It’s been a tough year for the Raiders and their new Coach Ricky Stuart who, after his sides 34 – 16 loss to the Dragons, made an impassioned plea at the post match press conference for Raiders supporters to stick by them and for those that did, they finally had the chance to celebrate.

The Raiders added to the Sharks miserable season by defeating them in the “Battle of the Wood Spoon” at Remondis Stadium winning 22 – 12.

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It was the Raiders’ first win since round 18, the second since round 11 and only sixth for the year but it was celebrated with plenty of enthusiasm.

It was evident that the game was being played between the two bottom teams of the competition with the first try of the game and only one of the first half, going to the Sharks in the 36th Minute.

Two quick tries in the space of five minutes early in the second half to the Raiders gave them the lead and with the Sharks making a bunch of handling errors in the final quarter of the match, the Raiders were able to seal the win with a try to Anthony Milford ten minutes from time.

It’s been a long, long season for the Raiders but their last three weeks have been among some of their better performances of the year and heading back home this week against the struggling Tigers, the Raiders are a chance to post back-to-back wins for the first time since round 19/20 of last season.

WEST TIGERS

About the only positive to come out of the game for the West Tigers last week, who lost their fifth straight game at the hands of Canterbury 30 – 10, was that the season which has gone belly-up in the second half of the year, is another week closer to being over.

You can see that the past month’s performances and off-field distractions have taken their toll on the players who are struggling with confidence at the moment.

Thirty minutes into the game, the Tigers found themselves behind 24 – nil and staring down the barrel of a another humiliating defeat however, with the Dogs not nearly as effective in the second half, the Tigers were able to safe some face by scoring twice, one right on the stroke of full-time, to add some sort of respectability to the score.

It was the fifth time in the past seven matches that the Tigers have failed to rack up more than ten points a game.

That may be a hard mark to pass again given Luke Brooks is out and the halves pairing for the Tigers is Mitch Moses and Blake Austin.

HEAD TO HEAD

The Tigers started short-priced favourites when these two sides last met, back in round sixteen, but punters had to sweat it out with the Tigers prevailing by a field goal (19 – 18) in the end.

It was a third straight win over the Raiders for the Tigers who have only failed to beat the Raiders once in eleven matches played since 2009.

However, the Tigers have been desperately out of form since the round 16 clash, registering only one win.

The Raiders have been competitive the last three weeks and deserved their win over the Sharks. They’ll be eyeing off a very rare double and finishing the season on some sort positive note.

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Teams:

RAIDERS: Jack Wighton, Bill Tupou, Jarrod Croker, Jeremy Hawkins, Edrick Lee, Anthony Milford, Josh McCrone, Shannon Boyd, Glen Buttriss, Dane Tilse, Josh Papalii, Jarrad Kennedy, Joel Edwards.
Interchange: Josh McCrone, Matt McIlwrick, Kyle O’Donnell, Paul Vaughan.

WEST TIGERS: Jy Hitchcox, Sitaleki Akauola, Cory Paterson, Chris Lawrence, Cory Paterson, Pat Richards, Blake Austin, Mitch Moses, Aaron Woods, Robbie Farah, Matthew Lodge, Curtis Sironen, Bodene Thompson, Adam Blair.
Interchange: Ava Seumanufagai, Martin Tapau, Sauaso Sue, Jack Buchanan.