Warriors in second-half capitulation
A composed second-half rally saved Canberra’s NRL season as the Raiders rattled off four unanswered tries to beat the Warriors 26-14 at GIO Stadium on Saturday night.
Canberra trailed 12-0 before they’d even touched the ball and looked a shell of the team that rolled Melbourne last round.
But they snapped out of their slumber and avoided a hammerblow in the race for the finals.
They’re now level on wins with eighth-ranked Sydney Roosters, only sitting outside the finals positions via a points differential with six games left in the home-and-way season.
Defying a dubious record of having won only two of their past 10 games when coming off a win, Canberra coach Ricky Stuart said composure and a lack of complacency had allowed them to flip the script.
A double for bench forward Corey Harawira-Naera sealed Canberra the points after early secondhalf tries for Albert Hopoate and Seb Kris.
Meanwhile, Warriors captain Tohu Harris says the players need to take a look at themselves in the mirror after the second-half capitulation.
They went to the sheds up 14-0 at the break but when they returned to the locker room 40 minutes later, they did so having recorded their 13th loss of the campaign following one of the club’s worst second-half performances of the season.
True, it wasn’t as bad as the 54 second-half points they conceded against Melbourne Storm in round seven, but that’s not really some-thing to brag about.
With games against the Storm, Rabbitohs, North Queensland Cowboys and Panthers still to come, there’s the danger that the wheels could really fall off this team.
But Harris said that’s down to whether the players would fight to stop that happening.
‘‘We’ve got to keep our standards high and not accept defeat,’’ Harris said. ‘‘This competition is a tough competition week-in, week-out and if we want to be a successful club, we’ve got to show we want success, we can’t just be a team that can turn up and just roll over for other teams.
‘‘So everyone’s got to look at themselves in the mirror and ask if this is what they really want, what they want to get out of their career, and what they want to do for this club.’’
As the season has gone on, Harris has looked as forlorn as exskipper Simon Mannering often was in post-match press conferences.
Worn out by having to front up after another disappointing performance, Harris didn’t feel like making excuses.
‘‘I felt like we lacked the intensity at the start of the second half,’’ he said. ‘‘In the first half we did all these simple things really well and we were doing them together.
‘‘In second half we didn’t have that same intensity and Canberra wanted it more.’’