The Green Machine is not a flashy or shiny conveyance but it gets the job done.
Unfashionable old Canberra are second on the NRL ladder after 12 rounds after grinding out a 16-10 triumph in Auckland to end the Warriors’ five-game winning streak and leapfrogging them in the process.
Pre-season predictions of Ricky Stuart’s team collecting the wooden spoon seem like a lifetime ago as they have now racked up nine wins from 12 starts to be just one win behind the Bulldogs in top spot.
The rounds prior to Origin matches are renowned for putting up uninspiring matches due to players being out but this one was intense and entertaining with only a couple of stars away on representative duties.
There’s still slightly more than half of the season remaining but it seems certain that these two teams will be in the playoffs and there’s a fair chance they will make up half of the top four at this rate.
1. Ricky revives Raiders
Stuart has only won the Dally M Coach of the Year honour once in his 23-year career at the helm of four clubs.
That was in 2016 when he lifted the Raiders into a surprise second-placed finish.
Nine years later as we approach the halfway point of the 2025 competition, he would have to be the favourite to take out the trophy.
He is not everyone’s cup of tea, particularly when he whinges about referees, and there were plenty of fans and experts surprised when the Raiders extended his contract last year until the end of the decade, but he is continuing to prove his critics wrong.
Stuart was not impressed after his team beat the Warriors in the season opener when it was put to him that the Raiders had been predicted to be finishing among the also-rans.
“It’s gonna be a tough competition mate if we’re gonna run last,” he said with a deadpan expression at Allegiant Stadium.
The chances of that happening are now almost mathematically impossible after their second victory over the Warriors.
They are one of just three teams who have not yet had a bye so they have got a guaranteed six points coming with two more matches on the schedule before they get their first well-earned rest.
Tom Starling celebrates with teammates. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
2. Warriors fail to take chances
The Warriors played like a frustrated team for the most part against Canberra on Sunday.
They prefer a free-flowing contest but a combination of the rain and the Raiders’ grimy mentality put the home side off their game – just a touch but enough to upset the momentum they had built over five unbeaten weeks.
It was one of those matches which could have gone either way and just when it looked like one team was getting on top, the other one counter-punched.
With only Warriors forward Mitch Barnett and Raiders second-rower Hudson Young out of action due to Origin, this shaped up as the match of the round.
And it lived up to that billing with both in-form sides continuing their season of over-achievement.
3. A gripping contest down to the wire
The Raiders got the jump on the Warriors in the opening match of 2025 in Las Vegas, making this match the first time in premiership history that two teams have played each other twice in the same season without being on Australian soil.
After the Raiders opted against an early penalty goal, the Warriors took the two on offer in the 14th minute before Roger Tuivasa-Sheck contorted his way over fullback Kaeo Weekes and the try line.
Referee Adam Gee relieved the Raiders of Corey Horsburgh’s services for 10 minutes due to repeated team infringements and they dominated his sin bin stint with Tom Starling cutting the gap to two when he backed up Seb Kris.
The old-school nature of this contest continued either side of half-time with an exchange of penalty goals leaving the scoreline reading 10-10 heading into the final quarter of the match.
Jamal Fogarty is not known for his pace – he was once run down by future teammate Josh Papalii during his days at the Titans – but the Canberra halfback scooted clear a few minutes later and raced past Te Maire Martin for a 16-10 buffer.
Martin was at the back because Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad had been sin-binned after a string of Warriors penalties.
Starling became the third player in the match to be sent to the bin for a late hit on Chanel Harris-Tavita with his team stretched to the limit after repeated attacking raids.
Warriors forward Marate Niukore slid to the line but Gee’s eagle eyes were correct in ruling he did not get the ball onto the stripe as Morgan Smithies and Horsburgh pulled off a try- and match-saving tackle.
4. RTS wing switch proves a winner
The decision to put Tuivasa-Sheck on the wing this year raised a few eyebrows given the Warriors had forked out plenty of cash to get him back from the periphery of All Blacks selection.
He was used at centre in his comeback season last year and coach Andrew Webster’s call to put him out onto the wing could have backfired if it meant he saw less of the ball.
But he has adapted superbly to more than play his part on the left edge, leaving the younger legs of Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad to do the everywhere work needed at fullback where RTS won the Dally M Medal at his peak in 2018.
He combined brilliantly with CNK to make the break which led to the opening try of the match when the dual international carried Raiders fullback Kaeo Weekes over the line to score in the corner even though he had the narrowest of channels to touch down.
Tuivasa-Sheck, who turns 32 next month, did spend his first three seasons on the wing at the Roosters before kicking off his first stint at the Warriors a decade ago.
With Dallin Watene-Zelezniak on the right flank, the Warriors have one of the most experienced and potent back threes in the NRL.
5. Discipline falls ill
There were two moments of ill discipline in the first half which fall into the “coach-killers” category.
Firstly, the Raiders had been warned about repeated six-again infringements and penalties with Joseph Tapine told in no uncertain terms during a break in play to let his team know their tactics would not be tolerated.
Corey Horsburgh was paying $1.01 to be the player who failed to heed the warning and sure enough, he was marched for holding down too long in a tackle with the Warriors on the attack.
There’s a fine line between being a wholehearted and passionate player who gives their all for the team and one who is too dopey for their own good. On this occasion, Horsburgh fell into the latter group.
And then with less than 30 seconds on the clock in the first half, Warriors centre Adam Pompey gave away an even dumber penalty when he jumped the start on a line drop-out without even checking that the ball had been kicked.
“He was not even watching his kicker. In two versus four on your home deck with 30 seconds to go, you’re up by two in tough conditions, every point counts, every moment counts. That’s inexcusable,” said former Kangaroos halfback Cooper Cronk on Fox League commentary as the Raiders booted the easiest of penalty goals for an 8-8 deadlock at the break.
The Kick: Judiciary needs to crush players over terrible tackle
The only time crushers should be seen in rugby league is grainy YouTube footage of Noel Cleal tearing it up for Manly in the 1980s or the brief South Queensland foray of the mid 1990s.
It is an insidious tackle which is often over-penalised when there is no intent.
But for whatever reason, some defenders are still recklessly, perhaps deliberately, putting opponents in those vulnerable and potentially career-ending positions where they apply pressure to the back of the neck by using their downward body force.
Penrith forward Liam Henry’s one on Saturday night against Newcastle was terrible – he should have got more than 10 minutes in the sin bin on the night as well as a heftier ban than the two-match sanction that has been dished out.
Tapine was placed on report for one in the first half on Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad that was more in the careless class but still a dangerous act.
The Canberra captain then had the temerity to argue the point with Gee after he was pinged and dish out the “cry baby” signal to his former grand final teammate.
