The script for the Canberra Raiders’ NRLW match against the Wests Tigers couldn’t have been written any better.

Co-captain Zahara ‘Z’ Temara scored the winning field goal in the golden point, bringing the score to 17-16 at GIO Stadium Canberra on Saturday 29 August.

This was all while being only the fifth NRLW player to hit 50 games.

To top that off, it was the team’s third win in a row, after losing their first six matches of the 11-round season.

In the post-match press conference, CD asked co-captain Simaima Taufa how she felt being on the ground as Z prepared to kick the goal.

“I was comfortable. I was confident in her ability to make that drop kick,” Taufa said.

“We’ve been able to do it before, and I think our role was just to make sure we got in a good position for her to be able to execute it the way she did.

“And confident, but I had so much belief — we’ve been there before — that we were able to know what we needed to do to ensure that we got that victory today.”

Taufa said words couldn’t describe how much Z meant to her.

She said the way the girls had prepared in the week leading to the game, and the successes of the past weeks, showed the ability the squad had.

“It doesn’t surprise us. We knew that we were capable of doing what we’re doing and producing out there on the field and for such a big occasion to turn up today in front of our home crowd,” she told the media.

“But knowing full well that was Z’s 50th game, as well as Kempy’s (Grace Kemp’s) 25th game.”

Coach Darrin Borthwick said it was unreal to give the crowd a golden point finish.

“We just spoke about it then and some of the girls said it took like 10 weeks for her to kick it, but she was nice and calm about it,” Mr Borthwick told CD.

“She said ‘it went right through the middle of the post’, but we’re in good hands when it comes down to your captain who’s nice and calm and has got a good boot on it.

“So yeah, very relieved to get that one.”

Mr Borthwick said while the team didn’t start the season well, the players had not shied away from working hard at training.

“There are other areas that we fixed up. But their effort, what we’re seeing at the moment is belief in the group, and it’s really good to watch all that unfold,” Mr Borthwick told the media.

“We’ve got a great bunch of girls here at the moment, and that’s sort of showing in the way we’re playing and the results we’re getting.”

Fans travel near and far for epic final 2025 regular season matches

Former Canberran Stephen Olivero travelled from Cairns for the match. He had not been to a match at GIO since 1994 – the same year the Raiders won the Grand Final.

“At the time, we were living next door to Dave Woods, one of the Raiders so we used to come to a couple of other games,” he told CD.

Stephen said it was amazing to be in Canberra for the final home game of the regular season, a trip he made for his mother’s 80th birthday celebration.

He said it was exciting to watch the boys play live.

“(It’s) better than on the 75-inch (television) in the lounge room screaming by myself, (I’m) so excited.”

He said it was fantastic to be at the game with his nephew, who had never attended a match, and his 81-year-old father, who used to take Stephen to matches at Seiffert Oval in Queanbeyan.

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