Raiders lock forward Clay Priest believes that the Raiders losses to both Brisbane and the Cowboys in Queensland this season are irrelevant coming into their round six clash with the Titans on the Gold Coast.
Having lost two very close matches up north already this season, Priest insists that the Raiders are solely focused on this week.
“Those games are in the past, they are a tough team the Titans so they will be looking to bounce back and we just need to make sure what we do up there is consistent and effective,” he said.
Coming off a strong home win against Parramatta on Saturday, Priest emphasizes the importance to back it up with another strong performance against the Titans.
“It’s very important to get a bit of a roll on with some wins and we need to go up to the Gold Coast and really put together what we did on the weekend”, he said.
Priest has been one of the Raiders silent achievers this season since returning in round three and his statistics reveal just how much of an influence he has on the team.
Having played only 93 minutes since his round three return, Priest has chalked up 361 running metres, averaging a touch under 10 metres per run.
In his 93 minutes of game time he has made a total of 60 tackles, where one of his three matches saw him start on the bench.
After being rewarded for his strong bench performance against Wests, Priest started against Brisbane and Parramatta in the Raiders recent fixtures. Having only played 43 minutes against the Eels, his total of 13 carries and 136 metres were competitive compared to most forwards who played the full 80 minutes.
Manu Ma’u started in the second row for Parramatta and played 80 minutes, taking 15 carries and making a total of 126 metres. In comparison to Priest who played half the time as Ma’u, it is obvious of the impact Priest has on his team.
Priest also spoke about the difference of this season compared to last, reiterating coach Ricky Stuart’s point that teams will be well prepared for them this time around.
“We may have surprised a few teams last year but this year everyone is out to be better, they are going to be doing video on us and they know how us boys play now.” he said.
Article written by Ricky Kelly.
