Ruthless Storm crush Raiders 26-0Canberra coach David Furner has demanded his players take some accountability for their actions after their NRL finals hopes were effectively ended by a ruthless Melbourne side at Canberra Stadium on Sunday.
The ladder-leading Storm chalked up their seventh successive victory, brushing aside the Raiders 26-0 as they become the first team to hold the Green Machine scoreless at either Canberra Stadium or their previous home ground, Seiffert Oval.
"If you're coming up with those errors you mightn't find yourself in the side," Furner said.
"At the moment the injury list I've got at the moment has taken the quality out of that team.
"The scoreboard certainly didn't reflect the attitude in our side.
"We were probably our own worst enemy in the first half where we got a little bit flighty trying to push a couple of passes."
Furner was also upset with the performances of referees Matt Cecchin and Adam Devcich as his side, who languish in 14th spot, slipped to their 12th defeat of a season that promised so much but has been a bitter disappointment.
"Basically, I thought they didn't have the best of games," he said.
"We had a couple of calls there. When you're in an arm wrestle like that, they're big."
The visitors crossed the line five times with two tries to Matt Duffie.
The winger opened the scoring after just three minutes in an evenly-contested opening stanza but the complexion of the game changed on the stroke of halftime when Ryan Hinchcliffe added his side's second.
The game was effectively ended as a contest in the 53rd minute when Cooper Cronk scored for the Storm following a brilliant 50-metre run from Billy Slater.
Poor completions and handling at key moments meant the home team was unable to build any momentum against coach Craig Bellamy's well-disciplined side.
Duffie added his second in the 66th minute, before Jesse Bromwich put the finishing touches to a brilliant crossfield move late in the game in which the ball changed hands five times.
A pleased Craig Bellamy praised his Storm side's effort.
"It certainly wasn't pretty again," Bellamy said.
"At times there were a couple of things that could have really changed the game or changed the momentum but we just really stuck tight with our defence and everyone just kept working hard for each other."
Furner's injury-hit Raiders side, who were without star forwards Tom Learoyd-Lahrs and David Shillington as well as five-eighth Terry Campese with long-term injuries, would realistically need to win every remaining match to be any hope of repeating last season's stunning run to the play-offs.
Source: wwos.com.au top league stories
Topic: Ruthless Storm crush Raiders 26-0
