Canberra Raiders v South Sydney Rabbitohs on Saturday at 1:15pm at St Mary’s Leagues Stadium
The Canberra Raiders Harold Matthews side will look to continue their path to premiership glory when they take on the South Sydney Rabbitohs this Saturday.
After finishing the season in fourth place, the Raiders took on the top of the table Newcastle Knights outfit in the qualifying final last weekend, going down 38-22.
There will be no second chances this weekend however when they face the Rabbitohs who are coming off an impressive 24-12 victory over the Sydney Roosters.
Towering front-rower Emre Guler starred for South Sydney in their victory over the Roosters scoring a double. He will no doubt be a heavily marked man this Saturday.
These two sides have met earlier this year in Round 7 when the Rabbitohs defeated the Raiders 32-30 at Northbourne Oval.
The catalyst for that loss was a lacklustre and out of character performance from the Raiders in the first half which saw the Rabbitohs go into the sheds with a 26-0 lead.
“South Sydney came out firing and were very, very enthusiastic that day,” Raiders Coach Adam Kyle said. “They carried the ball really hard and our boy struggled to win the ground.
“Souths are really good around the middle of the field. Their forwards carried the ball hard and won the ground on most occasions. We just never seemed to get going in the first half in Round 7 and Souths capitalised a few times on back-to-back sets.”
Kyle is confident that his side has learnt their lesson from that encounter and believes that if they can play to their potential for the entirety of both halves, they will be able to trump the Rabbitohs and continue their charge towards the title.
“I’m confident that the boys have learnt from that encounter and that you will see a vastly more improved performance from us on Saturday.”
Here are the team lists for the clash:
RAIDERS - 1. NICK COTRIC 2. BRADY KEEN 3. SEBASTIAN KRIS 4. BAILEY SIMONSSON 5. JEDIDIAH SIMBIKEN 6. JESE SMITH-SHIELDS 7. LACHLAN COOPER © 8. JESSE ROBERTSON 9. SAM FINNEGAN 10. JAKE WALKER 11. MATHEW LYONS 12. JAKE NOTARAS 13. JAI LYONS
14. CHARLIE REARDON 15. JOSH STUCKEY 16. DUSTIN LITSTER 17. LUKE HICKS 18. MICHAEL VARDOS 19. CASEY WALL 20. SAMUEL DOBB 21. JAYDEN EDDY 22. CHRIS SHINGLES 23. CALLUM GREENWOOD 24. FRANCIS-SOAKAI TAI 25. DANIEL KEIR
COACHES: ADAM KYLE/DAVIDSMALL
RABBITOHS - 1. RANGI BOYCE 2. REECE MACINTOSH 3. DYLAN O’CONNOR 4. MARWENE HIROTI 5. JOHNNY MITSIAS 6. DEAN HAWKINS 7. KURTIS PREECE 8. EMRE GULER 9. BLAKE MANOWSKI 10. HENRY-SIRIAH FUIMAONO 11. KEENEN NGAMOTU 12. JED BOURIS 13. CAMERON MURRAY (C)
14. TYLER BROWN 15. JOEY HAWA 16. REECE TOWNSEND 17. KEAON KOLOAMATANGI 18. MOANA MATAKAIONGO 19. KHAN SMITH 20. JACKSON COLLINS 21. BOBBY NADER
COACH: WILLIE PETERS
