Jersey Flegg Preview: Raiders v Thunderbolts

Author: Michael Caruana
Timestamp: Thu 15 Aug 2019, 01:51 PM

The Canberra Raiders Jersey Flegg side will be looking to close in on a finals berth when they face the Victoria Thunderbolts on Saturday afternoon.

The Raiders will be wanting to return to winning ways after going down to the Roosters last weekend 28-16 despite leading at halftime.

The Thunderbolts will also be looking to bounce back after suffering a 64-6 loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Raiders coach Ash Barnes said that despite the loss, his team’s impressive display in the first half is something teams should be wary of.

“There were still plenty of things in the first half that we could’ve done better,” said Barnes. “But we did play well and we were able to show the Roosters what we were capable of.”

Heading into the latter stages of the season, Barnes believes that major area his team need to improve on is defence.

“We really pride ourselves on our defence, and have done a lot of work to improve on that already,” said Barnes. “We haven’t been happy with that the past couple of weeks, so we’ll look to keep improving on that.”

The Raiders are currently sitting in seventh place on the ladder and are three points clear of the ninth placed Dragons with three rounds remaining.

In addition to this, the top four is within touching distance of the Raiders as the side sit two points behind the Panthers in fourth place.

The last time the Raiders and Thunderbolts faced each other way back in Round 2 as the match finished in a 21-21 draw.

Round 22 - Round 22 - Saturday 17 Aug

Full Time

Storm

Raiders

Team Lists

Backs

Fullback for Storm is number 14 Chase Aporo

Fullback for Raiders is number 1 Harley Smith-Shields
Winger for Storm is number 2 Josese Waqalevu

Winger for Raiders is number 2 Manase Kaho
Centre for Storm is number 3 Uala Salia

Centre for Raiders is number 3 Semi Valemei
Centre for Storm is number 4 Tangata Teroi

Centre for Raiders is number 4 Matthew Timoko
Winger for Storm is number 23 Antonio Sanele

Winger for Raiders is number 5 Jackson Stuart
Five-Eighth for Storm is number 6 Trent Toelau

Five-Eighth for Raiders is number 6 Jarrett Subloo
Halfback for Storm is number 7 Nikau Williams

Halfback for Raiders is number 7 Tobias Westcott

Forwards

Prop for Storm is number 8 Nicholas Flocas

Prop for Raiders is number 8 Tyson Hodge
Hooker for Storm is number 9 Haele Uha Finau

Hooker for Raiders is number 9 Kyle Paterson
Prop for Storm is number 10 Jack Natapu

Prop for Raiders is number 10 Tom Robertson
2nd Row for Storm is number 12 Matt Stimson

2nd Row for Raiders is number 11 Jordan Martin
2nd Row for Storm is number 16 Ryan Wescombe

2nd Row for Raiders is number 12 Kai O'Donnell
Lock for Storm is number 13 Jermaine Tusa

Lock for Raiders is number 13 Darby Medlyn

Interchange

Interchange for Storm is number 1 Troy Hanita-Paki

Interchange for Raiders is number 14 Gideon Afemui
Interchange for Storm is number 11 Jacob Reedy-Bartlett

Interchange for Raiders is number 15 Ata Mariota
Interchange for Storm is number 15 Seu Seuiavatele

Interchange for Raiders is number 16 Silafano TITIUTI
Interchange for Storm is number 17 Gio Kubik

Interchange for Raiders is number 17 Lazarus Vaalepu