The Raiders "extingush" the tired looking Dragons

Interesting, I actually thought that Gasnier was being surprisingly unbiased in his commentary. He regularly praised the Raiders, and I believe he referred to Todd Carney as the Raiders ‘young superstar’.

Matty Johns was most complimentary about Tongue’y. He mentioned that Tongue had a cult following in Canberra. He definitely seems to resonate with young followers.

I was at the shop this morning, and a bunch of young kids were hanging around out the front on their bikes, and all wearing Raiders jerseys. As I walked past they were talking about Tongue, saying things like “How many tackles did Tongue make last night?” … “Tongue’s the greatest” … “Why doesn’t he play Origin?” etc etc.

I was at that game, it was a great game a little cold but a great game – good to see the Raiders were in winning form after coming off a Bye.

But i did notice that the people behind me were whinging about driving back to Sydney. I would like to think that their peak hour traffic would be worse than driving CBR – SYD. Hmmmmmm ???

Sorry Sammy I didn’t record the game or take notes so I can’t give specific examples but in the main it was Canberra bashing not Raider bashing. A lot of “misfits”, “discards”, etc about the you players with Gasnier’s commentary being one sided but given the makeup of the team (being that a lot of the guys have been picked up after being dropped from other teams) and that Gasnier was only on the commentary team as he was injured, it wasn’t too bad. No it was the whinging about the cold and in particular a comment Matty Johns made about Canberra (that really got up my goat but I can’t remember now) that left me offside with the coverage.

One thing I did find odd was the whole “road trip” whinge as if travelling 2 hours from Sydney was a big deal. As a Rugby fan in the main I just found it bizarre.

Also the first home game I’ve missed this season. iQ’d it on Foxtel so did watch it – an impressive performance from the Raiders. If they can maintain that consistency…

I tuned in for a brief period to see the young Raiders fowards smashing the Dragons. I’ll bet there are a few bruised old boys in the Illawarra this morning.

There were just far too many handling errors and no set completions from the Dragoons. Just found the dewey conditions far too difficult, plus they had a few players out as well.

Neville Costigan was the standout player.

They were saying on the ABC broadcast (yes, Ralph consumes small amounts of ABC but only the footy) that the Dragoons set the fire alarms off before the game started. This was because they had all the showers running hot water, and basins, to try and warm themselves up!!

some of the one sided Canberra bashing commentary was appalling

Have you got some examples of this? You said Canberra bashing, but did you mean Raiders bashing?

I actually thought the commentators were uncharacteristically Raiders-friendly, though they threw in the typical round of comments about the Canberra weather/nightlife etc.

Gasnier actually mentioned that the Dragons had a penalty system whereby any player who complained about the Canberra weather during the game, would lose a portion of their game fee.

I admit I didn’t go to this game but it was the first league game I’ve watched on TV for ages. It by no means made me a convert, and some of the one sided Canberra bashing commentary was appalling, but I must say I enjoyed it and even found moments exciting. I really hope the raiders do well this year and in the years to come with their bunch of “misfits” if nothing else just to put it up the Sydney media.