SPORT Red-hot Raider Leilua gaining capital as NSW Origin material

THE drums are beating for Joey Leilua in the nation’s capital, and it’s not just the Viking Clap.

The Canberra centre powerhouse put in a compelling case for a NSW State of Origin call-up with a blockbusting two-try effort in his side’s 20-8 NRL win over the Warriors last night at GIO Stadium.

While it was his centre part- ner and skipper Jarrod Croker who turned the game with a sublime try-saver on Roger Tuivasa-Sheck in the shadows of halftime, Leilua was the chief destroyer.

His tries either side of halftime proved the eventual difference, as he finished with 125m, seven tackle busts and two linebreaks in Ricky Stuart’s side’s third victory on the trot.

While NSW coach Laurie Daley has an embarrassment of riches in the three-quarter department, Leilua’s name is beginning to be mentioned more often in Blues dispatches.

The common knock on Leilua has been that his defence isn’t up to the Origin arena and Raiders coach Stuart refuses to be drawn on his detractors.

“I don’t listen to those knocks. I just worry about how I coach him,” Stuart said.

Stuart praised Leilua for his hunger to go looking for the ball, even if it sometimes meant his side were bent out of shape.

“It’s there every week with Joey and Jordan (Rapana). We’re very lucky – we’ve got a very unique style of attacking teams,” Stuart said.

The visitors went into the sheds up 8-6 but Leilua overturned the deficit with 20 minutes on the clock when he steamrolled over some wouldbe defenders on the back of a Ken Maumalo blunder.

The Raiders never gave up the lead and, when hooker Josh Hodgson burrowed over in the 66th to put the icing on the cake, the Raiders had cemented their reputation as real contenders. CANBERRA Tries: Goals: NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS Tries: Goals: Crowd: Referees: