It was a win that many would not have expected, certainly not to that magnitude, but it moves the Canberra Raiders one step closer to finals footy – after they crushed the Bulldogs 34-6 at Canberra Stadium.
It was the resurgent Raiders side that we have seen in the past 3 weeks, with every player doing their part, knowing what is on the line, and what they have to do.
The win moves the Raiders into seventh position for now, although the Tigers are yet to play against the Roosters.
Despite the Bulldogs best efforts to get back in the game following some crafty play from fullback Ben Barba, it was all one-way traffic for the Raiders – as Sandor Earl scored three times in a blistering display, and Reece Robinson grabbing a double.
In front of a crowd of 13,150, Raiders coach David Furner said that he took a lot of pleasure out of the fact that his side restricted the Bulldogs to just 6 points.
Against a side like the Bulldogs, that’s very good,” he said.
“Our second half there, I thought our defence was very strong and we got to the areas we needed to in attack.
“But we’ve still got one game to go and nothing’s guaranteed.”
Des Hasler was a bit perplexed about the loss, but knows possession means everything. “They had a mountain of possession didn’t they?” he said of the home team.
“We need to do some work on that.”
It was uncharacteristic errors from the Bulldogs side that let them down, but for Hasler, he does not think that there is a deeper meaning behind the loss.
“Teams these days approach each game in its own entity,” he said.
“They were just better than us today.”