Josh Papalii ... is shattered by another Raiders loss.Source: Gregg Porteous / News Limited
Matthew Johns has urged Canberra to forget cloning Melbourne's gameplan and come up with something original to get themselves out of a hole.
Johns has spoken on a number of occasions about his desire to see NRL teams stop relying on block plays and decoy runners and start to attack with more variety and speaking on Sterlo on Thursday night, it was the Raiders in his sights.
"They've just got to take a few risks, and this applies to most teams in the competition," Johns said.
"Playing these block to block to block shapes all the time is nauseating to watch. It seriously is. It's almost like everyones agreed, we're playing a uniform style across the league.
"The reason why I didn't want Daniel Anderson to go back on his initial interpretation of obstruction was that it was going to force teams away from playing what Melbourne have done and what Melbourne have gone to over the last seven or eight years.
"And when I look at Canberra, I think why do you want to play that way when you're never going to beat Melbourne?"
Fellow Sterlo panelist Mark Gasnier went a step further, saying that not only had the Raiders been disappointing in attack, it was like they were playing with no gameplan at all.
"I was speaking to Tom Leahroyd-Lars after their last game and I said to him, 'Mate, are you slowly getting to where you want to get to?' Gasnier said.
"And he kind of looked a bit blank and he said, 'yeah, you know, we're slowly getting to where we want to get to.'
"And it's funny because generally you have a plan in place, especially when it comes to your game plan.
"There's something to fall back on and for me it just seemed like they haven't necessarily got that and they're trying to play themselves out of trouble, instead of trying to do a few little things right as stepping stones towards getting better it's just like - let's try it and if it doesn't come off then oh well."
Johns encouraged the Raiders to look to St George Illawarra for inspiration after the Dragons turned their structure upside down against Cronulla, surprising the Sharks with an innovative attacking style.
"The Dragons got great results by abandoning that structure the other night and Canberra have got to do the same."
Jarrod Croker ... shines for Canberra Raiders v St George Illawarra Dragons at Canberra Stadium.Source: Ray Strange / News Limited
Canberra Raiders have continued their home ground hoodoo with a much needed 30-17 victory over St George Illawarra at Canberra Stadium on Sunday night.
5
Tries
3
Reece Robinson 31'
Brett Morris 17'
Reece Robinson 43'
Daniel Vidot 48'
Jarrod Croker 52'
Nathan Fien 65'
Sandor Earl 60'
Jarrod Croker 77'
5
Conversions
2
Jarrod Croker 32'
Jamie Soward 49'
Jarrod Croker 45'
Jamie Soward 66'
Jarrod Croker 53'
Jarrod Croker 61'
Jarrod Croker 79'
0
Field Goals
1
Jamie Soward 40'
Brett Morris opened the scoring for the visitors, diving in the corner to catch a cross-field kick from Nathan Fien.
It took half an hour for the Raiders to score and it came from a Blake Ferguson grubber kick which was grounded by Reece Robinson.
Unlike Jamie Soward’s attempted conversion, Jarrod Croker has no trouble kicking the goal to hit a two-point lead.
With the siren sounding for half time, Soward potted a field goal from 40 meters out to go into the break trailing by just one point.
The home side got the second half off with a bang, Robinson getting his second following a magical passage of play from Jack Wighton and Jarrod Croker.
Daniel Vidot scored against his old club in the 48th minute to reduce the deficit to just one point but three minutes later Croker crossed and converted his try.
Sandor Earl muscled his way across the line with 20 minutes left on the clock while Crokers goal furthered their lead 24-11.
A huge play from Trent Merrin saw Nathan Fien cross with 15 left on the clock and a Soward conversion made it seven points the difference.
Robinson sealed the Dragons fate, making a spectacular run before passing to Croker who sealed the victory.
