Raiders top four hopes alive after thrashing Dragons

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St George Illawarra Dragons v Canberra Raiders

Canberra Raiders ran riot in the second half to down St George Illawarra Dragons 37-8 Saturday afternoon at WIN Stadium.

The Raiders flexed their Premiership muscle, piling on 23 points in a second half avalanche against a defeated Dragons line-up. Jack Wighton's double highlighted the points scoring which sees the Raiders continue their quest for a top four spot. 

Once the Raiders hit that go button, the battling Dragons couldn't go with them. Jarrod Croker scored in the 44th before English firebrand John Bateman, Wighton and youngster Semi Valemi all found the stripe to send a warning shot to the top four. 

A big component of the Raiders success, has been the work between their halves. Wighton and England halfback George Williams, have conjured up a qonderful partnership on the left-hand side then thrown in Elliot Whitehead and the Dragons defense was left spinning. 

Whilst he was on the losing side, today will be a day Cody Ramsay will remember for the rest of his life. The youngster was handed his debut mid-week and with his first touch opened the scoring from a Matt Dufty cut-out pass. Ramsay tip-toed down the sideline in the 37th minute to reduce the deficit to two. 

Ramsay could've added his name to the history books with a first half hat-trick but his runaway effort was called back for a Zac Lomax offside. Ramsay was handed the game ball post-game and one of the few Dragons to hold their head high. 

The end of 2020 can't come quick enough for the Dragons. Once the game was gone, their defense fell to bits. Raiders waltzed through with ease, added to their for-and-against and made it three losses on the spin for the joint venture. 

Someone who has been unheralded for the Raiders this season, Hudson Young started on the bench but the forward had over 20 carries, racked up 200 plus metres and both a try and try-assist for John Bateman to top off his afternoon. Canberra's depth has been tested this season, with their injuries, but Young has been a consistent performer for the Green Machine. 

The first half was a see-saw affair but when the Raiders got it right they found the try-line. Young crashed over some feeble middle defense then Jack Wighton backed up perfectly to give them a 14-8 half-time lead despite Ramsay's heroics.