Dragons v Raiders - Holden Cup Saturday, 3.15pm, WIN Stadium
Not for the first time this year, the Dragons fell victim to themselves at the weekend, not even competing in a must-win match against the Rabbitohs that has erased their 2013 premiership ambitions.
They now face a red-hot Canberra Raiders outfit looking to shore up their minor premiership favouritism and if the WIN Stadium crowd can’t inspire some sort of miracle, the Raiders’ only real opposition might come in the form of the clock.
The Dragons were nothing but woeful in Round 19, slumping to an 18-nil halftime deficit against the Rabbitohs, who now have a real shot at forcing their way into the top eight.
At times the Red V looked stuck on pause, as the side jogged up and down on the spot for 80 minutes to find themselves offering only 1205 all-run metres to South Sydney’s 1718.
Lock Kal Collins was forced to make an unwieldy 50 tackles, while future superstar fullback Evander Cummins ran for 158 metres, but across the paddock the Dragons just didn’t gel.
Their performance was an exact antithesis of the one produced by Canberra at home, the Green Machine throwing caution to the wind on their way to a 46-6 hammering of the Eels.
Centre Andrew Heffernan scored a hat-trick, winger Jeremy Hawkins a brace and back-rower Tevita Pangai 180 metres in an inspirational display.
There is real potential here for the Raiders to rack up a half century and it’s straining to postulate where the Dragons’ resistance might come from.
Tip: Raiders by 20 points.
Source: http://www.nrl.com/holden-cup-preview--round-20/tabid/10874/newsid/73661/default.aspx
Topic: Holden Cup Preview: Raiders V Dragons
