Raiders skipper’s ‘miraculous’ flick pass sparks ‘unbelievable’ comeback
After being obliterated by the Sharks last week, Canberra have done the unthinkable after a true captain’s knock from Elliott Whitehead.
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The Canberra Raiders have pulled off one of the club’s great victories, bouncing back from a 20-0 deficit after 28 minutes to pull off a famous 26-24 win.
Having handed the Sea Eagles the hefty start just five days after being annihilated 40-0 by Cronulla, Canberra coach Ricky Stuart could have been forgiven for wanting to jump in the car and head back down the Federal Highway.
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But at full-time, the relief was clear from Stuart in the coach’s box as he hugged his assistants in the box.
“I will go with the licence of describing this as a famous Canberra Raiders victory,” Andrew Voss said on Fox League. “Unbelievable.”
Having faced an 8-3 penalty count against them, the Raiders somehow bounced back, largely thanks to returning skipper Elliott Whitehead.
Scoring two tries himself and setting up another with an incredible flick pass, Whitehead stamped his authority on the match.
Whitehead may have scored two but it was the first try that he set up that sparked the comeback.
He snatched a pass from Jake Trbojevic out of the air, before flicking for Kaeo Weekes to streak away to score under the posts.
“That is quite incredible,” Andrew Voss said on Fox League. “The Raiders with something a little miraculous.”
Steve Roach said on Fox League it was “special”.
At halftime, Whitehead’s countryman James Graham declared it was “one of the best try-assists you are ever likely to see.”
After a big match, even coach Stuart was singing his praises.
“He doesn’t want to get a wrap but having Elliott back, he played one of the best games tonight I’ve seen him play, not just the two tries but his leadership, his contribution in meetings this week,” Stuart said.
“It’s what I said last week, we missed three or four of our senior boys last week and he was massive this week. He was as good off the field this week as he was on it.”
Whitehead quipped: “Bout time you gave me a wrap.”
A clearly proud Stuart said the comeback “was part of the Raider’s DNA”.
“How we performed last week wasn’t us,” Stuart continued. “We had a choice to make to show what our real DNA is and that was one hell of a win.”
The win was some turn around from last week’s nightmare against the Sharks and the previous week’s loss to Brisbane.
It was also the ninth consecutive time the Raiders have chalked up a victory after being beaten to nil the previous week.
With Dave Lyall, NCA Newswire
Originally published as Raiders skipper’s ‘miraculous’ flick pass sparks ‘unbelievable’ comeback
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