Spent some time on the Greenhouse this week, checking out what the Canberra fans are saying.

As you would expect, after such a good win against the Dogs, the site is buzzing. The Eels and Canberra have several links as we know, both bad for the Eels. Firstly, Ricky Stuart. Say no more about this myth and how he went about destroying Parramatta before bailing on us. In hindsight, his lack of morals was to our advantage as we were able to secure BA who can actually coach. Then there is Junior Paulo, my favourite player, heading down the Hume for a couple of years. He will be back in 2019 for the opening of our new stadium, getting his career back on track !!

‘Yeah, nah, the best teams dig deep, turn up for each other, stick solid, hand tough, prepare, execute and run away, just like I did at Parramatta’

Anyway, lets have a look at the choice quotes from the Raiders fans this week, starting with their smashing of the Dogs.

• ‘Oh what a night! What a memory that’ll be. 22-8. The Raiders faced one of the most intimidating environments at Belmore, a suburban ground full of blue and white. People in the crowd even threw two bottles at the Raiders’ bench during the match. But Canberra was intense, they did it tough, and came away with two competition points. They silenced the crowd and dominated one of the most physical packs in the game’.
• ‘The match had similarities to the Raiders’ recent performances.. Canberra went out to a strong early lead. The Raiders opting for two points from a penalty seemed to be a turning point, with momentum swinging. The Dogs struck back with a try before half time. Canberra kept dropping ball while in poor field position’.
• ‘But this week, the Raiders had the players needed to manage the game at critical stages. The return of Sezer and Austin was one key difference. The other was defence. The Raiders were much quicker off the line, they were resolute defending their line. They let in just eight points. It’s the first time since Round 19 2013 that Canberra has kept an opposition team to less than 10 points’.
• ‘Canberra face a short turnaround before meeting the Eels in Round 6. The worry is the mounting injuries: Lima (hand fracture) last week, Sisa Soliola (suspected fractured arm) this week. If they can keep up the intensity, they can win away again on Saturday’.
• ‘Stats that mattered? The Raiders gained 1465m from 149 runs, compared to 1094m from 145 runs for the Bulldogs. That included 117m from 12 dummy half runs for Canberra. The Raiders missed just 10 tackles, while the Bulldogs missed 22. And the Raiders made 22 tackle breaks, compared to 10 for the Bulldogs. Possession was 51-49 in favour of the Bulldogs, penalties 9-7 in favour of the Raiders. Canberra produced 12 errors (71 per cent completion rate), but the Bulldogs had 15 (68 per cent completion)’.
• ‘That pass from Rapana was so slick, smooth n sexy i needed to clean myself up after that’.
• ‘Our defensive line speed and first contact which restricted the Bulldogs to 8 points in total was fantastic to watch. Within that, BJ’s consistent effort on Morris was sensational, not so his late effort on Mbye’.
• ‘From an attacking point of view, the Hodgo grubber from dummy half was clever and well executed (didn’t find legs), and Jack must have known it was coming because his reaction to it was spot on’.
• ‘JC kicking 5 from 5. Having a gun goal kicker in the side in such a tight competition is a wonderful advantage for the Raiders’.
• ‘Shannon Boyd. When Dogs enforcer Klemmer came knocking (on his chin) he just laughed at him. He gave him the ‘is that all you’ve got’. Loved it’.
• Ok so enough of their bragging, after all we smashed the Dogs too and they look like an average team this year. Too slow.

Next up, what do their fans think of signing Paulo? This is what usually happens when the Raiders try to sign player…

• ‘This is a fantastic signing. He’s Parra’s best Prop, and a real powerhouse’.
• ‘Its going to make retention fairly tough but the fact we’ve got our spine locked in for a few years(and at least a couple of them on big unders for there quality) means it doesn’t matter so much’.
• ‘Who cares what he is paid. The squad has got stronger year on year for 3 years now and we have apparently paid massive overs for every signing’.
• ‘Who cares what we’re paying him!? There’s smarter people than us in charge of salary cap management and I’m sure they know what they’re doing. Also, even if it IS $2m over 3 seasons, that’s not going to be all on the cap, so who gives a ****’?
• ‘We must be a player in the 3rd party market now. It’s the only answer.
  If not that, we are gunna lose a whole bunch of players we want to keep in the next 1-2 years’
• ‘This guy could well be the final piece of the puzzle and we are getting better and better on paper. Get excited about our premiership window opening, don’t worry about what we’re paying them’.
• ‘He would be impressed with what he saw/heard today. Reinforce his decision to move here’
• ‘Who else have the Eels got we can nab? We need a winger for next year. Radradra plz’.
• ‘We can’t lose players over the next 1-2 years because they’ve all re-signed. Somehow Ricky has fit 25 guys earning $750K a year into the salary cap. Or maybe the media just makes up numbers…’

Ah really? If you have Ricky doing the numbers suggest you get them checked.

And lets not forget Ricky’s greatest coaching asset.

So what do the Raiders fans think will happen today?

• ‘Eels lost to the Broncos by 13 points, who lost to the Panthers by 1 point, who lost to us by 8 points. Therefore we are guaranteed to win by 22 points’.

See you out there today,

Go the Eels !!!

Chris

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