Canberra are inside the NRL’s top eight for the first time since round three after taking care of business against Manly in a rampaging 48-6 win.
Making the most of Brisbane’s capitulation against Parramatta, the Raiders cruised to their biggest win of the campaign against the lacklustre Sea Eagles, building a comfortable buffer on the Broncos in the race for the finals.
It means they’ll head to their clash with Wests Tigers with a 43-point superior for-and-against record over Brisbane who play St George Illawarra.
Sensing the opportunity that had presented itself with Brisbane’s heavy defeat, the Raiders came to play at GIO Stadium and piled on five tries in the first half, slicing through a brittle Manly defence at will.
“It was probably our best performance for the longest period,” Canberra coach Ricky Stuart told reporters.
“Every individual contributed to that performance and it was a high standard of footy from the boys.
“To win at this backend of the season fighting for a spot in the eight, it’s exactly what we need.”
Canberra captain Elliott Whitehead said his team received a mental lift seeing their finals chances boosted by the Broncos’ defeat but it wasn’t a distraction from the task at hand.
“We’ve still gotta win next week, we’re not there yet,” he told reporters.
“It helped seeing Brisbane get the points put on them the other night but we still had to win … it didn’t matter if Brisbane lost by 50 or 20 we still had to win and we did that and did it impressively.”
It continued the Sea Eagles’ woeful end to 2022, now having lost six straight games including their past four by a combined 112 points as speculation increases about coach Des Hasler’s future.
They narrowly avoided being held scoreless for a second time this season with Ethan Bullemor sneaking over to score a try on 64 minutes.
Hasler insisted his side’s effort-level hadn’t dipped but admitted they were way off the pace of their opponents.
“We played some good pockets of footy and it’s about sustainability, we’re just not up to it at the minute,” he said.
“From one aspect it’s a good learning curve, but it’s a situation that’s not good being in.”
Veteran Canberra winger Jordan Rapana wound back the clock with a prolific outing, finishing with 175m, three try-assists, four tackle-busts and three linebreaks to go with a try
Second-rower Hudson Young continued to press his case for Kangaroos selection with a double, now with 11 tries for the season in his career-best campaign.
A precise Jack Wighton pass created Rapana’s opening try in the corner before fullback Xavier Savage finally got his chance to show his speed in the open field, dashing 40m to give the Raiders a 10-point buffer.
By then the Raiders were humming and found tries for Young, Tom Starling and Jamal Fogarty in racing to a 28-0 halftime lead.
Young doubled up early in the second stanza with a dummy-half barge exposing the soft Manly line, before Albert Hopoate, Seb Kris and Corey Harawira-Naera each scored after Bullemor’s try as the Raiders showed no mercy.
