Hudson Young sin binned as Raiders win 24-20 over Sharks

Canberra forward Hudson Young became the first player sin binned under the NRL’s high shot recalibration, but then helped set up one of the team tries of the season as the Raiders pipped the Sharks at the death.

Representative second rower Hudson Young became the first player sin binned after the NRL’s high shot clampdown as the Raiders kicked off the NRL’s Multicultural Round with a last ditch win in the nation’s capital.

Young became the first victim of the recalibration when referee Todd Smith and bunker official Ashley Klein found fault with a tackle when his shoulder came into direct contact with the head of Cameron McInnes in the 57th minute.

WATCH THE INCREDIBLE MATCH-WINNING TRY IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE

Later in the second half fellow Raider Ata Mariota’s shoulder cannoned into to the head of Billy Burns but the contact was deemed to be minimal and Mariota stayed on the field.

Both sides scored three tries in the opening half, but it took 39 minutes of the second period before Seb Kris, the Canberra left centre, scored a stunning match winner on the right edge, to snatch their fifth victory from their past six games at GIO Stadium, 24-20.

Raiders centre Sebastian Kris celebrates after scoring the match winning try at the death. Picture: Getty Images

On the last tackle of what was likely their final attacking chance, no less than ten Raiders were involved in a 50 metre heist that covered both sides of the field, featured a huge break from Young, a kick and a flick pass.

Despite the sin binning, Raiders coach Ricky Stuart paid tribute to Young’s form, highlighted tonight by two-try performance and his role in the match winner. Stuart even anointed Young as a future captain of the club to replace Joseph Tapine.

“This is the best start to the season I reckon Hudson’s had since I’ve coached him.

“He’s really started the season well and his off field manner, his leadership, he’s very authentic.

“He loves rugby league, he loves the Raiders, he loves his position in the club at the moment.

“He’s a guy who can one day take over Taps as a captain, you know, if he’s around that long. He’s wonderful assistance for Taps as a leader. I reckon it’s the best start of his season I’ve had him in his career.”

The Raiders were on the board on five minutes when English import Matty Nicholson beat four woeful attempts at tackle to score under the posts.

Canberra had not conceded a point in the opening 20 minutes of their previous four matches this season but that all changed when Sharks centre Mawene Hiroti beat Matt Timoko point blank to score four minutes later to level the scores.

Doubles to opposing backrowers Young and Briton Nikora saw the teams locked at 18-all when they headed to the sheds.

There really was a struck match between the two sides with both big packs trading blows in the middle throughout, while Sharks halves Hynes and Trindall and Raiders number seven Jamal Fogarty kicked with class.

Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon said his side struggled with their execution, revealing they were battling a host of injuries effecting their preparation.

“I thought it was a pretty even match in the end but (our) execution’s a little bit off at the moment.

“Lack of training time, changes, illness. We’ve had a number of players busted and we haven’t been training with the team that we’ve been setting up with, so it effects your cohesion a little bit on how you play. So, we’ll get a longer turn around and get some work done next week and hopefully have some more healthy players that can actually train.

“Guys are playing busted at the moment, but no excuses either. Everyone goes through it from time to time. Just got to deal with it.”

CRACKDOWN ON SHOW

There was plenty of angst coming into this round that match officials would overuse the sin bin after they failed to take action against four players who made high tackles in round four.

Jarome Luai, Reed Mahoney, Tom Gilbert and Jordan Riki all avoided a trip to the bin but accepted fines or suspensions for their offences post match, prompting a reaction from the NRL’s top brass.

Hudson Young was the first player sin-binned under the NRL’s high shot clampdown. Picture: Getty Images

Head of football Graham Annesley wrote to clubs and confirmed he was unhappy that those four players were not sent to the sin bin after making “direct forceful contact with the head/neck of opponents”.

“Over the weekend, we identified direct, forceful contact to the head with no mitigation,” NRL CEO Andrew Abdo joined the chorus on NRL 360.

Young felt the full force of the new focus, but the Raiders did remarkably well to keep the Sharks from crossing the line during Young’s time off the field.

HERO HIROTI

Sharks centre Mawene Hiroti had played just four top grade games across the last three years and only 25 in his career coming into tonight’s match where he replaced injured regular starter Kayal Iro, but the 26-year-old looked like a star at times.

Playing inside Ronaldo Mulitalo, Hiroti scored a slashing try, made several powerful stops in defence and ran 18 times for 200 metres.

For his part, Mulitalo covered 209 metres from 21 runs. Both were topped by massive front rower Addin Fonua-Blake who powered through 211 metres.

WEEKES BOMBED

Kaeo Weekes endured difficult nights under the high ball against both the Sea Eagles and the Cowboys in Canberra’s two most recent outings and things didn’t look to be getting any better when he spilled his first bomb inside two minutes tonight. He dropped another later in the half and never looked confident when contesting the ball.

Canberra coach Ricky Stuart is an unabashed fan of the speedy fullback, but Weekes must be looking over his shoulder at the prodigious Chevy Stewart, who scored a try and racked up almost 200 run metres in the NSW Cup last week.

Weekes did show how special he is with the ball in hand however, slicing through the Sharks defence and burning his opposite number Will Kennedy for speed with a 40 metre run to the line in the first half, only for the try to be disallowed after the bunker found Nicholson had impeded Braydon Trindall’s ability to stop Weekes.

Originally published as Hudson Young sin binned as Raiders win 24-20 over Sharks