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I'm at the game and we are 28 0 down - Canberra are attacking like they mean it and we are going through the motions - so far very disapointing. Hopefully they will improve in the second half

So far I thought Vave and Ryles have made some good runs and Setu put on a really good hit. Other than that we haven't offered a hell of a lot so far

We have got a try...junior sau to matt duffie in the corner

Hmmm not really a scoreline you wanna see. But its a trial game. Edge defense will obviously improve a little when Sisa and Will come back. No excuses though.

that sucks 40 ta 8.. dissapointed

Ouch... I was quietly confident heading into this trial but that is a comprehensive victory to the Raiders.

So there seems to be a bit of talk about the edge defence being flimsy, can anyone who saw the game offer some more detail? Who in particular?

yourhero wrote:Ouch... I was quietly confident heading into this trial but that is a comprehensive victory to the Raiders.

So there seems to be a bit of talk about the edge defence being flimsy, can anyone who saw the game offer some more detail? Who in particular?

Mahe Fonua was a major culprit, as was Young Tonumaipea. Young is inexperienced and there were times where his defensive positioning was completely off as were his reads, but in time he will develop a better understanding.

Mahe on the other hand was really disappointing tonight, and he played his way out of the team. He does not deserve to hold a wing spot come round 1. His defence was shocking, his reads were terrible and he was caught out on numerous occasions which directly lead to tries. Whilst he is young, he still has solid first grade experience yet played like an under 20 player in their first NRL game. His defensive errors were noticeable from the out set of the game however, they became more noticeable as he was shifted into centre with Tonumaipea on his outside. At this point in the game, Mahe needed to stand up and lead by example especially with an inexperienced winger on his outside, yet his communication with Young was nearly non existent and on a number of occasions he left Young isolated and outnumbered. The Raiders specifically targeted Mahe for these reasons, and directed a majority of their attack down his wing.

Whilst it is a trial game and results don't matter, Mahe needs to shape up otherwise he won't have a spot in our run on side. Against full strength NRL squads he'll become a liability.

I also thought Junior Sau was pretty poor as well both in attack and defence. I can't see him pushing for a starting spot with that sort of effort

I see Proctor got injured. Doubtful for the WCC. lima lima lima duck.

Proctor has been officially ruled out of the WCC squad, my biggest concern heading into this season was our major lack of depth in the 2nd row, now a guy like kenny or tohu who im not sure are quite ready for the big dance are going to be thrown in the deep end. Trial was just that, with names like Slater (bar 20 minutes), Waqa, Chambers, O'Neill, Cronk, Smith etc to still slot back in, i wouldnt be too concerned with the result. Never under estimate the influence of our big 3, its going to be a sad day when we say goodbye to them.

Freshy wrote:Mahe Fonua was a major culprit, as was Young Tonumaipea. Young is inexperienced and there were times where his defensive positioning was completely off as were his reads, but in time he will develop a better understanding.

Mahe on the other hand was really disappointing tonight, and he played his way out of the team. He does not deserve to hold a wing spot come round 1. His defence was shocking, his reads were terrible and he was caught out on numerous occasions which directly lead to tries. Whilst he is young, he still has solid first grade experience yet played like an under 20 player in their first NRL game. His defensive errors were noticeable from the out set of the game however, they became more noticeable as he was shifted into centre with Tonumaipea on his outside. At this point in the game, Mahe needed to stand up and lead by example especially with an inexperienced winger on his outside, yet his communication with Young was nearly non existent and on a number of occasions he left Young isolated and outnumbered. The Raiders specifically targeted Mahe for these reasons, and directed a majority of their attack down his wing.

Whilst it is a trial game and results don't matter, Mahe needs to shape up otherwise he won't have a spot in our run on side. Against full strength NRL squads he'll become a liability.

Thanks for the details Freshy.

Shame to read about Fonua... Centre is by far the hardest position to defend in but it's not like he has no experience there. How was his centre defensive work in NYC?

After our outside backs put on a defensive clinic in the GF, it's a shame to see it fall apart here (albeit with 4 completely different players). Who is going to line up in the centres and on the wings has been the burning question for me all off season.

I would suggest that as much as you would like a win its just a cobweb blower for Storm, the Raiders are starting at a higher tempo bearing in mind Furner doesn't want the horrendous start like last season!
Storm will be at bit low key till they step out at Headingly for the WCC!

its dissapointing that without the big 3 we could not build any pressure.. way to many penalties in the ruck cheap turnovers in our own half cost us the game.. we made heaps of meters up the middle with our forwards than did nothing with it.. they had 10 players out due to injury n all stars match i thought we should have won that..

A complete waste of time to travel down bothering to turn up to be honest. A Storm performance that was so abysmally poor that it was nigh on unfathomable, injuries & even more scary some appalling fitness of some of our players.

Mahe Fonau could hardly run he was so fat. He was seriously waddling around the field! A well-drilled Raiders side with dangerously big forwards murdered us up the centre of the ruck & we had little come-back. In attack we looked disjointed & disorganised. Finch has a lot to do to get himself back into the swing of NRL football if tonight is anything to go by.

A huge wake-up call with the World Club Challenge only 2 weeks away.

JF

storm u20s go down to raiders u20s 20 ta 16 after the storm were leading 16 ta 12 at 3 qrt time...