Harold Matthews (Under 16’s)
The Canberra Raiders Harold Matthews side have finished their season on a high note after defeating the St George Dragons 16-4 at Seiffert Oval.
The Green Machine was still a mathematical chance of making the semi-finals and the side almost did enough to secure a place in the top eight after a clinical and heart-filled performance on Saturday.
Unfortunately, the Raiders missed out on the semi-finals due to for-and-against, which entailed that they finished the season in 9th place.
Although Coach Adam Kyle was disappointed that the team was unable to secure a spot in the top eight, he said that he could not be prouder of his talented and enthusiastic group of young men.
“Yeah it’s disappointing not to be playing semi-finals football but at the same time I’m very, very proud of this group of boys,” Kyle said.
“Each player has worked extremely hard on bettering themselves as players and as people and they have improved considerably as the year has gone on.
“They can all be very proud of their efforts over the course of the season and I wish them all the very best of luck in the future.”
Canberra Raiders 16 (Sebastian Kris 2, Kendrick Seignarack tries; Liam Oaskley 2 goals) bt St. George 4 (Anthony Romanovski try)
SG Ball (Under 18’s)
The Canberra Raiders SG Ball side has sealed the SG Ball Minor Premiership after a dominant 50 point demolition of the St George Dragons at Seiffert Oval.
Leading into the final match of the regular season, the Raiders were behind the Balmain Tigers on the ladder, however due to their comprehensive victory and the Tigers’ loss to the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, the Minor Premiership is now firmly in the hands of the Green Machine.
Centre Nick Cotric and back-rower Kalani Going starred for the Raiders in the 10-tries-to-one romp, with each player registering a hat-trick of tries.
Cotric’s hat-trick of tries stretched his tally of four pointers out to 10 for the year, second in the entire competition behind Balmain fullback Ryan Papenhauzen.
Cotric’s three tries were further complimented by the fact that he slotted eight conversions, entailing that the NSW Under 16’s representative finished the match with an outstanding 28 points.
Although Raiders Coach Dean Souter was thrilled that the side finished on top in the regular season, he says that the accomplishment will mean very little once semi-finals commence.
“It’s a great achievement, but the job isn’t done yet,” Souter said. “We want to win the title and we’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of us.”
Canberra Raiders 56 (Nick Cotric 3, Kalani Going 3, Jedidian Simbiken, Trai Henderson, Jesse Martin, Sam Finnegan tries; Cotric 8 goals) bt St. George Dragons 6 (David Naufahu try; Daniel Stojanovski goal)
