2025 review: Canberra Raiders

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Sam Bourke reviews how the Raiders burned bright in 2025 before fading away in the finals.

The Green Machine came into the 2025 season without much fanfare after finishing the 2024 season just outside the Top 8 and with a number of young players still finding their feet in the NRL, it looked on the surface like a re-building year was on the horizon.

With a strong forward pack and crafty number seven in Jamal Fogarty, most experts had Canberra just missing the 8, some even had them as their tip for the wooden spoon. How wrong they were...

The season started in spectacular fashion as the Raiders began their season with a 30-8 victory over the Warriors in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium. This was followed up with early season wins over eventual premiers Brisbane and a convincing win over Manly, before the travel took its toll and they fell to the Cowboys in Townsville. Canberra continued to rack up the frequent flyer points and victories, as they defeated Parramatta in Darwin and also defeated the Warriors in New Zealand for the first time since 2019.

Ricky Stuart's side continued to rise and showed tremendous confidence and flair with comeback wins over the Titans and Dolphins. However, their most memorable was their Magic Round statement, where they flashed home to defeat the Storm and announce themselves as serious title contenders. This mid-season form saw the Raiders faithful comes out in droves to their blockbuster against Canterbury at GIO Stadium which saw 23,827 fans turn out for a regular season crowd record. Canberra dominated the first half to lead 16-0 before a Stephen Crichton masterclass saw the Dogs give the home side a reality check, running out 32-20 winners.

Relatively unaffected by Origin, the Raiders continued to be the team to beat as they surged to first place and with a perceived easier run home than other title contenders. Canberra pulled off the ‘Miracle in Mudgee' in Round 25, when in Golden Point a Nathan Cleary field goal attempt crashed into the right upright. The Raiders attacked the bouncing ball which culminated in a length of the field match winning try for Kaeo Weekes. Canberra then capped off a stunning season by securing their first Minor Premiership since 1990 to go into the finals as one of the favourites for the premiership.

The finals were full of optimism, as Canberra looked to have the balance to end their premiership drought and in front of a huge home crowd - Canberra looked to have one foot in a preliminary final leading by sixteen points with just fifteen minutes remaining. With Reece Walsh and Pat Carrigan in the Sin Bin, fans were daring to dream. However, Walsh returned from the Sin Bin to put in a dazzling 15-minute masterclass to tie up the scores. In Golden Point, the Raiders were an emotional rollercoaster as twice they thought that had won the match, only for Ben Hunt to slot a 39-metre field goal to seal an extraordinary 29-28 victory.

Canberra then found themselves in a do or die scenario against a resurgent Cronulla the next week. Despite another packed house at GIO Stadium, their line-up was thrown into disarray prior to kick-off when Ethan Strange was ruled out due to a virus. Canberra just wasn't the same side we had seen in the regular season, as they simply found the previous finals game both too physically and mentally draining to do any serious damage in September. Heartbreakingly, Canberra became the first Minor Premiers to exit out of the finals in straight sets since St George-Illawarra in 2009, to end their season that delivered so much.

Turning Point

The Magic round victory over Storm was what put the competition on notice. Prior to this game Canberra were being touted as overachievers that hadn't played the big sides yet. This game saw them dismantle the Storm and in yet another stunning finish gave the side, their fans and the competition the belief that they were serious contenders for the title in 2025.

What did work

The Raiders secured only their second ever Minor Premiership and their first in 35 years, so everything. However, what set them apart was again their dynamic forward pack, which was formidable and more often than not were able to keep their side in the fight with the sides high completion rate and metres gained week after week. The usual suspects in Joseph Tapine and Hudson Young were again standouts, however the huge improvers were Josh Papali'i who in what was expected to be his swansong in the NRL turned back the clock, even earning a recall to the Queensland State of Origin side for Game 3. Corey Horsburgh this time last season was expected to move on following a horror season for the former Queensland prop and it was just about criminal that he wasn't selected in 2025 given his turnaround in form.

The coach Ricky Stuart and his coaching staff is also what worked - taking home the Dally M Coach of the Year and assembling a roster that was heavily invested in the stars of tomorrow mixed with a fine balance of experienced first graders. While coach Stuart traditionally revels in the back against the wall, everybody is against us mentality, this year he used far more than that taking an unheralded side to the brink of a drought breaking premiership in the nation's capital and deserves praise.

What didn't work

The Raiders edge defence was an issue throughout the year, and many sides were able to exploit it. Unfortunately for the Raiders it wasn't fixed by finals time as they were badly exposed by Bronco's fullback Reece Walsh in Week 1 who went on a tear producing three tries in quick succession and then by Cronulla in Week 2 where they conceded multiple tries down the right edge in particular.

2025 season results

Best Player

Ethan Strange had a breakout year, he was the team's leading tryscorer with 13 tries and his late season form culminated in the Raiders star being named the Dally M five-eighth over players of the calibre of Cameron Munster and Matt Burton. Strange was then selected in the Kangaroos squad to tour Great Britain at the end of the season. Strange missing from the team's final game was a hammer blow to their chances of making the preliminary final, such is his relevance in the side.

Rookies

Coming over from the Dragons in the off-season, Savelio Tamale started for the Raiders from Round 1 and quickly established himself as a quality first grader scoring 6 tries in his first 12 games. While a knee injury suffered in Round 14 saw him miss the back half of the regular season, he returned for finals to cover Xavier Savage who was ruled out in Round 26 with a shoulder injury. Tamale is a walk up start on the wing in 2026 and won the Peter Mullholland Rookie of the Year award for the club.

Owen Pattie also made his debut in 2025 and looks to be a genuine star of the future and was used as a strike weapon off the bench late in games, this was highlighted in Round 20 versus the Eels where Pattie scored a double in sixteen minutes.

Canberra also controversially chose to rest their stars in the last round against a dangerous Dolphins outfit, and this saw four NSW Cup players make their NRL debuts, with Joe Roddy scoring an impressive two tries. Roddy looks to be a player of promise if he can break into the forward pack in the coming years.

2025 player stats

Looking Ahead

Canberra has one of the most settled squads heading into 2026 in the NRL. They will again have a very strong pack with some devastating speed in the outside backs. The question marks are squarely on the loss of experienced halfback Jamal Fogarty who joins Manly next year. Highly touted Eels junior Ethan Sanders looks set to be given the famous number seven jersey.

The other big question is how will they get over such as disappointing finals performance? They were so close to knocking off the eventual premiers Brisbane in Week 1 - but they never recovered and watching the Broncos go on with the job would have been a tough watch for the playing squad and coaches. Was this a premiership they let slip and can they get up and do it all again to improve in 2026? There is no doubt a premiership window is ajar in the nation's capital, it is just that 2025 has set such a high benchmark. 

The Raiders welcome experienced hooker Jayden Brailey from Newcastle and are rumoured to be looking at a few more depth signings that will keep the playing squad honest.

Best 17 for 2026

based on current signings at time of writing

1. Kaeo Weekes
2. Savelio Tamale
3. Matt Timoko
4. Sebastian Kris
5. Xavier Savage
6. Ethan Strange
7. Ethan Sanders
8. Josh Papali'i
9. Tom Starling
10. Joseph Tapine (c)
11. Hudson Young
12. Zac Hosking
13. Corey Horsburgh
    
14. Owen Pattie
15. Simi Sasagi
16. Matty Nicholson
17. Morgan Smithies