Raiders down Rabbitohs 16-10 to reach NRL grand final
Canberra have booked a spot in their first grand final since 1994 after outlasting South Sydney in an epic clash in Canberra.
Player ratings: Perfect 10 powers Raiders to victory
Analysis: Hand of God? No, Hand of Hodgson
Ricky Stuart, this is not a dream.
Update: The Canberra Raiders’ favourite son has done what many at the start of this season would have rated mission impossible.
The team that couldn’t defend to save their lives last year are the first side into the 2019 NRL grand final.
And they have done it on the back of one of the gutsiest defensive efforts in the club’s history after putting Wayne Bennett’s and South Sydney’s dream to bed for another year on an historic night in the nation’s capital.
And in what will go down as one of the great front-rower performances, it was a former member of the Raiders’ fat club who produced a marathon and match-clinching effort when the rampaging Josh Papalii sealed a thoroughly deserved 16-10 victory in the dying minutes.
But Papalii’s wonderful performance could be overshadowed after the big prop was placed on report for a high tackle on Souths fullback Adam Doueihi.
After playing all but 10 minutes of the gruelling and brutal preliminary final, Papalii crashed over in the 74th minute after Jack Wighton had earlier broken a 6-all halftime deadlock.
It will be the Raiders’ first grand final appearance in 25 years while it has been 30 years since Canberra claimed their maiden premiership in 1989, when Stuart was a young halfback with a dream of making this club great.
It’s also why he returned in 2014 to coach the Raiders who haven’t so much as made a grand final since his last premiership in 1994.
“It is a great feeling,” Stuart said in the euphoria on Friday night.
“It hasn’t just been this year, it has been many, many years of hard work, disappointments and a lot of lows to get to this opportunity to play in a grand final.
“I couldn’t be more proud for those blokes in that change room.
“They have got the opportunity to create a little bit of their own history.
“We are only half way there though. We have got another game to play and by no means will we be looking too far ahead.”
It was a sad end for the brave Rabbitohs but the Raiders’ were the better team, and despite having to do a stack more defence they held on for a courageous victory.
RICKY’S REDEMPTION
Three years ago the Canberra coach was so heartbroken after losing a controversial preliminary final to Melbourne, for days Stuart tossed up in his own mind why he would even want to stay coaching.
But ultimately his love for his club and his players was too much to walk away. And on Friday night all the blood, sweat and tears was finally rewarded.
As the fulltime siren sounded a huge home crowd of 26,567 roared as one.
The players collapsed on the ground and as the Green Machine anthem blasted there were hugs all round.
This is a team that has built its success this year on camaraderie and it was on show last night with the players turning up for each other time and again.
For what seemed an eternity in the second half the Rabbitohs were hammering the Raiders’ line only to be turned away time and again through sheer desire.
“It wasn’t pretty,” Stuart added. “I believe we can attack a little bit better but defensively you can’t defend like that if you don’t believe in each other and don’t have the trust and camaraderie.”
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PAPALII’S NERVOUS WAIT
The Raiders had some standout performers but none were better than Papalii who didn’t have a break until the 52nd minute. He then returned after only a 10 minute break and lasted until fulltime, knocking up 167m, 36 tackles and clocking off with a memorable try.
But it remains to be seen what the match review committee will make of the clumsy effort on Doueihi.
There is no question Doeuihi copped it high but it should not warrant a player missing the grand final.
“I don’t believe he has anything to answer to,” Stuart said.
Joey Leilu’a chances of playing in the grand final didn’t look flash as he hobbled from the field in the 66th minute with a leg injury.
The powerhouse centre suffered what looked to be a calf strain.
HODGSON HEROICS
In a first half where the pendulum swung on several occasions to be 6-all at the break, Josh Hodgson came up with some tremendous plays.
It was a Hodgson one-on-one strip on Ethan Lowe that set in motion the Raiders’ first try.
From an Elliott Whitehead offload, Hodgson then put through a grubber that Corey Allan retrieved but the young Bunny lost possession after a desperate chase from Hodgson, gifting Jarrod Croker the opening points.
Hodgson also produced a terrific try-saving strip to deny Cody Walker what looked a certain try gone begging.
BUNNIES BLOW EARLY CHANCES
Some would consider the Rabbitohs lucky to be locked at 6-all at the break but in truth they probably should have had at least two more tries.
In the second half they had a stack of possession but their attack just didn’t click. Then when Charnze Nicholl-Klokstad was sin binned with 10 minutes remaining they looked to have the Raiders on the ropes again but Souths just couldn’t deliver the knockout punch.
A clearly frustrated Bennett offered a brutal assessment of his team’s performance.
“Unfortunately at this level trying doesn’t get the job done for you,” Bennett said.
“You either do it or you don’t and we didn’t do it.”
CANBERRA 16 (J Croker J Papalii J Wighton tries J Croker 2 goals) bt SOUTH SYDNEY 10 (D Gagai C Graham tries A Reynolds goal) at GIO Stadium. Referee: Ben Cummins, Grant Atkins. Crowd: 26,567
Originally published as Raiders down Rabbitohs 16-10 to reach NRL grand final
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