Canberra Raiders hammer Cronulla Sharks in NRL round 20 upset

THE rampaging Raiders kept their season alive by hammering the Sharks, who are in freefall after a brilliant start to the year.

A WEEK ago David Furner's job at Canberra looked about as safe as Julia Gillard's - but by the time he headed home last night Furner was a coach dreaming finals footy again.

Six rounds to play. Six teams competing for the eighth and last finals spot on offer - bring it on.

Before yesterday the Raiders were a finals' afterthought but such was the power and poise in their shock victory over one of the season's most consistent teams that suddenly there must be a rethink on just what this highly talented Canberra side is capable of.

While the Sharks were admittedly without inspirational skipper Paul Gallen and the tough-as-nails Jeremy Smith, to go home 36-4 winners on any day from Cronulla is a statement in itself.

Match centre: Game details and stats, plus vote for man of the match

Furner was asked to explain where yesterday's performance came from - especially in the wake of the terrible effort his side dished up in last week's 38-26 loss to the Gold Coast at home.

"I think one of my assistants put it quite well; If we were a horse you'd swab us," Furner joked.

While the Sharks yesterday let a golden chance to secure a top-four spot slip, the win means the Raiders are now one of five teams on 20 competition points and equal ninth with the Warriors, Titans, Knights and Dragons.

Gallery: Top snaps from the match

It puts them all just behind the eighth-placed Wests Tigers, who are on 22 competition points ahead of tonight's crucial showdown with the Cowboys.

Asked if finals footy was again on the Raiders' radar, Furner added: "The players, the staff, we haven't given up."

Given yesterday's effort, so they shouldn't.

As awful as the Sharks were the Raiders were awesome from the opening minutes when Reece Robinson caught a bomb on his own tryline and raced 90 metres to lay the foundations for Sam Williams' opening try.

From that point on they never looked back.

Despite losing a 5-1 penalty count and having one controversial try disallowed when referee Henry Perenara called a forward pass on what looked a line ball from Josh Dugan for a Reece Robinson try in the 55th minute, the Raiders were always in control.

By half-time, they were up 24-4 and when Dugan raced 90-plus metres to score after collecting a Todd Carney cutout pass in the 65th minute it was game, set and match.

Up front, David Shillington led the way for the Raiders with 169 metres from 16 runs while Josh Papalii and Josh McCrone were terrific on the right edge and Jarrod Croker finished with a personal tally of 20 points coming from two tries and six goals.

The Sharks completed only 19 of 33 sets to the Raiders 25 from 36 while Cronulla also missed a staggering 42 tackles and made 14 handling errors in what was without question their worst performance since the loss to Newcastle way back in round two.

"We have based ourselves on being consistent, being ruthless and that sort of stuff and that wasn't there today," coach Shane Flanagan said.

"Some things in rugby league are not negotiable, you have to turn up and do them every week and if you don't do them you get scores like that put on you.

"We didn't do a few things that need to be done every week in rugby league and the score and the result shows. "I thought we were OK before the game but we weren't, we got off to a poor start. A couple of the players were way, way off the mark in their games in vital positions and it didn't help.

"We just weren't there today and I can't explain why, we had everything to play for."

The Sharks will have both Smith and Gallen back for Saturday night's match against Penrith while the Raiders take on Newcastle on Sunday in Canberra in what is shaping up as a finals eliminator for both clubs.

"I spoke about it straight after the game," Furner added.

"What that win has done for the side is give us an opportunity to be in the final race."

RAIDERS 36 (J Croker 2 J Dugan B Ferguson J Papalii S Williams tries J Croker 6 goals) bt CRONULLA 4 (M Taufua try) at Toyota Stadium. Referee: Shayne Hayne, Henry Perenara. Crowd: 12,139.