The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup defending premiers, Newtown Jets, have been eliminated in stunning fashion by a Canberra Raiders outfit barely recognisable from last weekend’s win over the Panthers, 24-20 at Jubilee Stadium this afternoon.
Having made 11 changes for Saturday’s Elimination Final, Canberra also had to withstand wave after wave of the Newtown attack inside their own half, before stunning the pre-game favourites in blistering fashion with three tries in nine minutes to set up a match-winning 18-0 lead at the main break.
The Jets, having been virtually camped inside the Raiders half for the opening 20 minutes, had to come up with a big defensive play of their own when an attacking pass was intercepted by Canberra centre Atini Tuialii who streaked away down the right edge looking for support. He found it in winger Luke Tuialii, but the Newtown cover defence showed remarkable pace to stop the try-scoring opportunity, putting the winger into touch 10 metres out.
Having been denied the opening try in their previous set of six, the Raiders, especially the Tuialii brothers, would not been denied a second time. Centre Atina combined to put winger Luke into space down the right touchline, getting past Jets fullback Riley Jones to score a long-range try on his NSW Cup debut to open the scoring, leading 6-0 after 28 minutes with Darmody’s successful conversion.
A kick-off error from the Jets invited the Raiders to go on the attack again and they duly converted that opportunity into more points, opting to run play on the last with centre Mutua Brown crashing his way through several defenders to score out wide from close range. It gave Canberra a priceless 12-0 lead after 33 minutes.
The Tuialii brothers continued to wreak havoc in explosive fashion, with centre Atina showing immense pace from a standing position to step his way through the line from 40 metre out to score behind the posts to leave a stunned Newtown Jets trailing 18-0 at the main break.
The Jets finally opened their account early in the second half when a sweeping back-line movement left inside the Raiders’ 20 allowed Stonestreet to score out wide. With Pollard’s conversion, Newtown trailed 18-6 with 32 minutes remaining.
The comeback was well and truly on when the Jets scored their second successive try, when following a Raiders error inside their own 20, Newtown made them pay when interchange forward Brad Fearnley crashed over out wide, cutting Canberra’s lead to 18-10 with 26 minutes remaining.
Canberra looked to have stemmed the points flow when they hit back with a try of their own in the 56th minute through back-rower Jaxon Lavender’s barnstorming effort from close range, to push the Raiders’ lead back out to 14 at 24-10.
Luke Tuialii made another spectacular run down the touchline and his kick ahead looked certain to have resulted in another Raiders try, but somehow with four Raiders on hand to regather the kick, the try-scoring opportunity went begging and Newtown remained in the game as a result.
The Jets were good enough to capitalise on the near miss when centre Michael Gabriel scored his 18th try of the season out wide from close range, and with Pollard converting Newtown trailed 24-16 with 16 minutes still to play.
Following a penalty conceded by Raiders forward Jordan Uta, which went on report, the Jets had their fourth try for the second half when another back-line movement inside the Raiders’ 20 allowed Gabriel to score his second try, cutting the lead back to four and trailing 24-20 to set up a grandstand finish with 10 minutes remaining.
Despite Newtown having had several attacking forays into Canberra territory in the closing minutes, it was the Raiders who would prevail winning their eighth game in succession to advance to the second week of the finals, eliminating the defending Premiers 24-20.
Talking points
- Both teams came into this clash with 13 wins a piece, but the Jets finished in fourth position by virtue of an additional draw.
- The Raiders weren’t in the top five until the last round of the season, when they defeated Penrith Panthers 34-8 to qualify for the finals on for and against.
- The Raiders also came into the match having beaten the Jets in their two meetings during the regular season – winning 42-14 in Round Five and 30-18 in Round 11.
- The Raiders were forced to make 11 changes to the side that defeated Penrith last week, with Adam Cook, Chevy Stewart, Danny Levi, Ethan Sanders, Joe Roddy, Manaia Wiatere, Matty Nicholson, Michael Asomua, Noah Martin and Trey Mooney all being promoted to the NRL side.
- The Jets were strengthened by the return of Hohepa Puru, Tuku Hau Tapuha, Max Bradbury and Jayden Berrell but did lose Daniel Atkinson and Niwhai Puru for the Elimination Final.
- Raiders forward Jordan Uta faces a nervous wait from the match review committee after being placed on report for a second-half incident.
Key moment
Both sides scored four tries and the Jets in fact outscored the Raiders 20-6 in the second half, but the Jets will no doubt rue their first-half performance, particularly being held out by Canberra for significant periods of it. The Raiders, led by Tuialii brothers Luke and Atina, stunned the defending Premiers with three tries in nine minutes to set up an 18-point half-time lead that would prove a bridge too far for the Jets.
What’s next?
The Jets have been eliminated from the 2025 finals in The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup, while the Raiders now await the loser of St George Illawarra Dragons v Parramatta Eels later this evening at Jubilee Stadium, in next week’s elimination Minor Semi-final.
