Raiders do enough to down under-strength Roosters

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Canberra Raiders v Sydney Roosters

Canberra have withstood a courageous second-half fightback from an Origin-depleted Roosters outfit, claiming a 24-16 win at GIO Stadium in front of 14,000 fans.

Jarrod Croker was the star of the show for the Green Machine, who sported an aqua-and-white look in support of coach Ricky Stuart's autism foundation. The diminuitive centre lined up for his 201st NRL match and started the evening off with 1496 points, aiming for a special milestone two weeks in a row by cracking 1500.

He'd have to wait early on - the Roosters stunned the 14,786-strong faithful with an early try to Jake Friend. The Raiders wasted no time rebounding though, with Jordan Rapana getting the all-clear from the Bunker after a potential double movement, giving the Raiders their first after thirteen minutes.

Ten minutes later Rapana had doubled his tryscoring tally, but Croker's miss left him two short of the milestone, Canberra leading 10-6.

The hometown support was in raptures not long after though, with the Raiders putting the foot down and Croker bagging a four-pointer to cruise past the magic mark. The Raiders took a 16-6 lead all the way to the sheds at the change of ends.

Points were at a premium in the second forty for the hosts though - it wasn't til the 63rd minute that either side crossed the stripe, when Joey Manu grabbed the Roosters' second. The Raiders responded five minutes later with a penalty goal to bump the lead from four to six, which proved handy in the 74th when the in-form Latrell Mitchell scored for the visitors. Michael Gordon's miss meant the penalty goal was the difference, at least for the next few minutes.

Aidan Sezer topped a tense evening for the Raiders with a final minute try which made the final margin look far more comfortable than it was, Croker's conversion pushing him to 1508 points and the Raiders into eight position ahead of Parramatta.

A tough road trip awaits the Raiders next week as they head to Brookvale for a Round 13 showdown with Manly, while the Roosters head home to host the Broncos on (yes, you read correctly) Saturday night at Allianz.