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Raiders storm to victory as Benji Marshall faces first big coaching call

Benji Marshall’s first official game as Wests Tigers coach has ended in a whimper, with question marks flowing over his line-up.

Andrew Jackson
5 min read
March 16, 2024 - 5:26PM
The Tigers were well beaten in Benji Marshall’s debut as coach.
The Tigers were well beaten in Benji Marshall’s debut as coach.

Benji Marshall’s first official game as Wests Tigers coach has ended in defeat, with the Canberra Raiders running out 32-12 winners at GIO Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

An ill-disciplined opening from the Tigers gifted the Raiders a mountain of possession – 71 per cent of it in fact in the first 20 minutes – as Canberra raced out to an early 14-0 lead.

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While all the talk earlier in the week was about rookie Tigers playmaker Lachlan Galvin, it was Canberra’s Ethan Strange who made a statement early, having a hand in both of the Raiders’ first two tries.

First, Strange decided to explore the short side and found success as Seb Kris popped a late offload for Xavier Savage, who then linked with Danny Levi in support.

That pushed Canberra’s lead out to 8-0 after an early Jamal Fogarty penalty goal and a late six-again saw the Raiders march up the field off their next set, with Strange taking the line on and scoring.

Ethan Strange goes over to score for the Raiders.
Ethan Strange goes over to score for the Raiders.

At that point everything seemed to be pointing towards a dominant Raiders victory, with the Tigers getting dominated through the middle and doing themselves no favours with poor discipline.

Suddenly, the game flipped in the 25th minute as Galvin took on the line on the last play and flicked it inside to Jahream Bula, who then found Samuela Fainu in support.

It was then two quick tries for the Tigers as Apisai Koroisau showed his guile and experience to first draw a penalty from marker and then later in the set dart out of dummy-half and weave his way through to score.

That saw the Tigers reduce the early deficit to 14-12 but Zac Hosking broke the game open once more as he first sent Matt Timoko racing away with a quick pass on the right edge, later popping an offload close to the line to see Jordan Rapana over for a try.

Canberra then jumped further ahead on the stroke of halftime, kicking for touch off a penalty and then catching out the Tigers’ edge defence as a simple draw and pass sent Savage through untouched.

Jayden Sullivan was benched early in the second half with Aidan Sezer brought into the game, leaving Marshall with a big call to make ahead of next week’s game against the Sharks.

“At that time of the game I thought we needed a bit more organisation and experience,” Marshall said of the decision to replace Sullivan with Sezer.

Hosking capped off a brilliant individual performance on his end in the 60th minute as he came down with a Fogarty bomb to score and push the final score out to 32-12.

On paper, the Tigers are building a roster which has a nice balance of youth and experience – something which was only further highlighted by their opening two tries of the game.

First, the ball went through the hands of 18-year-old Galvin, 22-year-old Bula and 20-year-old Fainu.

The second, meanwhile, was a product of the experience and feel for the game that 31-year-old Koroisau has built over his 10 seasons in the NRL.

But for all the flashes of promise the Tigers showed in attack it will continue to mean little if they can’t improve their fitness and discipline having gifted the Raiders cheap field position and conceded soft tries accordingly.

They didn’t get much softer than the one that came on the stroke of halftime as the Raiders tapped the ball off a penalty kick for touch, catching Bud Sullivan out with a simple draw and pass that put Xavier Savage over untouched.

The Tigers let in a few soft tries. (Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)
The Tigers let in a few soft tries. (Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

Andrew Voss described it as “the biggest breakdown” he had seen in commentary while Corey Parker branded it “park footy stuff” from Marshall’s side.

“This is beautiful awareness from Seb Kris and Xavier Savage. Bud Sullivan on the right-hand side just clocking off … that is embarrassing,” added Parker.

“Sullivan just needs to move up and hold his space, he doesn’t need to be in the pocket of his defender.”

Sullivan was then benched early in the second half as Marshall injected Sezer into the game despite telling Fox League he didn’t have strict plans on when the experienced playmaker would see playing time.

“There’s no real plan for him,” Marshall said pre-game.

“He’ll cover a few positions. If anything happens to Api we can move Jayden there and play Aidan in the halves or he can play through the middle. There’s no real plan, he may not get on at the same time.”

It leaves Marshall with quite the decision to make given the more experienced Sezer may be the better option to help Galvin develop after showing flashes in his NRL debut.

The Raiders had a big win. (Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)
The Raiders had a big win. (Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

Canberra’s forward pack has always been its strength and it appears that coach Ricky Stuart will have a welcome headache when Elliott Whitehead and Corey Horsburgh are ready to return.

Whitehead is set to miss the first month of the season after suffering a calf injury while Horsburgh is suspended until round four.

In the meantime, new recruits Morgan Smithies and Zac Hosking have both made their case for a spot in Canberra’s 17 when the pair return.

In the case of Smithies, the Englishman has been a tireless presence in defence through the middle and while he maybe lacks the ball-playing that Horsburgh developed in his game at lock last season he has the kind of workrate that will keep him in the NRL for a while.

As for Hosking, he didn’t always have consistent playing time and Penrith and is likely to run into the same problem in the nation’s capital when Whitehead and Hudson Young are both healthy.

But Hosking did his chances of earning minutes when Whitehead returns no harm with a standout game on Saturday, running for 94 metres to go with three tackle busts, one linebreak, a try assist and a try of his own.

Quick hands from Hosking on the edge led to a Timoko linebreak in the lead-up to Rapana’s try in the first half, which the former Panther was also involved in as he popped the final offload.

Hosking then rose above a few Tigers defenders to collect a Fogarty bomb and score a well-deserved try to cap off an impressive performance from the 27-year-old, who Corey Parker said is a perfect addition to Canberra’s forward pack given his no-frills approach.

“The way he plays rugby league really suits the style of the Canberra Raiders,” Parker said in commentary for Fox League.

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Originally published as Raiders storm to victory as Benji Marshall faces first big coaching call

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Original URL: https://www.thechronicle.com.au/sport/nrl/raiders-storm-to-victory-as-benji-marshall-faces-first-big-coaching-call/news-story/e7e662a97276efd00770e25f3df0ede1