NRL 2024: Canberra Raiders win 24-20 over Bulldogs despite Josh Papalii, Jordan Rapana double sin bin

Canberra prop Josh Papali’i has been hit with a one-week ban for his hip drop tackle on Viliame Kikau while a slew of fines have been handed out for other offences.

NRL Round 11 2024 Raiders vs. Bulldogs. Picture: NRL Imagery

Canberra prop Josh Papali’i has been hit with a one-week ban by the NRL judiciary for a hip-drop tackle on Canterbury’s Viliame Kikau.

Papali’i was sin-binned over the incident in the 39th minute of the Raiders’ gritty 24-20 win over the Bulldogs at Magic Round on Friday night.

The match review committee charged Papali’i with a grade-two dangerous contact offence over the incident.

If the Raiders forward fights the charge at the judiciary and loses, he will spend two weeks on the sideline.

However, teammate Jordan Rapana is free to take on the Sydney Roosters next week after the winger escaped with a $1000 fine for tripping Bulldogs hooker Reed Mahoney late in the contest.

Rapana attempted to charge down a kick by Mahoney before extending his leg and making contact with Bulldog No. 9 and sending him crashing to the ground.

NRL Round 11 2024 Raiders vs. Bulldogs. Picture: NRL Imagery

At the time, fans and pundits alike were calling for Rapana to be binned, for the second time in the match, but the Raiders winger was only penalised for ‘putting pressure on the kicker’.

Rapana didn’t think the contact warranted any further action on the field.

“Nah,” Rapana said when asked if he was worried about being sin-binned.

“It’s a hard one because I was going for the charge down and there was a little bit of a reaction there but if you play it all full speed, as soon as you start slowing it right down it’s easy to pick out things.

“I haven’t played in six weeks and they are a good team and pull out trick plays all the time. It was a mixed bag (from me). If we didn’t win I probably would have copped an ear full from sticky (Stuart)

Raiders forward Joe Tapine was also slapped with a $1000 fine for a grade-one careless high tackle on Kikau in the 27th minute.

Brisbane back-rower Brenden Piakura was also fined $1000 for a grade-one careless high tackle on Manly’s Corey Waddell.

DOUBLE SIN BIN IN DRAMATIC START TO MAGIC ROUND

After conceding four tries in rapid succession midway through the game, the rampaging Raiders overcame two sin bins to retake their early 12-0 lead and win 24-20 over the Bulldogs in an enthralling opener to Magic Round at Suncorp Stadium.

The Raiders’ gutsy second half resurgence after losing Jordan Rapana (late tackle) and Josh Papalii (hip drop) late in the first half ensured the Bulldogs would head home still chasing their first Magic Round victory.

Indeed Canterbury had missed the mark in their fifth attempt at success during the gala weekend of rugby league, which will remain in Brisbane through 2027.

In front of a mammoth crowd which got bigger as the game went on, Raiders young guns Ethan Strange, 19, Xavier Savage, 22 and Kaeo Weeks, 21, were instrumental in helping Canberra survive a 20-0 Bulldogs blitz after they had opened the scoring three minutes into the game.

Despite being down to 11 men at one point, the Raiders produced a remarkable comeback in the first game of Magic Round. Picture: NRL Imagery

“I said it two weeks ago against the Sea Eagles … you can’t learn whether you’ve got it or not unless you’re in the scenario, in the situation. The last two games in a row those two boys had heart, had shown wonderful patience, resilience and toughness,” praised Raiders coach Ricky Stuart.

“I thought Kaeo and Ethan’s defence tonight, outside their attack and work off the footy, I thought their defence was brilliant.”

“When we went down by two men I thought him (Strange) and Kaeo really controlled the game well and slowed the play down,” added Raiders captain Elliot Whitehead.

The Raiders’ fight was highlighted with four minutes left when their line speed forced a Reed Mahoney handling error when Canterbury were within 10m of Canberra’s tryline. Their tenacity on defence reaped rewards again on the cusp of time when forcing a Matt Burton handling error with harassing line speed.

Hudson Young’s two try effort also proved significant for the Raiders, who, with the club’s 1994 premiership winning team watching on, were able to triumph in a whirlwind prelude to the Broncos, Sea Eagles clash that followed.

“It was lovely having our 94 boys all in there … It’s a special night tonight,” said Stuart.

“94 boys I must say they are so behind … so behind the current person in our jumper … We support the player in our jumper and our number.”

COSTLY MISTAKES

Mistakes marred both sides in Friday night’s Magic Round opening match spectacle, with Bulldogs fullback Connor Tracey making two costly errors early in the first half.

A Tracey highball fumble put rampant Raiders winger Xavier Savage in for his team’s first try and later when the Bulldogs trailed 12-0, Tracey knocked the ball on in contact when charging towards the line.

To compound his shaky start, rake Reed Mahoney was unmarked on his inside and would have strolled over untouched had he looked left.

A frustrated Reed Mahoney throws the ball to the ground after a crucial error. Picture: Getty Images

The Raiders’ second try came courtesy of a Jacob Kiraz knock on after Hudson Young and Ethan Strange jammed him in a tackle.

Centre Sebastian Kris speared away for a 12-0 buffer after 22 minutes.

The recurring theme of mistakes plagued the Green Machine for the first time when veteran fullback Jordan Rapana made a nightmarish attempt at clearing a Drew Hutchinson grubber kick in the in-goal area. The fullback had an air swing and Jacob Preston pounced to make it 12-6.

UNDERMANNED

After conceding their first try, the Raiders limped into oranges to trail 14-12 after tries to former Panthers Stephen Crichton and Matt Burton swung momentum further in the Bulldogs’ favour.

A late tackle on Josh Addo-Carr saw Rapana sent to the bin and the Bulldogs were good enough to make them pay with a deadly left to right shift resulting in Crichton crashing over.

Within six minutes the Raiders found themselves down to 11 men when Raiders enforcer Josh Papalii had a moment to forget hip dropping Canterbury left edge forward Viliame Kikau.

The 110kg beast, with Kaeo Weeks also entangled, landed on Kikau’s right leg, forcing the barnstorming second rower to leave the field.

Papali’i was put on report and the deft boot of Hutchinson made the Raiders pay on the cusp of half time when a tremendous grubber kick was planted by Burton.

The hip drop tackle that saw Papali’i sin binned. Picture: NRL Imagery

The Bulldogs capped off a 14-0 scoring spurt early in the second stanza when a miraculous tap-on from Chrichton put Kiraz in untouched for the Bulldogs third try in under six minutes.

But in swooped Young, the prolific left edge try scorer landing two four-pointers in the space of 10 minutes to snatch back the lead, 24-20.

Canberra, despite promising attacking raids by Canterbury, were good enough to withstand a ton of pressure and win.

“When we got our chances to deliver the killer punch at the end we just didn’t take it,” said Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo.

“For where we want to go we need to take those opportunities at the end and we weren’t good enough tonight.”

“It came down to miscommunication and just our fundamentals just didn’t hold up and up against those good teams they took their opportunities,” Bulldogs captain Stephen Chrichton added.

“It definitely hurt us in the end.”

Jordan Rapana was sin-binned early for a professional foul and was lucky to avoid being marched a second time for this ‘trip’ on Mahoney. Picture: Getty Images

STATS THAT MATTERED

In a seesawing start to Magic Round weekend, there were a handful of players who made a real difference.

A couple of notable statistics were:

+ Fullback marvel Rapana racking up a team high 203 running metres despite missing 10 minutes in the sin bin. He also kicked four-from-four off the tee which was the difference in the end;

+ Raiders newcomer Kaeo Weeks accruing a whopping 566m in a classy kicking display, which featured six breaks and 26 tackles. To give context, Hutchinson was the next best with 216m;

+ Bulldogs halfback Hutchinson having the ball on a string, highlighted by his two try assists both coming off perfectly weighted grubber kicks.

Originally published as NRL 2024: Canberra Raiders win 24-20 over Bulldogs despite Josh Papalii, Jordan Rapana double sin bin