Elliott Whitehead scores golden point try as Canberra beat St George Illawarra 18-14

THE Raiders season is still alive following an 18-14 golden point victory over Canberra with Dragons fullback Josh Dugan missing the crucial stages due to concussion.

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA — JULY 14: Luke Bateman of the Raiders is tackled during the round 19 NRL match between the Canberra Raiders and the St George Illawarra Dragons at GIO Stadium on July 14, 2017 in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

ST GEORGE Illawarra coach Paul McGregor was disappointed Josh Papalii avoided any sanction for a blatant shoulder charge that ended the night of superstar No. 1 Josh Dugan.

Not only did the Dragons lose 18-14 to Canberra in a golden-point thriller, they played without Dugan the final 20 minutes after he failed a HIA test because of the Papalii hit, and lost Russell Packer to a hip pointer injury in the opening minutes.

Papalii will be charged on Saturday and is a big chance to be rubbed out of next Saturday’s clash against Melbourne for putting his left shoulder into Dugan as he retrieved a bomb.

It was not the most vicious hit of the season but arguably the most deliberate.

McGregor said it was a shame the Storm - not the Dragons - were likely to benefit from any punishment handed to Papalii who finished the game.

“There were a few decisions tonight. I thought we were watched a lot and managed by the referee a lot, and I don’t think the same concentration went on the opposition,’’ McGregor said.

“Not only that, you lose a player out of a game and Melbourne probably get that benefit next week, which is disappointing.

“Josh thought he was OK to come back on, but he got ruled out by the NRL (doctor).’’

Taylor was superb off the bench for the Raiders.

McGregor said prop Packer received a few pain-killing injections, but was unable to return to the field, and would be closely monitored over the next nine days before their WIN Stadium clash against Manly.

The Dragons loss will see them finish the weekend in eighth place, just two points in front of Penrith.

They had the chance to jump as high as sixth had results gone their way.

McGregor was happy with what he saw, and admitted ‘’if we build on tonight we’ll go quite well the next seven games’’.

“If we play like that, we’ll win most of the games the rest of the year.’’

Raiders winger Nick Cotric scored the opener, but the Dragons hit back through tries to skipper Gareth Widdop and Jason Nightingale.

They survived six Canberra penalties inside the final 11 minutes of the first half, then went further ahead via a Widdop penalty conversion after the break.

Once Dugan was forced from the field for a HIA - and was heckled by the majority of the 10,977 faithful - Aidan Sezer took an intercept and raced 90m to score.

Dugan would have normally been the last line of defence. His last game in Canberra also ended early when he broke his cheekbone during the Anzac Test.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said he would review Papalii’s shoulder charge, but praised his want to start the game after playing in Queensland’s big Origin win 48 hours earlier.

“I rang Josh yesterday morning, I said, ‘Pappa, do you want me to put you on the bench or do you want to start?’, and he said, ‘Sticky, I want to start’,’’ Stuart said.

“That set the tone, and that’s what the boys needed. It meant so much to them.’’

The golden-point win was a confidence boost for the Green Machine who had lost their three other games that went overtime earlier this year.

CANBERRA 18 (N Cotric A Sezer E Whitehead tries J Croker 3 goals) bt ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 14 (J Nightingale G Widdop tries G Widdop 3 goals) in extra time at GIO Stadium. Referee: Chris Sutton, Grant Atkins. Crowd: 10,977

Originally published as Elliott Whitehead scores golden point try as Canberra beat St George Illawarra 18-14