‘Kicking them to death’: Jamal Fogarty’s perfect answer to bombshell exit
The Canberra Raiders have been tipped among the favourites for the NRL wooden spoon in 2024 after the exit of one of the club’s favourite sons.
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It may only be round one but the Canberra Raiders have passed their first test in the post-Jack Wighton era.
The Raiders’ biggest name star defected to the South Sydney Rabbitohs for 2024, leaving the Canberrans short in the playmaking department, but it hasn’t stopped the Green Machine from starting the season in perfect fashion.
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Returning to the scene of their 2023 elimination via a golden point loss in the opening week of the finals, the Raiders, who were on the third line of betting for the wooden spoon before the season began, flipped the script with a surprisingly dominant 28-12 victory in Newcastle.
The result ended the Knights’ six game winning streak at home.
Of all teams in the competition, the biggest question marks were over the Raiders side.
Although the club maintained their formidable forward pack, there were plenty of questions over how the Raiders were going to score their points.
Having lost Wighton in one of the biggest recruitment bombshells of the 2023 as well as half depth halves Matt Frawley and Brad Schneider, plenty was going to fall on the shoulders of halfback Jamal Fogarty.
Before the match, Fox League’s Cooper Cronk, Gorden Tallis and Tiana Penitani all said it was going to be tough for the Raiders this season for a simple reason — where were they going to find the points.
“It’s hard to read the Raiders. They’ve got this mentality of they’ll fight over five cents on the ground, which is a very good mentality to have,” Cronk said.
“But they finished eighth last year but they were the 13th best attack and 12th best defence – the numbers just don’t add up. So they compete, they fight, but when the opposition compete and fight, do they have the creativity, the spark, the next level to go and beat the best teams in the competition.
“Now they went within a whisker of beating Newcastle in week one (of the finals), so give them a bit of credit there and Ricky Stuart’s done it before. But there’s no Jack Wighton, they have a young kid coming in to play outside Jamal Fogarty.
“That forward pack is missing a couple of big players in Whitehead and Horsburgh, but it’s a good forward pack. So there’s something there to build on.
“I think Ricky Stuart’s got a challenge this year because if Jamal Fogarty doesn’t got to that next level, I think the Raiders might struggle.”
NRLW star Penitani added: “If Jamal Fogarty doesn’t step up into that really dominant leadership role as a half, I don’t see (the Raiders making finals) happening.”
It seems like Fogarty got the message.
The halfback lead his team around the park, with his short kicking game giving the Newcastle nightmares.
While his stats weren’t flashy by any means with one try assist and seven runs for 46m, Fogarty's kicking did a lot more heavy lifting.
“Fogarty is kicking them to death,” Greg Alexander said.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said Fogarty looked good, but only because the rest of the team did their job.
“He’s a great kicker of the footy (Fogarty), he just doesn’t get the recognition,” Stuart said.
“When all his foot soldiers complete, you’re going to get more opportunity to kick. When you give a good kicker the opportunity to kick, you’re going to be in better field position.”
The Raiders completion was 34 from 38, or 89 per cent, to the Knights’ 28 from 40 (70 per cent).
Fogarty did a majority of the kicking as the Raiders controlled possession and ran away with the win.
Coach Ricky Stuart didn’t want to get too excited.
“It’s only game one,” Stuart said.
But maybe, just maybe, there’s still something for the Green Machine’s fans to get excited about.
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