The Toyota Forklifts Canberra Raiders have secured a fantastic 50-12 win at a hot and humid TIO Stadium in Darwin.
The Raiders had a terrific all-around performance in Jamal Fogarty’s 100th NRL game, and it was that man who led them to a dominant win in Darwin.
An error from the Eels gave the Raiders an opportunity early in the game, which they took advantage of.
A simple cross play from Tom Starling gave it off to a rampaging Joseph Tapine, who proved to be too strong and went over for the Raiders' first try of the night. Jamal Fogarty converted to give the Raiders a 6-0 lead.
Off the back of some great running from the Eels, they slipped down to the Raiders try-line. Dylan Brown double-pumped and split through the Raiders defence to give the Eels their first try of the night. Their conversion was successful by Sean Russell to make it 6-all.
The milestone man was having a crafty first half as he kicked a cheeky grubber in behind the Eels' defence, which saw Ethan Strange chase it down to regather and score a terrific try. Fogarty converted to make it 12-6 after 20 minutes.
The Green Machine were on fire with Kaeo Weekes using his speed to burn a couple of Eels' defenders and link up with Xavier Savage, who also beat a couple of Eels before going to ground.
The Raiders strung a couple of passes to Sebastian Kris, who broke a tackle and threw an offload to a flying Hudson Young, who burst past Isaiah Iongi to go over to score the Raiders' third of the night and push the lead out to 18-6.
Canberra were leaving the Eels in their wake, with Starling darting out of dummy half and giving it to Strange, who led through the middle and linked up with Simi Sasagi. Sasagi quickly offloaded to Matt Timoko, blitzing through the Eels' defence to barge over the line to give the Raiders their fourth.
Fogarty converted to give the Raiders a 24-6 lead going into half-time.
The Eels started the second half quickly, with a couple of quick passes seeing Dylan Walker go through the middle and dig in a kick to an open Josh Addo-Carr, who went in untouched. Sean Russell converted to cut the deficit to 24-12.
The Raiders were awarded a penalty from right in front, taking the penalty goal and pushing the lead to 26-12.
A bit of luck then went the way of the Raiders with Savelio Tamale ducking out of dummy half and throwing an offload, which came off the hand of an Eel and bounced in the in-goal before Young jumped on the ball to score his second of the night.
The luck continued with the Green Machine. The Raiders attacked down the right-hand side with Weekes, who took on the line and put a grubber into a flying Savage who was held back from Addo-Carr and awarded a penalty try. Fogarty drilled the goal to put the Raiders in front 38-12 with 15 minutes remaining.
The Raiders put the game to bed with Joe Tapine using his footwork and while holding off three players offloaded to Matty Nicholson, who scored under the posts to give the Raiders a big 44-12 lead.
Off the back of a penalty tap, Young and Strange combined to give it to a flying Kris who went over untouched to crack the half century. Weekes converted to give the Raiders an impressive 50-12 lead.
The Raiders had a terrific all-round performance in Darwin with a dominant 50-12 win. Canberra will now take on the Gold Coast Titans at Cbus Super Stadium next Sunday.
