The Canberra Raiders will be looking to get back on track when they come up against the Parramatta Eels this Saturday at Bankwest Stadium.
Off the back of a difficult 14 – 6 loss to Manly last week, the Raiders will need to dig deep to come up with a win against the competition leaders in their round seven clash.
Parramatta suffered their first defeat of the season last week, going down to the Roosters 24 – 10, which put them just one point ahead of the Knights and the Panthers, so they’ll be fighting to hold on to the top spot.
The defence of the Raiders has been a huge part of their success this season, and it will need to be at their best this week, with Parramatta’s Ryan Matterson and Junior Paulo leading the competition for offloads, with 18 and 17 respectively. Although their defence has kept them in contention for the premiership so far, the Raiders will need to come up with some strong attacking sets if they want to measure up to the in-form Eels.
Canberra will have the odds stacked against them this weekend, travelling for the fifth week in a row and having a six-day turn around after a tough physical clash against the Sea Eagles which saw three Manly players helped off the field. The Raiders will line up the same again this week, with Ricky Stuart telling the media that there’s no need to panic and change the whole shop around.
With the announcement that Nathan Brown was unsuccessful in having his grade one high tackle downgraded, the Eels lock will miss the next two games, forcing a reshuffle in the previously announced team list. Peni Terepo will also drop out of the side, with Brad Takairangi named on the bench.
The men in green will need to clean up their game to compete with Parramatta, with two of the Raiders leading the way in the penalty count, and the team sitting in third for errors on 71. Brad Arthur runs a tight ship with his squad, with the Eels conceding just 26 penalties, compared to Canberra’s 37.
More:
https://www.raiders.com.au/news/2020/06/25/nrl-match-preview-raiders-v-eels/
Topic: NRL Match Preview: Raiders v Eels
