Canberra continued their march towards a minor premiership nobody saw coming while Wests Tigers could be heading for a trophy of the unwanted kind.
The Raiders were too clinical in all facets of play against a haphazard opponent to hold on for a 16-12 win after the Tigers had acres of field position for almost the entire the second half.
Their first bye of the year last week did little to halt their momentum and with 12 wins from 15 starts, their remarkable rise is arguably the finest achievement of Ricky Stuart’s coaching career since he guided the Roosters to a title in his rookie campaign 23 years ago.
The Tigers were hurtling towards the finals with a 5-4 record a month ago but have now lost five straight to return to familiar territory among the wooden spoon candidates.
1. Green Machine too clinical
When the match was on the line, the Raiders played with intelligence that was sadly lacking in their opponents.
With Joseph Tapine leading from the front as he has done all year, Canberra kept the Tigers at arm’s reach even though the home side at Campbelltown Stadium had enough possession to win two games in the second half.
Wests finished with a 54-46% advantage after camping themselves in Raiders territory for the second half but a combination of stellar scramble defence and a few wrong turns from Benji Marshall’s squad ensured the Green Machine did not cough up a 16-point lead.
It was no coincidence that the Tigers kick-started their two-try resurgence when Tapine and front-row partner Josh Papalii were getting a rest early in the second half.
Tapine’s try-saving tackle on Jarome Luai typified the strength he displays on a weekly basis for his club.
Stuart rushed them back onto the field for the closing stretch of the match and their leadership presence kept Canberra cool in the face of repeated Tigers attacking sets.
Josh Papali’i is tackled. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
2. Tigers cold then hot but not good enough
When Benji Marshall burst onto the scene as a player, Wests Tigers lit up the NRL with their free-flowing ball movement.
It took them all the way to their unlikely 2005 premiership.
Two decades later, the same team with the same player as coach throws the ball sideways with no purpose, no plan and no penetration.
It’s helter skelter, willy nilly and namby pamby.
Rhyming aside, it added up to another disappointing result from a team which threatened earlier in the season to be on the verge of ending their 14-year playoff drought.
Even when they had successive sets on Canberra’s line they looked like a team of individuals trying to solve their problems without any shape or structure.
In the second half they clicked into gear to score two unanswered tries but they kept getting in their own way with dumb decisions – the dopiest was Jeral Skelton giving away a penalty while in possession for pulling Xavier Savage’s hair.
3. Late comeback falls short
The Raiders absorbed plenty of pressure early before Papalii put Tapine over for the opening try.
Seb Kris ensured he will remain in the Canberra team for the rest of the season when he popped a magical offload for Jed Stuart to score on debut, much to the delight of proud dad Ricky.
Jarome Luai avoided a sin bin in comical fashion after taking out Kaeo Weekes on a kick-chase after an Ethan Strange break led to a Tom Starling grubber into the in-goal area.
But the professional foul was cancelled out when Jeral Skelton fumbled for Starling to regather for a 16-0 lead.
Wests started the second half with more intent and were rewarded when Alex Seyfarth won the race to a Luai grubber to cut the gap to 10.
Starford To’a capitalised on fellow centre Adam Doueihi’s break to put them within four points in the 55th minute.
They went perilously close to taking the lead 12 minutes from full-time when Jahream Bula was pulled down millimetres from the stripe and then Samuela Fainu had a try disallowed off the next play for a blatant forward pass.
4. Starling’s star on the rise
Up until this season, Tom Starling had been considered a handy back-up hooker who could occasionally make an impact from the bench.
One of the smallest players in the NRL, he was promoted to the starting side full-time this year by Stuart and he’s in career-best form.
With young gun Owen Pattie breaking into the NRL ranks at the start of the season and Knights veteran Jayden Brailey signed for next year, it appeared Starling may be getting squeezed out.
But he has responded with a string of superb performances and was recently rewarded with a two-year contract extension.
He was dynamic in the win over the Tigers, scooting out of dummy-half to create chaos in the opposing line and playing well above his weight in defence to bring down some much bigger bodies, including a chasedown try-saving tackle on Alex Twal.
Starling had only started in 23 of 109 matches coming into 2025 but has racked up 14 straight in the No.9 jersey and does not look like surrendering it any time soon, this year or next.
5. Da Silva snubbed after contract dramas
News broke before Friday’s game that Tallyn Da Silva will explore his options on the free market because he’s not being guaranteed a chance to make the No.9 jersey his own long term.
Da Silva and veteran Api Koroisau are off contract at the end of next year.
Even though Da Silva is considered one of the best young hookers in the NRL, the Tigers are reportedly considering extending Koroisau’s tenure even though he will be 34 at the end of next year.
The Tigers surely can’t afford to let a star of the future walk so they can get another year or two out of a player who is no longer at rep standard when he was in his prime.
But then again that sounds like a very Tigers thing for them to do.
Curiously, Da Silva sat on the bench the entire match without getting on despite being one of the four interchange players – you would hope Marshall is not giving him similar treatment to Lachie Galvin, who was dumped to the NSW Cup after he agitated for an early release.
The Kick: Spoon four-peat can’t be ruled out
This was supposed to be the year when the Tigers awoke from their slumber.
But they could be spiralling towards a fourth straight wooden spoon.
They will finish Round 16 just one win ahead of whoever loses Sunday’s cellar-dweller showdown between Parramatta and Gold Coast.
This was their fifth straight loss and with Galvin fleeing the sinking ship, they look bereft of solutions.
They have had a decent run with injuries this year so there is no excuse for the way a season that started out with such promise is now tailspinning at a rapid rate.
