Campo’s Corner: How the Raiders and Roosters fought their way through to the grand final
Before we look ahead to the grand final showdown between the Raiders and the Roosters, Campo’s Corner takes one last look back at how both sides fought their way through.
Raiders
Don't miss out on the headlines from Raiders. Followed categories will be added to My News.
MONDAY BUZZ: Gus weighs in on Nine drama
EARLY MAIL: Raiders roll the dice on Leilua
The best week of the year is upon us, it’s time for tickets to be tracked down, lucky jerseys to be donned and terrible premiership tattoos to be tentatively planned.
That’s right, it’s grand final week, with the Roosters and the Raiders having it out on Sunday for the 2019 NRL premiership.
Before we look forward let’s have one look back at how the Raiders and Roosters fought their way through to the grand final and a bit of the history between the two clubs.
A quick programming note – because I love biting off more than I can chew, Campo’s Corner will be running five times this week. That’s every weekday. Will I enter grand final day a shambling mess who hasn’t slept in several days? Impossible to confirm or deny at this time.
Live stream the 2019 NRL Holden Women’s Premiership Grand Final Live & On-Demand on KAYO SPORTS. Get your 14 day free trial and start streaming instantly >
CANBERRA RAIDERS 16 DEF SOUTH SYDNEY 10
here has been so much written and said about Canberra’s defensive metamorphosis but it deserves extra recognition.
Holding out South Sydney for as long as they did was one of the great defensive efforts in a season full of them. Jarrod Croker was partially at fault for South Sydney’s first try when he followed Jack Wighton in off a scrum, but the Raiders skipper was otherwise faultless defensively, cleaning up several chances and helping put the clamps on the Rabbitohs right hand side.
On the left, Cody Walker played his best game in many weeks – it took a special effort from Hodgson to deny him a try in the first half – as the Rabbitohs targeted Aidan Sezer and Joey Leilua. Apart from an early miscue of communication, when Sezer swept behind looking for a grubber that never came, the two communicated well and made a number of crucial reads to stop the Rabbitohs time and again.
Wayne Bennett’s decision to switch Sam Burgess to the middle and start Ethan Lowe was a good one – Lowe isn’t as spectacular with the ball as Burgess, but he’s far more defensively sound as a second rower. It’s no coincidence Dane Gagai and Adam Reynolds both defended strongly after last week’s nightmare against Manly with Lowe bridging the gap between them. It also allowed Burgess to add further steel to South Sydney’s middle, an area the Bunnies could well have dominated were it not for Josh Papalii.
Speaking of Papalii, this was the best game he has ever played and one of the best finals performances by any prop in recent years. More than once Canberra were trapped down their own end after three tackles only for a Papalii charge to take them 10 or 12 metres downfield. His 179 metres gained were the most of any forward on the field – John Bateman was the only other Raiders forward to crack the century. The 27-year old is fast becoming a Raiders legend, and Canberra’s hopes of victory in the grand final rest on him more than any other single player.
This match was not unlike many of Canberra’s wins this year in that their attack didn’t quite click into gear, especially in the attacking 20, but their defence and effort won them the day. As expected, they ran almost all their formations down the left, with Jack Wighton playing a prominent role as a runner. They played things tight, with the ball rarely getting outside the scrum lines and precious little play was directed down Joey Leilua and Jordan Rapana’s side.
Once again, the Raiders created points through effort, enthusiasm and being in the right place at the right time. None of their tries came from sparkling execution, all of them came just by going as hard as they could when it mattered. Skeptics might say that won’t be enough against the Roosters, who have conceded just 12 points in their two finals matches, but Canberra scored 42 points in their two regular season matches against the Tricolours, the second best total in the league.
It’s fitting the Raiders play the Roosters in this grand final because stylistically they take after Ricky Stuart’s Roosters teams of the early 2000s. When Stuart led the Chooks to three straight grand finals from 2002 to 2004 their heart was a crushing, overpowering defensive intensity, manifested by a suffocating line speed the likes of which haven’t been seen since.
This Canberra team isn’t built to choke teams out like those Roosters were – the Raiders depend more on their scrambling defence and power hitting to physically dominate rather than suffocate – but the foundations of the two teams are similar.
In what is my favourite stat of grand final week so far, Sunday will mark 17 years to the day since Stuart led the Roosters to their first title in 27 years. It was his first season as an NRL coach and now, as the third most experienced coach in the league behind Craig Bellamy and Wayne Bennett, he has the chance to do it again.
South Sydney should not despair, despite the litany of chances they had to break the Raiders down. Their mid-season additions and a variety of niggling injuries and suspensions meant their best 17 never really got settled and they never really got their momentum back after Origin. Even with all the things that didn’t go their way they made it to the preliminary final and fought hard in a defeat which left them losing no admirers.
Adam Reynolds struggling to take control of the attack is a small concern, as was Damien Cook’s indecisiveness when he took off from dummy half, but all the pieces are there for Souths – they just didn’t quite fit together this time.
SYDNEY ROOSTERS 14 DEF MELBOURNE STORM 6
There haven’t been many times this year when Melbourne really missed Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk, which is a mark of the system Craig Bellamy has built and the quality of the Storm roster, but this was one of those times.
The Storm are in a unique position – with Jahrome Hughes at halfback, they’re essentially playing Cameron Smith and three fullbacks in their spine. Cameron Munster has transformed himself into an excellent five-eighth, but he doesn’t control the attack like a more natural half would, nor does Hughes.
Most of the time this isn’t a problem, but it can be an issue when Melbourne take on the other top defensive sides in the competition. Without Slater and Cronk their attack can sometimes become too lateral, with the ball often taking too long to get to the fringes.
Hughes played well in this one and looked dangerous, Munster couldn’t quite get into the game but had his moments – but the combination never really clicked and against the Roosters, when the margins are so thin and every chance must be taken, the Storm couldn’t afford to let anything slip by.
The Roosters were a bit like the Raiders in that their defensive resolve built this victory. Their own tries came from a freakish pass from Daniel Tupou when the play looked dead and Tedesco burrowing at the line one tackle removed from a rare linebreak.
Trent Robinson talks about defence the way poets talk about love, and he’s often remarked about how a defensive line should not be reactive but anticipatory. That’s what makes the Roosters so hard to break down, they don’t respond to what the other team does, they cut it off before there’s even been a chance for it to happen.
The injury to Felise Kaufusi ended up playing a major role in the match because Melbourne did not have a specialised edge backrower on the bench. Dale Finucane is one of the best locks in the game but he hasn’t played on an edge since his Bulldogs days, and he certainly couldn’t replicate the combinations Kaufusi has with the rest of the right edge, offensively or defensively.
In an evenly poised battle such an advantage was crucial for the Roosters – it’s no coincidence Boyd Cordner had one of his best games of the season as Luke Keary had a field day targeting the space either side of Finucane.
Many pundits – myself included – thought the absence of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves would make the forward battle lean towards Melbourne but the Roosters, again aided by the Storm losing Finucane to the edge, not only held their own, they won it comprehensively. Angus Crichton had his best game for the club and Sio Siua Tauikeaho more than held his own, while Jesse Bromwich’s struggles against the Roosters continued and Nelson Asofa-Solomona did all he could but lacked support.
Special mention must go to James Tedesco. What makes the Roosters fullback one of the best players in the world is his seemingly permanent presence in matches – he touches the ball so often and works so hard to stay involved in the match he’s bound to have a more positive impact through sheer weight of numbers.
This was not the kind of game Tedesco could break open with his speed or agility, and he got a couple of ball-playing decisions wrong, but he also touched the ball 32 times (only Cronk, Keary and Sam Verrills had more possessions) and he ran it 21 times (his equal highest single game total for the season). Tedesco is just always there, always running, always making metres, always pushing up in support, and he was rewarded with a crucial four-pointer in the second half. You never come away from a James Tedesco game and wish he was more involved. His excellence is his presence.
HALF RAIDER, HALF ROOSTER
We’ll delve into the ins and outs of the grand final matchup a bit later in the week, but it’s worth noting Stuart isn’t the only common factor between the two clubs.
Joey Leilua is the only Raider with NRL grand final experience, which he gained as a teenage winger at the Roosters in the 2010 decider. He was mainly known as BJ back then, and it was just his 17th NRL game. Mitch Aubusson, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and possibly Jake Friend are the only Roosters remaining from that day while Brett Morris was on the wing for the Dragons.
Plenty of players have swapped between the two sides, including Leilua, David Shillington, Brett Mullins, Blake Ferguson, Todd Carney, Joel Monaghan, John Ferguson, Brett Finch, Sia Soliola and Terry Fahey, but after consultation with a number of prominent Raiders and Roosters fans let the word go forth from this time and place – the Clive Churchill medal will be renamed after Phil Graham, a speedy centre/winger who played seven years for Canberra from 2002 to 2009 and two seasons for the Roosters after that. There will be no further comment at this time.
GOLDEN HOMBRE
Is there anything more thrilling than when a big man gets into the clear and attempts an ill-advised dummy, or perhaps a chip kick?
Is there anything greater than when a large lad decides the time has come for him to show the world the ball skills he knows lurk deep within?
Is there anything that lifts the spirit more than a hefty fellow crashing across the stripe for his second NRL try in his 179th first grade match?
I say no, and to honour these big fellas each and every week of the year, which many have dubbed #BigManSeason, we hand out The Golden Hombre, named after Todd Payten, the biggest halfback God ever created.
There is only one possible winner this week and it’s that man Papalii. Five tries in his last nine games is a strike rate plenty of backs would be proud of, and summoning the energy to bust through three defenders and score under the posts was a mighty feat given the big unit’s workrate through the match. Stay tuned for Thursday, when we reveal who takes home the Golden Hombre award for the entire season.
Originally published as Campo’s Corner: How the Raiders and Roosters fought their way through to the grand final
NRL star charged with threatening police
Canberra Raiders veteran player Josh Papalii has been charged over an ugly confrontation with police inside a licensed venue, just weeks before he won a prestigious award.
NRL ‘choke’ job leaves star in tears
The Dragons were in the box seat for finals two weeks ago but have crashed out of contention in the most brutal of ways.