Campo’s Corner: Raiders hungry for Roosters revenge in Grand Final rematch
In this week’s edition of CAMPO’S CORNER, Nick Campton delves into the depths of Canberra’s grand final despair and how the battered Raiders were haunted by their heartbreaking defeat.
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The Raiders losing the 2019 grand final was not the end of the world.
It might have felt that way at the time, and for a generation of Canberra fans it might be the thing they never get through but the sun still rose on October 7th, and it did again every day from then until now.
The 14-8 to the Roosters in the decider does not invalidate what came before it. Nothing can take away Joey Leilua fighting the Storm half-blind and winning, or Josh Papalii banishing Damien Cook to the Shadow Realm and leading Canberra back to the grand final, or all of the ACT coming down the Hume and turning Sydney green or the incredible month when “up the milk” became a greeting, a war cry, an affirmation and a celebration.
The controversy of “six again” does not diminish the sound of Mal Meninga, the God of Canberra’s Old Testament, jumping on the horn at ANZ Stadium and calling the Green Machine to history, to their destiny, to the end of a path that ran 25 years into the past and lead to this specific time, at this specific place. It felt like it was meant to happen, and it was meant to happen this way.
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Of course, it did not go that way. Destiny doesn’t exist beyond what men make for themselves. There was 70 minutes of football on the edge of a knife, a contested kick and a wave of the hand, then plenty of confusion followed by a blindside rush, a cloud of dust and a few minutes later it was all done and the Roosters took the trophy home, knives out and beaks bloodied.
Everything that happened before James Tedesco’s premiership-winning try are treasured memories, for fans and players alike. The Raiders looked the might of the Roosters, the best team of the decade and from what’s happened since maybe one of the best of all time, dead in the eye and fought them all the way. There is no shame in losing to a team like that.
But it’s scant consolation, and coming so close makes it all the more difficult to live with. Sometimes the cruellest blow is a small bit of hope.
It haunted Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad in the quiet moments.
“It stuck with me for ages. For a long time I thought about it,” Nicoll-Klokstad said.
“I’d be going to sleep and I’d be thinking I had a few key moments I could have done a bit better.”
If any Raider could be proud of their efforts in defeat it was Nicoll-Klokstad. He churned through more run metres (219), had more carries (21) and broke more tackles (eight) than any other player on the field. The Raiders built their 2019 premiership charge on toughness, on a willingness to fight and fight again even when they seemed to have nothing left, and few summed that up like Nicoll-Klokstad.
He was subbed off with 10 minutes to go because his body was cramping up and starting to shut down. As he stalked up the sidelines to the bench, he barely looked alive. There was nothing else he could have given for the cause and there couldn’t be a Raiders fan alive who wasn’t proud of him.
Along with Clive Churchill medallist Jack Wighton and backrower Elliott Whitehead, he was one of Canberra’s best because he’s tough like some guys like to think they’re tough.
But Nicoll-Klokstad, who fought his way to that grand final from the depths of NRL purgatory on sheer force of will, was consumed by two moments he felt cost his team dearly.
“There was the (Sam) Verrills try and the dropped ball at the end of the second half. I missed my job there,” Nicoll-Klokstad said. “It cut me up a little bit. But I’m over it now, but you’ll only ever get right over it when you win one.”
Those moments are what separates NRL players from regular people, and they were supposed to be the fuel that spurred Canberra on to further greatness in 2020. They would come together and slay the beast, and there would be nothing left to fear from going back to 2019 and watching it all again. The only thing the scars from that night would prove is that Canberra could be beaten but not killed.
In the pre-season, the Raiders came together and watched bits of the game - not the whole thing, that would be too much, just a few clips here and there.
“We said it’s going to hurt to watch this stuff, but we have to take the learnings out of this game cause we found ourselves in that position again we want to do better,” Nicoll-Klokstad said.
“There were five clips, the little moments. When Siua (Taukeiaho) broke the line, things we could have done better in defence, stuff like that.
“It wasn’t big stuff, but big games like that consist of little moments and we missed the opportunities and that’s it.”
Each of the Raiders dealt with the defeat in their own way. Skipper Jarrod Croker has said he won’t watch it again until Canberra goes one better.
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Wighton is more philosophical. He has endured many highs and lows through his career, and has learned not to put too much stock in either one.
“Once it was done it was done,” Wighton said.
“A lot of people have tried to change the past and it just doesn’t work.
“All you can do is get back on the horse.”
John Bateman, who is one of a host of key Canberra men who will miss the rematch and is Wigan-bound at season’s end, couldn’t stop watching the game.
“I’ve watched it three times. And I watched the (Fox League special) where the Roosters watched it,” Bateman said.
“I watched it cause it annoys me, it makes me want to come back and be better and go one step further. You’re always learning, you never stop learning.
“You can’t sit on the fact that we got there, and we did this and we had a fantastic year. That’s a load of rubbish, that’s a load of crap.”
New recruit George Williams, who replaced grand final halfback Aidan Sezer, understood the hurt, even if he wasn’t there. Williams played in four grand finals for Wigan before he joined Canberra, winning two and losing two.
“It’s a cliche, but it does make you hungrier. When you win, it’s addictive. When that final whistle goes and you win the grand final it’s the best feeling in the world,” Williams said.
“I can’t really explain it unless you’ve been there, and when you see boys you’ve won grand finals with who are retired now or at different clubs you still have that bond from that feeling.
“You do learn from the losses, it hurts that much. When I got here they did a Q and A with me, and they spoke about what it’s like to lose. Sia (Soliola) ran over me in the 2014 grand final and scored, and I told him that haunted me for 12 months until I got back there again.
“It sits with you a long time. I watch mine back, some boys don’t want to, they just want to forget it.”
If Canberra did go on to make and win the grand final in 2020 it wouldn’t be the same as last year - after all, a team can only break a 25-year grand final drought once. The moments after the win would be as emotional, maybe even more so after 2019, and beers would be drunk and faces would be painted and the green faithful would howl at the moon and get terrible commemorative tattoos and all the rest, but the lead in would not be as powerful. They were the hunters, now they are hunted and the rise can only happen in between falls.
But talk of grand finals and revenge against the Roosters and going one better feel so far away now. The Raiders have endured a truly terrible year - first they were forced to relocate to Queensland temporarily because of the bushfires, then star recruit Curtis Scott was arrested. Bateman got shoulder surgery and became embroiled in a contract snafu.
Not long after that COVID-19 happened and forced the Raiders onto the road for weeks at a time. When they finally got back home, everyone got injured and Bateman decided to leave for Wigan. Scott has been dropped and looks a shadow of the player Canberra wanted him to be.
They enter the grand final rematch as heavy underdogs, and any chance of them avenging their premiership defeat seemed to flicker and die at the same moment Josh Hodgson left the field last week with a season-ending knee injury. So much has already changed and just nine players who run out at the SCG where there in the grand final last year.
The Raiders are not like the Roosters or Storm, they are not some perfectly designed winning machine built around generational talents like Tedesco or Smith or Cronk. If they were fighters, the Roosters would win every round while the Raiders would win fights but take plenty of punches along the way. There have been times we have watched them die in front of us, only to rise up again and keep going but the weight of the injuries is becoming impossible to bear.
There is no doubt the Green Machine will bite down on the mouthguard again and give everything they have. Their commitment has never been in question this year, and despite their struggles in attack their defence remains among the best in the competition.
But having top-end talent matters, and there’s no way around that. Toughness might be the foundation of a premiership, but talent provides the scaffolding. Saliva Havili is a fine player, a capable backup for sure - the Raiders won all three games he started last year - but he is not Hodgson. Along with Josh Papalii, Hodgson is one of the twin suns around whom the Raiders world revolves.
But Hodgson is gone now, until 2021, and Bateman’s days in Canberra are numbered. Sia Soliola, Corey Horsburgh, Emre Guler and Bailey Simonsson are all out for a long time. Canberra will still fight hard, but the fight is all they have left. Ricky Stuart remained defiant, as he always has and always will, and the club he has built is too proud to lay down. They will fight until none of them are left and the way things are going that’ll be sooner rather than later.
The Raiders still have the players to make the finals, but the chance to banish the memories of 2019 might have to wait for a little longer. The Roosters are a Death Star without a clear weakness, Melbourne are still a winning machine, Parramatta have risen up and there is so much of the 2019 Raiders in their ancient enemies out at Penrith.
Perhaps Nicoll-Klokstad and Wighton and the rest of them will get the chance to banish the ghosts one day. But that day might not come as soon as they would hope.
SHORT SHOTS
*A pretty clear top four has started to emerge (Eels, Roosters, Panthers and Storm) but I still feel like the Knights are just a player or two away from getting there. As it stands, their attack is still sorting itself out — they had more than enough ball to beat Parramatta last Sunday — but with some minor tweaks they can get there. Right now, it seems like Mitchell Pearce is trying to do a little too much in attack, possibly because his halves partner, the vastly improved Kurt Mann, is more of a runner than a creator. Adam O’Brien has shown himself to be a fine defensive coach, and he has taken the Knights far already - it’s a measure of how much they have improved that we’re talking about them taking this final step.
*Manly were my pick to win the competition at the start of the season but I’m concerned. Losing Tom Trbojevic and Addin Fonua-Blake was bad enough, let alone throw Dylan Walker into the mix, but their offering against the Dragons was well below what we’ve come to expect from them under Des Hasler. So long as they make it into the eight and have everyone fit they can give the comp a shake but that does not seem as certain as it once did.
*There is a small part of me that wants Charlie Staines to retire from the NRL immediately, go back to Forbes, captain-coach the local side to ten premierships and open a pub called Charlie Four Tries. I would drink there every day for the rest of my life.
GOLDEN HOMBRE
In these troubled times we must take comfort in the things close to our hearts.
For some, it is family and friends, and the feeling of community. For me, it is front rowers taking shots at goal, or putting in ill-advised chip kicks or perhaps throwing totally adventurous, almost foolhardy cut out passes.
The Golden Hombre is the only thing left to believe in anymore, and Campo’s Corner will hand it out each and every week to the big man moment of the round. Big Man Season lives forever in our hearts.
I am breaking protocol here and going with a pre-emptive Hombre for North Queensland naming Mitch Dunn in the halves for Sunday’s clash with Penrith. Dunn is a backrower by trade, and not without skill, but we’re only a Jake Clifford hamstring twinge away from an Asiata-Dunn halves combination. Be still my beating heart.
Originally published as Campo’s Corner: Raiders hungry for Roosters revenge in Grand Final rematch