We love the mighty Canberra Raiders
State of Origin legend Andrew Johns has heaped praise on axed Blues second-rower Hudson Young for an "Origin play" during the Raiders win over the Dragons.
Canberra held on for a 36-26 victory after a significant second half fade-out, but it was the play of Young that sealed the result.
With the Raiders holding a four-point lead, Dragons hooker Jacob Liddle broke through the line before Young ran him down and dislodged the ball with a strong tackle.
Canberra have withstood a Junior Amone-inspired comeback from spirited St George Illawarra, scoring a 36-26 victory and maintaining their reputation as the NRL's most chaotic winners.
The Raiders cruised to a 24-6 halftime lead on Friday night by exploiting the Dragons' notoriously leaky left edge, Matt Timoko starring for Canberra at WIN Stadium.
But just as Canberra looked ready to kick their habit of only triumphing by single digits, Amone helped the Dragons pile on three tries in seven minutes, defying the absence of disgruntled State of Origin representative Ben Hunt.
The Dragons had to contend with injuries to stand-in...
In the spirit of giving the fans what they want, we'll throw down to St George Illawarra captain Blake Lawrie straight after full-time.
I'm captain? Really? Oh, that's right. Our usual one is the only bloke who wants to walk further from home base than Jonny Bairstow, and the other one we had, um, yeah, you know why he can't do it all the time. Full credit to everyone who turned up here tonight. I can't believe people are still bothering to watch us. I mean, there's a concert next door. I thought that might have been what all the traffic was for outside the ground. By the way, have you got Flanno's number?
Ah, thanks...