Junior reps back at home this weekendThe Canberra Raiders junior representative sides will host the Illawarra Steelers this week at Seiffert Oval in round 6 of Harold Matthews and SG Ball competitions.
The Harold Matthews side are still looking for their first win of the season after going down to the Newcastle at Cessnock 32-16, much to the disappointment of their coach Brett Maron.
“We were a little bit out of sorts.” Maron said “we were close at half time and rallied well late in the second half but we kept switching off at vital times and they (the Knights) took advantage”
This week’s game is an excellent chance for the boys to break through for their first win of the season as the Illawarra Harold Matthews side is also yet to register a victory this season. However, Maron is not expecting an easy game.
“They’re in a similar situation to us ... they’ll be desperate to win and I expect them to come out with all guns blazing,” Maron said.
Look out for a big game from forward David Fuka, who Maron claims played very well in his debut game last week.
“He punched the ball up with a lot of aggression, he defended well and his work rate was really high... he was impressive” Maron said.
In the second game of the afternoon the SG Ball will be looking to chalk up their fourth consecutive win after beating the Knights last week 40-20. Raiders coach Peter Marrapodi was particularly impressed with the victory.
“It was a 6 hour bus trip and to come out and play as well as we did was really pleasing,” said Marrapodi “we were in a great frame of mind ... our skill level was a lot better than Newcastle’s,”
However, despite his team’s recent good form Marrapodi believes there is still room for improvement in his side.
“We still need to learn how to play for the whole 70 minutes,” the coach said. “During the first half (against Newcastle) we looked a really polished team ... our main focus was to execute our set structure and we achieved that in the first half, unfortunately during the second half we stayed away a bit from our game plan.”
One player to watch this week for the Raiders is prop forward Patrick Mago, who had a big game against the Knights in his first game back from injury.
“He’s powerful runner,” Marrapodi said “last week he made good metres and looked dangerous every time he touched the ball.”
IIlawarra have had an indifferent start in the SG Ball competition winning only two of their five games so far this season, however, they should be confident coming into this match after winning their game against the Western Suburbs Magpies last week at WIN Stadium.
The Harold Matthews game will kick off at 1:00pm and will be followed by the SG Ball at 2:30pm.
Source: Raiders
Topic: Junior reps back at home this weekend
