The Toyota Forklifts Canberra Raiders have finished their season on a high against the North Queensland Cowboys 50-30 at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
Being Josh Papalii's last ever NRL game and two debutants included in their round 27 team, the Raiders were looking for a win to round off their 2026 season.
Reuben Cotter was sent to the sin bin after the kick-off due to high contact on Josh Papalii in the first tackle of the game.
Xavier Savage came through to clutch the first points of the match after he grubbered for himself to ground the ball confidently in the corner.
On debut, Raider #413 Coby Black slotted the conversion to give the Raiders a six-point lead.
In quick succession, Matty Nicholson broke through the Cowboys’ defence to make some metres and pass to Kaeo Weekes to score.
You couldn't even blink and the Green Machine were off again, with Savage making metres down the sideline with a kick to follow; Black scooped the ball up and slid over to score his first NRL try on debut.
To sweeten the deal, he made it three straight conversions and put the Raiders in front by 18 after 16 minutes.
However, this didn’t last long as Jake Clifford scored just next to the posts off the back of Scott Drinkwater making a linebreak and creating an offload to the five-eighth.
The Cowboys went back-to-back quickly with Heilum Luki breaking through the Raiders’ defence to give the Cowboys’ another attacking opportunity.
This turned into a set restart, with Jason Taumalolo offloading to John Bateman to push through under the posts.
The Green Machine responded with Big Papa barging through four Cowboys defenders to score in his final NRL game.
Following some fast right-edge ball work, Savage dived over for a double in the corner in the 32nd minute to make it 30-12.
Malachi Smith became Raider #414 as he ran onto the field for his debut in the 33rd minute.
The Raiders took the 18-point lead into the half-time break, 30-12.
With a dramatic, high-scoring first half, both teams were looking to back this up in the second half.
Bateman found the overlap in the Raiders’ defence to offload to Scott Drinkwater to score the first points of the second half in the 46th minute.
Black then went over for a double on debut, with Ethan Strange making a run to set up the four points.
With Drinkwater flicking the ball back into play, Braidon Burns scored cleanly after finding a gap in the Raiders’ defence.
An incredible offload from Simi Sasagi saw Savage make a run down the sideline to score his second career hat-trick.
Black then returned the favour by setting up a try for Strange just under the posts.
The halfback became the highest-scoring player on debut after breaking a record held by Amos Roberts from 2000, finishing the game with 26 points.
The Cowboys fought through multiple six-agains to put on another six points on the scoreboard through Jason Taumalolo.
Black added on another two points with a penalty goal with less than five minutes on the clock.
In a high-scoring game, the Raiders finished their season with 50-30 win.
