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Canberra Raiders 2005 Season Draw

greeneyed

greeneyed

First Grade
Messages
8,135
From Raiders.com.au

Raiders guaranteed a top start

11/11/04: The Canberra Raiders are certain to be on top of the ladder after the first round of the 2005 National Rugby League season, with the club given a bye to start the year.

It will be worth the wait for Raiders fans, however, with the Green Machine set to kick-off their season with a home match against ‘Joey’ Johns’ Newcastle Knights on the weekend of March 18-20.

The game against the Knights will be the first of three home blockbusters for the Raiders in the opening five rounds. The Raiders play the St George Illawarra Dragons at Canberra Stadium in round four, then back-up to meet the Sydney Roosters the following weekend, April 8-10.

"It's not ideal [a first round bye], but the flippant way of looking at it is that at least we'll be joint competition leaders going in to round two," Raiders coach Matt Elliott said. "We'll have to sit down and look at how we're going to manage that training period because obviously we anticipated playing in the first week. Our trials were formulated around us playing in round one, so we'll have to look at what changes we need to make, otherwise we're going to have three weeks between our last trial game and first NRL match."

The Raiders have booked three trials for the pre-season. They will play the Central Queensland Comets at Rockhampton on February 5; the Bulldogs at Gosford on February 19; and the Brisbane Broncos at Toowoomba on February 26.

Elliott has not ruled out playing another trial against non-NRL opposition. In 2003, the Raiders played one trial against four NSW central coast teams - a fresh opposition team every quarter. Elliott said it was an option for this pre-season.

"We've got to make [the first round bye] a positive for us," Elliott said. "I'm fairly happy with the way the rest of the draw has panned out. It's good for our home crowd as well, they get to see some good footy at home early in the season.

"I'm looking forward to putting on some great performances for our spectators and showing them what sort of outfit we're going to be in 2005."

RAIDERS 2005 DRAW

R1. March 11-13 - BYE
R2. March 18-20 - KNIGHTS (home)
R3. March 25-27 - RABBITOHS (away)
R4. April 1-3 - DRAGONS (home)
R5. April 8-10 - ROOSTERS (home)
R6. April 15-17 - SEA EAGLES (away)
R7. April 23-25 - STORM (home)
R8. April 29-30, May 1 - KNIGHTS (away)

May 6 - CITY V COUNTRY

R9. May 7-8 - PANTHERS (away)
R10. May13-15 - SHARKS (home)
R11. May 20-22 - TIGERS (away)

May 25 - STATE OF ORIGIN I

R12. May 27-29 - ROOSTERS (away)
R13. June 3-5 - BYE
R14. June 10-12 - BRONCOS (home)

June 15 - STATE OF ORIGIN II

R15. June 17-19 - BULLDOGS (away)
R16. June 24-26 - COWBOYS (home)
R17. July 1-3 - PANTHERS (home)

July 6 - STATE OF ORIGIN III

R18. July 8-10 - STORM (away)
R19. July 15-17 - EELS (home)
R20. July 22-24 - WARRIORS (away)
R21. July 29-31 - BRONCOS (away)
R22. August 5-7 - TIGERS (home)
R23. August 12-14 - RABBITOHS (home)
R24. August 19-21 - COWBOYS (away)
R25. August 26-28 - EELS (away)
R26. September 2-4 - SEA EAGLES (home)

FINALS
F1. September 9-11
F2. September 17-18
F3.September 24-25
GF. October 2
 
Raider_69

Raider_69

Post Whore
Messages
61,174
BYE ROUND 1
f**kKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKIN BASTARD!!!!!
:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

other than that its a good draw for us IMO

Warriors v Raiders
Broncos v Raiders
Raiders v Wests Tigers
Raiders v Rabbitohs
Cowboys v Raiders
Eels v Raiders
Raiders v Sea Eagles

Nice run home too, we should be able to knock off most if not all of them :mrgreen:
 
Kris_man

Kris_man

Bench
Messages
3,582
I would have preferred a tough run home, for two reasons: 1) it warms you up for the semis, and 2) it means you play the "easy" teams earlier, meaning you're higher on the table, which is good for confidence, as well as publicity.
 
Raider_69

Raider_69

Post Whore
Messages
61,174
Kris_man said:
I would have preferred a tough run home, for two reasons: 1) it warms you up for the semis, and 2) it means you play the "easy" teams earlier, meaning you're higher on the table, which is good for confidence, as well as publicity.
Click to expand...

but a good run home ensures that if we are struggling we may limp into the finals and come home with a wet sail. Both ends have pros and cons and im impartial to both but it is an easy run home next season
 
B

ball boy

Bench
Messages
2,786
Kris_man said:
I would have preferred a tough run home, for two reasons: 1) it warms you up for the semis, and 2) it means you play the "easy" teams earlier, meaning you're higher on the table, which is good for confidence, as well as publicity.
Click to expand...

we have had tough runs homes the last to seasons and they havent done anything good for us
 
greeneyed

greeneyed

First Grade
Messages
8,135
What if we beat the strong teams during SOO and then have an easy run home? I don't think we could really ask for a better draw apart from the bye in Round 1.
 
Raider_69

Raider_69

Post Whore
Messages
61,174
greeneyed said:
What if we beat the strong teams during SOO and then have an easy run home? I don't think we could really ask for a better draw apart from the bye in Round 1.
Click to expand...

me too
more and more optimistic every day
 
Mulch

Mulch

Juniors
Messages
289
I remember after he signed for the NZ Warriors, he said he won't play against the Raiders ever.
 
M

mike83au

Juniors
Messages
760
Raiders may play extra trial news.com.au
November 11, 2004



CANBERRA coach Matthew Elliott said today he was considering an extra pre-season trial match following the disappointing news the Raiders had been granted a bye in the opening round of the 2005 National Rugby League season.

Elliott said his club's pre-season timetable had been designed for a round one match next year but if he stuck to the current schedule his players would have a three week break between trial matches and their first NRL game.

"We'll have to sit down and look at how we're going to manage that training period because obviously we anticipated playing in the first week," he said.

"Our trials were formulated around us playing in round one, so we'll have to look at what changes we need to make, otherwise we're going to have three weeks between our last trial game and first NRL match."

The Raiders are scheduled to play three trials matches in the pre-season, against the Central Queensland Comets at Rockhampton on February 5, the Bulldogs at Gosford on February 19 and the Brisbane Broncos at Toowoomba on February 26.

Elliott said he had not ruled out playing another trial against non-NRL team.

Last year the Raiders played one trial against four NSW central coast teams, with a fresh opposition facing Canberra every quarter.

Elliott said that was an option for this pre-season.

"We've got to make (the first round bye) a positive for us," he said.

"I'm fairly happy with the way the rest of the draw has panned out.

"It's good for our home crowd as well, they get to see some good footy at home early in the season."

The Raiders' first NRL match of 2005 will be against Newcastle at Canberra Stadium on the weekend of March 18-20.
 
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