Cameron Ciraldo's Canterbury makeover has been handed a pre-season reality check in a 36-16 defeat from a dominant Cronulla in their last pre-season trial.
After claiming Canberra's scalp in Moruya last week, Canterbury were completely outplayed by a Sharks outfit that fired in attack and held firm in defence on Sunday.
The excitement about the Bulldogs in 2023 was shown clearly in the 7801 fans who turned up to the Belmore trial match, for which only Tevita Pangai was missing from their likely best line up.
Sharks make statement in trial win over Bulldogs
'Not the trial we wanted': Rapana on report as Raiders thumped by wooden-spooners
For the second year in a row, Jordan Rapana's spot for the opening weeks of the NRL season is in jeopardy.
It wouldn't be a Canberra Raiders pre-season without a few hurdles and after fullback Xavier Savage's broken jaw last week, coach Ricky Stuart will now sweat on a judiciary outcome over Rapana.
The veteran Raider was put on report for a high tackle on Asu Kepaoa and sin-binned for accidental contact to the head of Adam Doueihi in the first half of their humbling 36-4 defeat to the Wests Tigers at Belmore on Sunday afternoon.
Tigers offer hope in NRL pre-season mauling of Canberra
Tim Sheens' new-look Wests Tigers have given fans reason to believe after a decade of dread, entering the NRL season on the back of a 36-4 trial win over Canberra.
After 11 years out of the finals and seasons of misplaced hope, the Tigers will enter the season with confidence after completely outplaying Canberra.
With Luke Brooks and Apisai Koroisau out, five-eighth Adam Doueihi had his fingerprints all over the win, days after signing a one-year extension at the club.
