Brisbane be-gone; Raiders to beat Sharks on dry track at Brucie
Fact.
And so to the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at the stadium once called Bruce and which we never called, in the Australian way, ‘Brucie’, possibly because it was already short enough.
We may never know.
We do know we’ve got the Sharks this Sunday and an even-money go, whatever bookmakers say, and despite the bollocking in Brisbane last week, we’ll talk of it soon.
Suffice to say, given the weather, the baby fullback, the injury to the seven, and blinking Reece blinking Walsh, we can shit-can the game to the back blocks, to anomaly. Dear sweet anomaly. Yes, It happened. But it happens to the best. Panthers limped in against Tigers in Bathurst. Titans beat Wahs in Auckland. It’s a close-arsed competition, and there’s fine lines of error each fixture.
Might be hard for Chevy Stewart to forget, though they reckon there’s a bit of the goldfish who remains confident in his athletic abilities about him.
We’ll find out Sunday. Because Nicho Hynes is going to rain more terror upon the boy, here’s hoping the forecasts of no rain and wind hold up.
He’s a good little runner. Hopefully see him in space out the back with Matty Timoko, James Schiller and the hard-running edge man Hudson Young.
The Sharks? Running second. Four games ago they were flogged by Wests Tigers. We get a touch-up from Brisbane – in the wet, in Brisbane, with a team full of kids – and the sky falls in.
People – the NRL season is a Grand National Steeplechase over 6907 metres at Royal Ascot, not the third in the greys at Albion Park.
Even without Jamal Fogarty, we remain on the same line of betting with – and highly capable of beating - Sharks, Manly, Roosters, Warriors, Cowboys, Storm, those teams I reckon we’re fighting for eight to fourth spots with, Brisbane and Penrith, my misere for top-two.
Could be wrong. Have been in the past. Like our Chevy Stewart, doesn’t stop you leading with the chin.
Kaeo Weekes in the seven? Actually went on a scouting mission to Bear Park last Sunday to watch Raiders reserve graders play North Sydney – turning into that mad bastard from Ripping Yarns, Gordon Otterenshaw of Barnstoneworth United – and didn’t see Weekes run a lot.
There were relatively effete bombs that the chasers didn’t leap to contest. He dished to big units and sent a couple out wide. There was a try assist. Otherwise, seemed to play within himself. It was the day after Fogarty was out. Perhaps he was wrapping himself in cotton wool for Sunday and the Sharks.
Probably best on the day was Zac Woolford who did tidy things from dummy-half and has been rewarded with a spot on a very extended bench which includes other contributors in the 20-12 loss, Albert Hopoate, Emre Guler, Nick Cotric and Peter Hola.
Actually thought one of the better ones was Hohepa Puru who was creative in the 13. Maybe nowhere for him to go upwards given our Ricky Stuart so favours mighty thunder men from 8-17.
It’s these people who’ll have to tenderise their opposites if our young ones are to penetrate the tough Sharks.
One assumes our Stick has a plan and that young Weekes was playing to that plan in Reggies vs Bears, and not over-extending. Reckon he’s got to run, though, once or twice. Because Nicho Hynes will, and so will all his pals in the sky-blue back division, they are some mighty running fools.
But we’ve got a few, too, and Xavier Savage can scorch the earth, and Young runs hard and fine lines, and Matty Timoko is harder to tackle than world hunger.
But our tap-dancing try-scoring threat is Ethan Strange whose walk-out song could be ‘Here Comes The Hotstepper’ by Jamaican Reggae artist Ini Kamoze and which has lyrics that go: “Here comes the hotstepper (murderer) / I'm the lyrical gangster (murderer) / Big up di crew ina di area (murderer) / Still love you like that (murderer) / Nah, na na na nah / Na na na nah, na na nah, na na nah / Na na na nah.”
And so on.
Anyway, we’ll beat the Sharks, 30-28, tries to Schiller (2), Timoko, Young, Savage; Strange five-from-five, I foresee it.
Oh? I foresaw victory against Broncos? True story.
The monsoonal rain threw all form out the window. They were always going to bomb the kid at fullback. They did to us what I said we’d do to them: bomb the shit out of the back three. We owned the first 15 minutes. Problem was our halfback kept bombing the wrong wing, and then banged himself up.
Another issue was Reece Lightnin’ did to us what he’s done to everybody. He did it to Penrith Panthers in the grand final. He could be a bit special, the New Billy. His pace off the mark, agility, dynamism … he’s a bit bloody good and he’ll run by better players than Seb Kris.
They also rained hell from high water, something, and Walsh did Walsh, and there was something of a formality to their five first half tries.
Best thing the fullback did, though, and apparently it’s a trait of his, is he just kept playing. He kept running hard, if a touch too straight on one occasion.
But he kept having a crack and he took all the bombs in the second half, and the Raiders won it 10-6.
Being down 28-nil at half-time, though, was too much of a climb back. Famous Nepalese mountaineer Tenzing Norgay would’ve struggled, riding shotgun in a helicopter.
We will beat Cronulla Sharks though.
Up The Milk.
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