Player ratings for the Canberra Raiders team for the NRL preliminary final against the Rabbitohs.
1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad: Made huge metres from the back, was safe under the high ball and soared for the match-turning tap-back that set up Jack Wighton's miracle try. 7/10
2. Nick Cotric: Was tireless running the ball back as part of Canberra's hard-working back three. 6
3. Jarrod Croker: A rock defensively and Johnny on the spot to force the ball to get the home team on the board with the game's first try. Uncharacteristically mixed night with the boot. 7
4. Joey Leilua: Ran hard working the ball out of Canberra's defensive zone but came up with a key play-the-ball error in the second half. Failed to finish the contest because of a calf injury. 6
5. Jordan Rapana: Another Raiders outside back who did a mountain of work running the ball. Lacked opportunity in the red zone. 5.5
Hodgson saves a certain try
6. Jack Wighton: Enormous all-round performance. Ran for 153 metres, shouldered a heavy defensive load including a number of big hits, kicked for 252 metres and topped it all with a brilliant solo try. 9
7. Aidan Sezer: Had a quiet first half and was overshadowed by halves partner Wighton but showed up when it mattered, defusing a bomb on his own line with Canberra under the pump. Also made two errors. 5.5
Croker pounces on an Allan mistake
8. Josh Papalii: Herculean performance from the veteran front-rower. Would not be denied with the game on the line, scoring the try that sealed it for Canberra who were a man down at the time. Ran with venom for a team-high 179 metres, broke tackles, popped passes, pulled off trysavers and hit hard in defence. Put on report for a huge shot on Adam Doueihi. 9.5
9. Josh Hodgson: Had an enormous first half when he was in everything. Stripping the ball twice, once to set up the opening four-pointer (then knocking the ball free for Croker to score) and once to manufacture a miracle try-saver, delivering big hits, kicking for 200-plus metres and pulling the strings for the Raiders attack. Topped the tackle count for Canberra with 46 and kicked for 205 metres. 9
10: Sia Soliola: Stripped the ball from Damien Cook in the shadow of the posts when the Raiders were under huge pressure. Got through a mountain of work in his 50 minutes on the field, racking up 103 metres from 10 runs and 39 tackles. 7
11: John Bateman: Confrontational as usual both with and without the ball. Ran for 103 metres and tallied 39 tackles, including a brilliant try-saver on Junior Tatola when the rampaging Rabbitohs prop looked certain to score under the posts. 8
Papalii stands tall in the moment of need again
12: Elliott Whitehead: Got through a ton of defence, hitting hard while racking up 32 tackles, but less effective with the ball, tallying just 45 metres from five runs. Also came up with three errors. 6.5
13: Joe Tapine: Another who failed to contribute much in attack but shouldered his fair share of the defensive workload. 6
Interchange
14. Bailey Simonsson: Given just 16 minutes at the end of the match after Joey Leilua limped off with a calf injury. Unable to make any real impact with Canberra under the pump. 4
15. Emre Guler: Got his first shot with just 21 minutes left to play but did his best to leave his mark, hitting it up a couple of time and amassing 17 tackles. 5
Bunker awards try to Wighton
16. Corey Horsburgh: Got the lion's share of game time off the bench and rewarded coach Ricky Stuart with hard running (8 runs for 67 metres) and enthusiastic defence (37 tackles). 6.5
17. Dunamis Lui: Solid in just under half-an-hour's action, ran it six times for 35 metres and registering 20 tackles. 5
South Sydney Rabbitohs preliminary final player ratings
The views in this article do not necessarily express the opinions of the NRL, ARLC, NRL clubs or state associations.
