Raiders band together to blitz Warriors - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Raiders band together to blitz Warriors

By Bonny Symons-Brown 24/05/2009 06:12:41 PM Comments (0)

Canberra five-eighth Terry Campese sent NSW State of Origin selectors a timely reminder of his capabilities in the Raiders' 38-12 NRL win over the Warriors on Sunday.

Campese, needing a big performance to boost his hopes of selection, was back to his best in the Raiders' seven-tries-to-two demolition, helping to set up several tries and scoring one himself.

Not one to talk himself up, Campese was coy about his chances of beating likely contenders Jarrod Mullen and Luke Lewis to the Blues No.6 jersey when the team is named on Monday night.

"We'll see tomorrow night I guess, I'd love to be (there)," Campese said.

After some lacklustre performances in recent weeks, the 24-year-old knew it was the last opportunity to send his message to selectors.

"I haven't been playing my best so it doesn't help your chances," he said.

"It's something I had to work on through the week and I did.

"When the team plays well it helps me out a lot too, so the boys all turned up for the 80 minutes today which was a big focus of ours."

Raiders coach David Furner was full of praise after the match and was especially pleased the Raiders kept the Warriors scoreless in the second half.

"Our talk at halftime, about what we needed to achieve and going in the second half there and having a shut-out, was pretty pleasing," he said.

"We probably had a couple more opportunities to get over the line but the players put in a tremendous amount of effort."

Canberra fullback David Milne and young centre Jarrad Croker both bagged doubles in the win - which ended the Raiders' four-game losing streak - while Travis Waddell and Trevor Thurling also scored tries.

The Warriors fell behind early but came back when captain Steve Price scored his first try of the year and Simon Mannering crossed a short time later to give them a 12-10 lead.

But the Raiders reclaimed the lead through Campese to take a 16-12 lead into the break.

The second-half was one-way traffic, as the Raiders poured on four unanswered tries to inflict the New Zealand side's fourth straight defeat.

"We were just beaten everywhere today," Warriors coach Ivan Cleary said.

"They ran harder, they ran faster, they just did everything better.

"We were just outplayed totally.

"I've got to say I thought the attitude was really good throughout the week.

"Maybe we're just a lot happier playing without pressure. I don't think there will be any on us anymore.

"Maybe were just not as good as we think we are."

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