Raiders still finals hope
CANBERRA’S NRL season has a pulse after a decisive 46- 28 victory over Newcastle at GIO Stadium.
While the Raiders kept their season alive last night, they are powerless to control their destiny and need teams above them to lose if they are to play finals.
A hat- trick from Jordan Rapana set up the rout, in front of 10,523 fans, with the Raiders winger taking his season tally to 20 tries.
The Raiders enjoyed a near- total domination in the first 20 minutes and converted their advantage to a 14- 0 lead.
But a quickfire double got the Knights back into the contest. An acrobatic try from winger Shaun Kenny- Dowall opened their account before slick play from hooker Daniel Levi found skipper Jamie Buhrer in a gap.
The Raiders responded with tries to Rapana and fullback Jack Wighton, giving them a comfortable 26- 10 buffer at half- time.
A converted Daniel Saifiti try shaved the deficit to 10 points a little more than 10 minutes into the second half but two more tries for Rapana and one for Blake Austin put the game beyond reach.
Mitch Barnett and Kenny- Dowall grabbed late consolation tries for the visitors, with KennyDowall crossing after Elliott Whitehead was sin- binned for a professional foul.
Raiders skipper Jarrod Croker finished the night with a try and nine goals from 10 attempts, while prop Junior Paulo grabbed his first four- pointer since joining the club last year and ran for 170 metres.
If their season is still alive at the end of the round, the Raiders will have to beat minor premiers Melbourne in a tough final- round road trip to stay in the hunt.
The Knights are likely to claim their third consecutive wooden spoon unless they can upset defending premiers Cronulla next week and Wests Tigers lose.