.
A fortnight ago the Raiders were again at home but just struggled for any consistency as they went down 16-12 to the Knights who themselves weren't that impressive. The Raiders whilst having not been awful have barely set the world on fire and just little things haven't clicked for them and that has been their downfall and the reason why they are looking unlikely to stick to the top 8.
The Raiders have received some massive boosts with Jamal Fogarty set to return after missing 12 weeks with a bicep injury meanwhile Hudson Young and Zac Hosking also return to the side with Emre Guler, Simi Sasagi and Albert Hopoate dropped to the reserves.
Just like their opponents, the Warriors are coming off a much-needed bye as their indifferent season continues and will need to win this one to keep their hopes alive as they risk being 5 points astray of the top 8.
The New Zealanders have won 2 of their past five games but their last outing against the Bulldogs despite being a defeat showed there are still signs for the Warriors as they suffered a 13-12 loss in Golden Point and if a controversial non-call went their way they could have won. The Warriors have struggled for consistency this season and their win over fortnight their performances against the Gold Coast where they lost by 60 and then beating the Broncos a week after comfortably showed the struggles for the Wahs this season.
Injuries haven't been kind to the Warriors this season and they are yet again impacted with Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and Marcelo Montoya ruled out with injuries suffered in the Bulldogs clash whilst Tohu Harris this week was ruled out for the season with a wrist injury. The Warriors have named Taine Tuaupiki at fullback whilst Roger Tuivasa-Sheck comes onto the wing.
Last meeting: Round 3 2024 - Warriors 18 Raiders 10
Who to watch: The return of Jamal Fogarty is going to be a big boost for the Raiders and whilst it is going to be hard to have him back at full form, there is going to be all eyes given the magic that he can pull out and the need for the Raiders to pull out the performance is at it's highest if they want to cling onto the finals.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has had a stop-start season with injuries and a strange decision to play him as 18th man stopping him from a consistent return to Rugby League this season. The Warriors will need the RTS magic to silence the Raiders crowd who will be expecting the Green Machine to win.
The favourite: The Raiders are slight favourites for the contest.
My tip: This is a tough game to tip because you never know what either of these two sides are going to dish out because the Raiders could pull out an impressive performance with the Warriors dishing up nothing or vice-versa. The other thing could be both sides actually put their best on the field and it goes down to the wire. I think the Warriors might just do enough to win very closely. Warriors by 2.
