We love the mighty Canberra Raiders
On Sunday afternoon, the Brumbies put the sword to a New Zealand team for the second week in a row.
The Brumbies’ performance and the game as a spectacle deserved far more than the crowd of just over 8000.
For entertainment value, it was up there with the Brumbies in their glory years when 20,000 regularly turned out at Canberra Stadium.
The Canberra Raiders have brought their season back from the dead with an impressive three-game winning streak but milestone man Josh Papalii is warning his teammates not to get ahead of themselves.
Papalii said he hadn’t been surprised to see the Canberrans rise from the doldrums by defeating the Bulldogs, Sharks and, on Sunday, the Rabbitohs.
“I knew our team was capable of doing that,” said Papalii, who played his 250th NRL game in Dubbo on Sunday.
With the Raiders reduced to 11 players at times against the fifth-placed Sharks last weekend, there was an expectation the Green Machine would be overrun before the final whistle.
Two-thirds of the Raiders spine were rookies: half Brad Schnieder is still finding his way and starting hooker Zac Woolford was making his debut.
With the sin binnings of Elliott Whitehead and Corey Horsburgh overlapping for a period of time, there was a sense of inevitability about a Raider’s loss, despite a commanding lead.