The Toyota Forklift Raiders went down to the Penrith Panthers tonight at GIO Stadium Canberra after struggling to find their feet against the reigning premiers.
Despite a having a strong first half, it was a tough night for the Raiders with the Panthers running away with it in the second half.
The Panthers scored first, crossing the line in the seventh minute with Sunia Turuva scoring his first try of the night. Cleary converted the try to make it 6-0.
The Raiders defence tightened up and the Green Machine rallied together to make a statement against the back-to-back premiers.
Jordan Rapana was on high alert for the Panthers, with the experienced winger making a return from suspension and seeming to give the away team some nerves early on.
Turuva later crossed for his second try in the 24th minute after squeezing a grubber through the Raiders tight defence to make it 12-0.
In the 29th minute Stephen Crichton was sin binned for an offside professional foul.
The Raiders capitalised on this with captain Elliot Whitehead crossing under the posts just seconds later to score his first try of the 2023 NRL season. Jamal Fogarty successfully converted his skipper’s try to make the score 12-6.
A silky left side play and a well weighted grubber by Albert Hopoate saw Jamal Fogarty cross the line in the 36th minute in what would have been the Raiders try of the season. This was soon disallowed due to the ball not being grounded properly.
In the final minute of the half Cleary kicked a field goal to make it 13-6 at the break.
The Panthers scored first in the second half through Isack Tago. Cleary made the conversion to further their lead to 19-6.
After a number of set restarts inside Canberra’s half, Penrith finally cracked the otherwise tight Raiders defensive with Tago crossing for his second try of the night in the 50th minute to make it 23-6.
Panthers’ captain Nathan Cleary later scored in the 54th minute to extend their lead to 29-6.
Hudson Young hit back for the Raiders, scoring in the 57th minute after cleaning up a fumbled ball by Panthers fullback Dylan Edwards. Fogarty made it two from two behind the tee to make it 29-12.
The visitors later ran in another four unanswered tries to defeat the Canberra Raiders and end the game 53-12.
The players will look to bounce back next week against the Broncos in Brisbane.
