Brutal ‘turning point’ in Canberra Raiders’ comeback victory
The Titans were cruising before a massive hit swiftly turned the tide and allowed the Raiders to climb to third on the NRL ladder.
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A Hudson Young masterclass led Canberra to a 30-20 comeback win over the Gold Coast Titans, moving Ricky Stuart’s men to third on the NRL ladder.
Young scored two tries in the win, including the game-clincher, and the Raiders have now recorded five wins from seven games to leapfrog the Broncos and Warriors on the ladder.
It’s Young’s third double in as many games – a big reason why he sits second on the 2025 tryscoring list.
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Canberra playmaker Jamal Fogarty also put on a show against an injury-ravaged Titans, who were missing David Fifita and Jayden Campbell.
His kicking game left the Titans backs under immense pressure throughout the entire game and set-up Sebastian Kris for a try early in the second half which gave the Raiders their first lead of the game.
Earlier, the Raiders scored three tries in 13 minutes in the first half after trailing 16-0, including one right on the stroke of halftime.
The momentum appeared to shift when Raiders hooker Tom Starling delivered a huge hit on the much bigger Reagan Campbell-Gillard, forcing a knock on in the 24th minute.
Campbell-Gillard, with blood pouring from his nose from an earlier tackle, ran straight at the diminutive Starling, who showed no fear to deliver a huge hit and force a mistake.
“What a moment,” Michael Ennis said on Fox League.
“That is courage at its absolute best. If that doesn’t inspire his teammates, I don’t know what will.”
“This was the turning point,” Braith Anasta said at halftime.
Three minutes later, Canberra scored their first try of the afternoon through Savelio Tamale which is when the floodgates opened, scoring 22 points unanswered.
Gold Coast playmaker Campbell was a late out headed into Sunday’s game but his absence was barely felt as the Titan’s halves were a class above early on.
Five-eighth AJ Brimson had an opening 20 minutes to remember as he set up the first try with a delicate grubber to find Beau Fermor before producing a piece of magic for the team’s third try of the contest.
Brimson chased down his own chip to score his fifth try in his last four games to extend the margin out to 16 points.
Young halfback Tom Weaver took the place of Campbell and produced a stellar performance in his first game of the season
His elite kicking game was on show throughout and was unfortunate to not set up a try for Allan Fitzgibbon in the second half with a knock-on from Brimson ruling the try out.
Young’s incredible run of form continued as he crossed over for two key tries.
The Raiders star added his name to history as he became just the second forward in the Origin era to score multiple tries in three straight games.
Young joins Steve Menzies as the only forwards to have achieved that feat.
The 26-year-old now has seven tries in his last five games and is perfectly placed to force a return to the New South Wales State of Origin side after he was axed following the Blues’ 38-10 defeat in Game One last year.
Originally published as Brutal ‘turning point’ in Canberra Raiders’ comeback victory
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