A late injury for Canberra legend Jarrod Croker has soured his side’s much-needed 14-4 win against Canterbury at GIO Stadium.
Croker, 31, impressed in his first outing for the season but appeared to injure his shoulder diving to prevent a try in the 76th minute of Friday night’s clash.
The centre was down for a number of minutes before walking from the field, although the injury was perhaps less serious than first expected with Croker remaining with his teammates after the match and not requiring pain relief.
But while a scary moment, Raiders co-captain Elliott Whitehead said his fellow skipper had been inspirational throughout the triumph.
“Jared never let anyone down … he always brings his leadership skills, having him alongside me really helps me with my leadership as well,” he told reporters.
“Once again, he came in and did his job, I thought he was outstanding and there’s not many people in the 75th minute of a game who worked that hard to get back.
“It shows what this club means to him and the group as well … to have him back and to play like he did was outstanding.”
It was a sad ending to a scrappy contest that saw the Raiders snap their five-game losing streak, and importantly avoid yet another second-half fade-out in moving to 3-6 for the season.
They began on the front foot and were held up in-goal twice in the first 10 minutes, with both sides combining for five errors in that span.
The Raiders led on 17 minutes though, with Elliott Whitehead carrying multiple defenders over the line as he scored the opening try.
Five-eighth Matt Frawley – filling in for suspended star Jack Wighton – really broke the game open with a delightful try, throwing two dummies and skipping through a soft Canterbury defensive line to make it 10-0 on 33 minutes.
Things were looking too good to be true when Croker seemed to score before halftime, and they were as the try was ruled out due to a knock-on.
The 15th-placed Bulldogs (2-7) just couldn’t keep control of the football, completing just 52 per cent of their sets and allowing the Raiders 60 per cent of possession and an extra 400m in the first half.
They were lucky to be anywhere near Canberra after lengthy intercept returns from Hudson Young and Nick Cotric, with the Raiders settling for a penalty goal and a 12-0 advantage on 52 minutes.
Home fans were fearing another collapse when Bulldogs five-eighth Matt Burton crossed for a try with 20 minutes to play, but Canberra closed the contest out with uncharacteristic composure.
The Raiders had performers across the board with 10 players running for more than 100m, led by Nick Cotric’s 225m and Joe Tapine’s 201m.
It was an underwhelming performance from the Bulldogs, looking a shadow of the side that rolled the Sydney Roosters last weekend.
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad’s return to the Canberra side was somewhat short-lived, taken from the field with a leg injury in the second half, while Josh Papalii remained on the field after appearing to hurt his knee.
Controversially, Bulldog forward Tevita Pangai Jnr looked to forcefully shove Raider Adam Elliott’s head while on the ground early in the contest, but he avoided anything other than a penalty.
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart said the importance of the win could not be overstated, particularly with such balanced contributions.
“Nobody on the outside understands how hard it is … it’s tough losing a game, losing five in a row when you’re not used to it,” he told reporters.
“We don’t like losing … there’s so much effort in every game and we haven’t been winning.
“We haven’t had a player that hasn’t tried hard over the last five weeks … there’s not a club or a squad of players I’d prefer to be coaching and I said that to them pre-game.”
