NRL 2020, round 8 | Canberra Raiders hang in in St George Illawarra Dragons shock thriller

The Raiders were back at home and like their Viking moniker, the blood was flowing. But a late Dragons ambush nearly burned a wounded Canberra.

Elliott Whitehead took a couple for the team.

The Canberra Raiders have been welcomed back to the nations capital in freezing conditions as the side claimed a 22-16 win over the St George Illawarra Dragons at GIO Stadium.

The Raiders were right at home back in Canberra, taking a 18-0 halftime lead to set up the win.

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While Canberra were seemingly cruising towards victory, a late surge from the Raiders made it a hairy finish.

Having not scored until Matt Dufty chased through a grubber in the 59th minute, the Dragons came hard at the Raiders with a long distance try to Zac Lomax \down the short side and a breakaway try for Dufty’s second with just over a minute remaining made it a grandstand finish.

A Corey Norman bomb couldn’t be reeled in on the buzzer however with the Raiders hanging on for a victory.

Both teams left the game pretty unhappy.

Having not been pressured throughout the match, the Dragons late ambush appears to stun the Raiders and give the side a scare in front of fans.

Post-match, Ricky Stuart said it had been a tough start to the season with the travel from Canberra to Campbelltown for home games taking three hours each way.

“We were good for a long time and you’ve got to understand how hard the last four or five weeks have been with our travel,” he said. “We’re the only team that has to get on a bus for three or four hours get off and play a game of football.

“I’m proud of how the boys have handled it because they’ve had to find a lot of energy in that last 20 minutes.”

While the side took home the two points, it’s come at a cost with some injury worries for the Raiders’ forward stocks.

In the first half Sia Soliola left the field for a head injury assessment but soon departed the ground for the hospital with a facial injury.

The veteran forward was taken to hospital with a suspected fracture with the NRL.com reporting it was a suspected broken jaw with scans required to reveal the severity of the injury.

NRL Physio on Twitter said a cheekbone or eye socket injury could see the forward on the sidelines for upwards of a month.

Sia Soliola off to hospital with a suspected facial fracture after collision below. Greatest concern for cheekbone/eye socket fracture, if confirmed usually at least 3-4 weeks on the sideline to allow for adequate bone healing #NRLRaidersDragons pic.twitter.com/5SUTDJrUac

— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) July 3, 2020

Second rower Elliott Whitehead was also seemingly on the injury list needing his left knee strapped just before halftime before a piece of friendly fire poke in the eye from prop Emre Guler in the 64th minute swelling up almost immediately.

Whitehead went off for a HIA as well but passed.

After a gutsy and brilliant performance from Whitehead, his coach paid him the ultimate compliment, calling him the “most underrated footballer in the competition”.

Guler then himself went off with a lower leg injury with the Raiders taking a few knocks in the forwards.

It adds to the loss of Corey Horsburgh and John Bateman from the Raiders side currently.

Stuart said Soliola will be out for some time, while Guler and Whitehead should be fine.

“It’s a lot of middles we’re losing at the moment and it’s an issue,” Stuart said.

Dragons coach Paul McGregor said he was “filthy” about the first 40 but the second half was what he was looking for for the full 80 minutes.