Today's CT reports that in the end it came down to brute strength. The Raiders played yesterday's PL preliminary final against St George with pride, passion and a whole lot of power. Unfortunatley, what they displayed in physical strenth, they lacked in ball handling skills. The 18-14 loss brought Canberra's efforts to win back to back titles to a shuddering end.
In the most physical opening it has encountered all season, the Raiders PL team was fronted by bruising St George attack in the opening quarter. The minor premiers' forward pack proved a hard task for the Raiders to overcome and they were eventually overpowered.
And in attack, there was a distinct lack of flair on the Raiders' part.
In defence, while restricting the Dragons to no more tries than they themselves scored, Canberra missed tackles they normally wouldn't have.
Although proud of the team sticking with St George, coach Collins put the loss down to missed opportunities.
"It was a really high quality match for PL standard" he said. "St George's coach said it was their toughest game of the year. I thought we gave them a couple of opportunities early that may have come back to bite us. They had a bit more possession than us early but we came through that and at 6-6 at half time I was confident we could come home over the top of them if we could turn the possession side of things around" he said.
While succeeding on that front, the Raiders failed to stamp their authority on the match. The Dragons appeared to have the match in their keeping when Wes Naiqama crossed with five minutes remaining, but even then the Raiders refused to give in, despite being more than a converted try down. Beau Mundine crossed in the final minute giving Canberra hope of pulling off an unthinkable victory, but it wasn't to be.
"I'm just really proud of the guys" Collins said. "After round 2 of the competition when we had lost both our matches and had 68 points put up against us, to get this far is just really an outstanding effort. I knew it was going to be one hell of a game. It was exciting."
Raiders 14 (Kahler, Milne, Mundine tries, Carney 1 goal)
St George 18 (Powell, Payne, Naiqama tries, Gorrell 3 goals)
:lol: 
