A clash against the Warriors in New Zealand wouldn’t be too high on many NRL teams’ wishlists.
Yet Canberra believe it’s just what they need to resurrect their disintegrating season.
The club has been plagued by controversies ever since kicking off their four game losing streak with a 68-4 thumping by Melbourne one month ago.
Stars Blake Ferguson and Anthony Milford are at risk of getting early releases from their contracts and coach David Furner was sacked by brother and club CEO Don Furner on Tuesday.
To top it all off, Ferguson was a no-show at the Raiders’ 36-22 loss to Manly at Canberra Stadium on Sunday afternoon, advising the club hours before kick-off that he had a family-related commitment in Sydney.
However, he was photographed at a Sydney bar with Sharks playmaker Todd Carney the night before, fuelling speculation he’s interested in a return to the Shire.
It’s the second consecutive week the Blues winger has been in Sydney instead of cheering on his struggling teammates.
“Everyone loves Fergo, but we all know that he needs to get off the field right as well as on the field,” Dunemann said after Sunday’s match.
Indeed, a group bonding trip to New Zealand against fellow finalist hopefuls might be just what the doctor ordered.
“Getting away from here will be good for a couple of days and we’ll prepare as if we are going on a little camp,” Dunemann said.
“Getting away, obviously (the team) gets a bit closer.”
The Raiders need to win their remaining two games to give themselves an outside chance of slipping into the top eight.
Dunemann insisted they still had a shot at making the top eight.
“What we did today was take the destiny out of our hands by losing,” he said.
“We’ve got two games left and if we win both of them we’re going to put ourselves in the mix.”
With many of the Raiders’ off-field distractions still ongoing, stand-in captain Brett White was confident they could avoid them completely derailing their season.
“Hopefully we’ve put it all behind us now and can start to concentrate on footy,” he said.
“We spoke about it a couple of days ago, just making sure we are smart on the paddock and we’ll keep working on that.”
