DAVID Furner knew what was coming when his mobile phone rang at 4am yesterday. On the other end of the line was Canberra prop Dane Tilse. He had some good news for himself but some bad news for the Raiders coach.
Tilse's wife, Katie, had gone into labour for the birth of their first child. He was going to have to make a mercy dash back from the team's Sydney base at Crowne Plaza, Baulkham Hills, to the nation's capital. He would be a late withdrawal from the game against Penrith at Centrebet Stadium.
Furner already had enough props out of action, with Tom Learoyd-Lahrs (hamstring) and Brett White (knee) on the sidelines. He could ill afford to lose another with the Raiders fighting to remain in the hunt for the finals.
But he need not have worried. The Raiders still had Queensland prop and captain David Shillington in the front row. They also had plenty of unsung heroes such as Sam Mataora, Mark Nicholls and Jarrad Kennedy who were happy to step up in Tilse's absence.
Kennedy's effort was particularly impressive, having played for Mounties the previous night in the NSW Cup.
"Tilsey (rang) about 4 o'clock this morning so if my eyes look a bit bloodshot . . . " Furner said.
"When my phone rang and I saw it was Tilsey I thought, 'I know what this is about'. Look, the young players there with Marky Nicholls and Sammy Mataora and 'JK' -- he played a half of Premier League yesterday -- so I made sure just in case he ended up playing some game time in first grade.
"We did plan for it, but certainly the players you have mentioned there are pretty experienced. I thought 'Shillo' was really good today. He got plenty of game time and he led from the front."
Admittedly the Raiders still made hard work of it. Penrith looked by far the better team in the opening 40 minutes, but walked into the sheds at halftime with only one try though winger Josh Mansour to show for its efforts.
Shillington admitted Furner was far from happy with the team's first-half performance and gave them a much-needed pep talk.
"We just needed to pick it up all around the park," Shillington said.
"You run a bit harder, have a bit more support, get better contact and lock it up.
"Heaps of things like that. Just improve our attitude and get back in the grind with them."
The Raiders did more than just get into the grind in the second half. They put their foot on the accelerator and ran away with the match. They levelled the scores after Jarrod Croker was awarded a benefit-of-the-doubt try by video referee Paul Mellor.
They went to the lead after Josh McCrone fielded a Penrith kick and raced 65 metres to score. They finished things off after Joe Picker grabbed a lucky try from a McCrone kick that had bounced off the boot of Penrith five-eighth Lachlan Coote.
The win leaves the Raiders just outside the top eight and only one win away from joining Wests Tigers on 26 competition points. They face the Sydney Roosters (h), Canterbury (h) and the Warriors (a) in their final three games.
"It's nice to still be in the race to make the finals," Shillington said. "It's where we want to be and the belief is still there. If we keep winning week to week it would be great to be in there in September."
While Learoyd-Lahrs and Tilse could both return for Saturday's game against the Sydney Roosters at Canberra Stadium, the Raiders could be without backrower Josh Papalii after he was placed on report for a high tackle on Panthers five-eighth Lachlan Coote.
Furner downplayed the incident which saw Papalii run a decoy and raise his arm into the head of Coote, who was rushing in to make a tackle.
Source: The Australian
Topic: Tired Furner Gives Raiders Much Needed Half Time Pep Talk
