Match day guide and preview for the Canberra Raiders 2022 NRL round 11 game against the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Match details

Who: South Sydney Rabbitohs vs Canberra Raiders

When: Sunday 22 May 2pm

Where: Apex Oval, Dubbo

Weather: min 10 max 19, chance of rain 60% 0 to 1mm

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Head-to-head record: Played 58. Raiders 34 wins. Rabbitohs 24 wins.

Team lists

MILESTONE: Canberra Raiders champion Josh Papalii will play his 250th NRL match.

The Raiders regain star five-eighth Jack Wighton from suspension who will partner Matt Frawley in the halves, with Brad Schneider the unlucky one to make way. Adam Elliott has been named at lock with Corey Harawira-Naera dropped to reserve grade. Harry Rushton is a late inclusion onto the bench after Ryan Sutton was ruled out with the flu.

The Rabbitohs have lost Jacob Host to a shoulder injury with Trent Peoples coming in to the back row.

Season so far

Raiders 10^th | 158 points for | 211 points against | 4 wins & 6 losses | WWLLL

The Raiders are coming off easily their best performance of the season as they upset the Sharks 30-10 during Magic Round.

Canberra showed the same defensive resilience we saw from them in 2019, as they dealt with three sin bins and the Sharks having a wealth of possession on their line.

They also looked potent in attack with Frawley’s kicking game a real threat, while Woolford looked dynamite out of dummy half.

While it was a brilliant victory, the Raiders need to prove they can play that way consistently if they want to make the top 8.

Rabbitohs 8^th | 224 points for | 203 points against | 5 wins & 5 losses | WLWLW

The Bunnies have taken a couple of steps back from last year without Wayne Bennett and Adam Reynolds, with the injury to Latrell Mitchell not helping in the slightest.

They were smashed by the Broncos two weeks ago before just falling over the line 32-30 against the Warriors last week after leading 26-6 at the break.

Their attack last year was incredibly good, averaging 32.3 points per game, but it has dropped to just 22.4 points per contest this year.

There’s still plenty of time left in this season, but this feels like an important one for the Bunnies to get their campaign going.

Last 5 meetings

• 2021 round 8: Raiders 20 – 34 Rabbitohs at GIO Stadium
• 2020 round 11: Raiders 18 – 12 Rabbitohs at GIO Stadium
• 2019 Preliminary Final: Raiders 16 – 10 Rabbitohs at GIO Stadium
• 2019 round 10: Raiders 12 – 16 Rabbitohs at GIO Stadium
• 2018 round 24: Raiders 24 – 12 Rabbitohs at GIO Stadium

These two have been evenly matched over the last five encounters, with the Raiders holding a 3-2 edge, while three of the games have been decided by a converted try or less.

The Rabbitohs got the better of the Raiders in their only meeting last season, with a second half surge propelling them to a comfortable win.

Player spotlight

Matt Frawley

Frawley has arguably been the Raiders’ best player since coming in for the suspended Wighton over the last two matches.

He’s managed a try and a try assist over the past two weeks, but it’s been his kicking game that has benefited the side most.

The Raiders have struggled to finish their sets off well this season, but Frawley has given the side an experienced head that has given them terrific field position.

His inclusion should also allow the returning Wighton to simply focus on his attacking game and not have to worry so much about organising the team.

Cody Walker

Walker was unstoppable at times last year but has struggled to have the same impact without Reynolds and Mitchell alongside him this season.

He racked up three try assists in the first half last week which showed he can still dominate a game if his team is right on top, but he just hasn’t been able to create something out of nothing like we saw so often from him last year.

In 2021, he finished first in the NRL with an incredible 33 try assists from 25 games, while this year he is down to just 8 from 10 matches.

The Raiders had a focus of not allowing Cronulla’s Nicho Hynes to have any space last week and they’ll have to do a similar thing with Walker or he will almost certainly make them pay.

Pre match predictions

Dubbo Doubles: A player on each team to score a double. Raiders by 6

The Shoeman Cometh: Matt ‘shoeman’ Frawley to steer the ship from halfback with a controlled performance, producing a try assist and a forced drop out. Raiders by 8. – Denholm Samaras

Other match details

The NRL match will be broadcast live on Fox League channel 502 at 2pm and is also available to stream on Kayo. Overseas fans can watch via Watch NRL.

You can listen to the match on Raiders on Mix (Mix106.3 FM), Radio 2CC (1206 AM) and ABC Grandstand (666 ABC AM).

Have any pre match predictions of your own? Let us know in the comments below.