Raiders ready to run rampant: Woolford
September 1, 2006 - 4:47
With last week's emotional farewell out of the way, Canberra hooker Simon Woolford says the Raiders can now focus on wreaking havoc in the upcoming NRL finals series.
A crowd of over 21,000 turned up to Canberra Stadium for last weekend's clash against Melbourne to send off departing quintet Woolford, Clinton Schifcofske, Adam Mogg, Jason Smith and Jason Croker, who all ran out in front of their home fans for the final time.
With their goodbyes now said and done, Woolford said it was time for the Raiders to knuckle down to the job at hand, starting with Saturday night's trip to Cronulla to take on the Sharks.
"There was a lot of attention given to last week," Woolford said.
"I don't think it affected our performance in any way but it is good to have it out of the way and look forward to more important things which is the semi finals.
"We always believed we were good enough to make the semis and have an impact when we got there, now that the rest of the stuff is behind us we can concentrate solely on that - it's the most exciting time of the year."
Exciting would be the last word used to describe the mood at the Sharks right about now with the club trying to avoid a record-breaking tenth straight loss.
The knives are out for coach Stuart Raper, who still has a year to run on his contract, with Cronulla management to conduct a review of the club's coaching structure over the coming weeks.
The last time they played in front of their home fans the Sharks were booed off the ground after they forfeited a 28-8 lead to lose 32-28 to Penrith in round 24.
Their chances of atoning for that performance have not been helped by the late withdrawal of key forwards Paul Gallen and Ricard Villasanti.
Gallen failed to overcome a quadriceps injury while Villasanti continues to be plagued by a long term knee injury.
The Raiders will know before they run out against the Sharks whether they will have anything more than form and momentum to play for with any hope they may have of moving out of eighth spot dependant on Friday night's clash between Parramatta and North Queensland.
An Eels win in Townsville and the Raiders are doomed to finish eighth with a trip to Melbourne in the first week of the finals their reward.
An Eels loss and a win for the Raiders would see the green machine leapfrog Parramatta into seventh.
Either way Woolford said it was important the Raiders didn't lose sight of the bigger picture.
"We need to go into the semi finals with a bit of confidence and a couple of good performances under our belt - we need that no matter the result in Townsville," Woolford said.
Veteran five-eighth Jason Smith is rated no chance of making a dramatic return from a knee injury to take on the Sharks. Smith hasn't trained with the side all week but Woolford said he should be right to go for week one of the finals.
source:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/Raiders-ready-to-run-rampant-Woolford/2006/09/01/1156817086781.html
