We won 18-10 the last time we played Canberra up in steamy Darwin's TIO stadium, way back in 2014, and it was the only time we played them there.
Also, the Raiders will need to adapt from freezing Canberra weather closer to a mid-30 degree Darwin on Saturday afternoon.
But almost everything else points to a Canberra advantage and win if they play to their best. So we need to be on, with all facets of our play. Patient. Creative. Mentally tough. Defensively, man up.
1. Raiders are getting on a roll, on the other hand we are a model of Jeckyl-Hyde, multi-personalitied, inconsistency.
We haven't won 2 in a row since Round 2, against the Dogs, in March, 3 months ago. If we don't find some kind of consistency, and soon, it's going to be next to impossible to make the finals.
Meanwhile, in complete opposite, the Raiders are going for their 4th win in a row which will be their 2nd this year. Will they be complacent?
2. The 2nd best Defence meets the 2nd worst.
Raiders have championship quality defence at the moment. Second only to Storm. Ours is the opposite.
And ironically, both Eels' and Raiders' heaviest losses of 2019, so far, have been against the Storm, 64-10 in R9 and 22-10 in R2, respectively. You can see the difference in the teams attitude, confidence and mental toughness drilled into the teams right there.
The Raiders were the only team to keep us scoreless this year, 19-0 at GIO Stadium in Round 5.
And recent history over the last 20 years has rewarded the best defences, handsomly.
Since 2000, the top 3 defensive teams (most were top 2) have won 14 out of the 19 titles. The remaining 5 were decided by top 3 attacking teams with reasonable mid-range defence, but not even close to as bad as ours.
Conversely, 19 out of 19 wooden spooners have had bottom 4 defences like ours currently is. If we don't improve our defence that's the direction we are heading too.
Our attack is going well (4th to date) and the Raiders are doing okay (6th to date); but we will need to find a way to crack them this time round.
The Raiders' mobile and athetics forwards and skillful backline with soccer-skills can turn it on. In R5 our flimsy goal line defence and their kicking game on our line caused havoc. Especially taking advantage of our less mobile larger units.
If our defence is off, and the Raiders gain momentum, it could be an even worse scoreline than R5.
3. A 10-year Hoodoo.
We have only beat the Raiders twice in 10 years since 2010 losing the last 11 of 13 matches.
We have lost the last 5 games to the Raiders. That is our worst losing streak to them since 1982, when they entered the competition.
4. Our last win against the Raiders was three years ago.
In April 2016, with a 36-6 pounding at Parramatta Stadium. And before that in Darwin in 2014.
5. Junior Paulo could be our lucky charm, and maybe Brad Takairangi, too.
Junior Paulo was in both winning matches in the starting front row both in 2014 and 2016 - the only player in our current listed 17 to play in both matches we won in the last ten years. Third time lucky charm?
Also Takairangi scored a try in our last win in 2016. Can he do it again?
Will we break the hoodoo and man-up?
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Hey Pops, I try not to think about Hayne too much. I always hoped one of our most talented players of all time would go out a winner. Sad.
I remember having a very brief chat with Hayne at Sydney Airport departures a few years ago, whilst he was at the Titans. I told him I wished him all the success in the world, despite being a disappointed Parra supporter. He was very gracious and thankful; but what struck me was his mind seemed to be everywhere, and very distracted, to me.
Hope so but i say Canberra by 18
Can we take BankWest Stadium up there with us?
I hope BA plays the interview with rapana prior to the last game where he said they will win because they are fitter than the Eels. I hope they show some pride & a lot of mongral & smash them into the ground. I want to see Ricky cry.
If you could guarantee that Jim I will book a plane ticket now to personally see the tears .
Coach Jim, I like your idea; let's hope we man up, and the Eels outgrow their multiple-personalities.
We win this one Parra by 10
Let's hope Rise of an empire, History and form says Raiders should be too strong, but it's played on the field for 80 minutes. I'm hoping the Raiders will be over confident. We need to start on fire and score points first. If we start poorly and Raiders get momentum, I don't think we will overcome them.
TAD, I agree. Good points. And I'd love to change the stats, too. The good news is we're due for a win after 3 years and our lucky charm Junior Paulo is there.
Saturday Mostly sunny, warm in the north. Mostly sunny, mild over the interior. Sunny, cool-to-mild in the south.
Temperature 25/33
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