Raiders on edge of top eight after holding on to down Roosters

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Raiders on edge of top eight after holding on to down Roosters

By Caden Helmers
Updated
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You could hardly have blamed Canberra Raiders fans for making September plans six weeks ago.

But that was before Corey Horsburgh was charging down kicks and scooping the ball up in open space, before Zac Woolford had got a taste of the top grade, before Jamal Fogarty had pulled on a lime green jersey in an NRL game.

It was before a newfound defensive resolve ignited Canberra’s season. The Raiders’ six-point win over the Sydney Roosters at GIO Stadium on Sunday was their fifth in six games, and now they are knocking on the door of the top eight.

The battling Bulldogs from Belmore were the only thing separating the Raiders from the bottom of the ladder little more than a month ago. Now Ricky Stuart’s side moves to 10th, with only points differential separating eighth-placed South Sydney, Manly, Canberra and St George Illawarra, who are locked on 12 competition points.

“We made tackles tonight, some one-on-ones that if we had have made [them] last week, we would have won too,” Stuart said.

“I think we can play better than what we did, there’s certainly some stuff we can easily improve on. There are some areas of our game we have to fix up, so just keep striving to be better.

Xavier Savage scored as Canberra snuck away with a win over the Roosters.

Xavier Savage scored as Canberra snuck away with a win over the Roosters.Credit:Getty Images

“It was a tough one. We were prepared, it was going to be a grinding, gritty game because we knew what the weather was going to be. We prepared for it and played accordingly.”

Newcastle-bound forward Adam Elliott broke the deadlock after Canberra hooker Woolford darted out of dummy-half and caught the Roosters’ defence napping.

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Try as he might, not even stand-in fullback Joey Manu could take his side to a half-time lead despite a scintillating outing in place of NSW skipper James Tedesco.

The Raiders completed at just 65 per cent throughout the first half but their defence, and a try to Xavier Savage, was enough to keep their noses in front.

The Roosters attempted to stage a second half comeback after falling further behind on the other side of the break.

Paul Momirovski came first, then Joseph Suaalii - the teenage sensation who rejoined the Roosters after a stint in NSW camp - scored off a cross-field kick, before Matt Timoko gave Canberra a decisive buffer.

“I felt like we lost the ruck. They were more dominant in the way they carried and the way that we tried to tackle. They won that area,” Roosters coach Trent Robinson said.

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“I felt like we asked enough questions to get the points we needed to win that game but overall, really disappointing not to pressure right until the end there.

“Credit to them, they deserved to win there. To let in 22 points and then miss some opportunities we did have, you end up with the scoreline we got so we didn’t deserve to win.”

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