Five Things: Raiders v Dragons

Author: Jon Kroiter
Timestamp: Mon 9 May 2016, 09:07 AM

The Raiders will look to bounce back from a narrow loss to the Panthers when they play the St. George Illawarra Dragons on Thursday.

We’ve put together a list of five things we can’t wait to see as the Raiders to travel to Jubilee Oval for the first time since 2004.

What do you think? Is there anything else you can’t wait to see on Thursday? Head over to our Facebook page and let us know!

Three points needed by Croker

Croker’s tally of six points against the Panthers has left the captain only three points short of David Furner’s club record of 1,218 points for the Raiders.

The centre has scored less than three points only once this season, which was against Parramatta in round six. With Thursday night's game on free to air TV, there's no excuse not to be watching as Croker laces up his boots and goes for the record.

Travelling to Kogarah

The Raider’s will be playing their first game at Jubilee Oval since Round 1 2004. Winger Michael Robertson scored the match-winning try that day as Canberra prevailed in a 21-12 win. Overall the Raiders have played at the venue ten times and have won on six of those occasions.

Rapana and Leilua

Rapana and Leilua have been terrorising defenses for fun in recent weeks. With eight tries to his name already this season, Rapana is only one try behind James Tedesco as the competition’s leading try scorer. With Tedesco confined to the sidelines with injury, it seems to only be a matter of time before Rapana takes over as leading try scorer.

Leilua has set up four tries this season and his ability to offload has enabled that. With 25 offloads to his name already, the Raiders’ right edge will be a constant threat for the Dragons. Both boys enjoyed a rest over representative weekend, and will be fresh and ready to go when kick-off comes around on Thursday.

Fresh v Fatigued

With only four days between City v Country and the Raiders match against the Dragons, it remains to be seen how the Raiders five representatives will cope with the short turnaround. The Dragons are in a similar boat, having had three players in the City v Country game.

Paul Vaughan and Shannon Boyd both played around 30 minutes for Country Origin, while Dragons prop Jack De Belin played 50 minutes. Dragons second rower, Tyson Frizell, spent 65 minutes on the park, while Jack Wighton, Jarrod Croker, Aidan Sezer and Dragons centre Euan Aitken all played the full 80.

Austin

With an injury hit start to the season, Blake Austin is yet to show the tremendous form we all know he is capable of. Austin returned to the starting side for the Panthers game, after battling a minor hamstring injury. The representative round came at a perfect time for the Raiders five-eighth, as he will come into the Dragons clash with extra training and confidence under his belt.

Raiders fans are holding out to see just how good Austin and Aidan Sezer's halves partnership can be, and Thursday night may be the game when it all starts to click.