In a tale of two seasons, the undefeated Broncos will host the struggling Raiders at Suncorp Stadium in what looks on paper to be a tough task for the Canberra Raiders with the Broncos’ attack reminiscent of a runaway freight train in 2023.
MATCHDAY NEWS
MATCHDAY SCHEDULE
Team Brisbane Broncos Vs Canberra Raiders
Venue: Suncorp Stadium
Date: Saturday April 8, 7:35pm
MATCHDAY TEAM NEWS
Broncos: 1. Reece Walsh 2. Jesse Arthars 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Herbie Farnworth 5. Selwyn Cobbo 6. Ezra Mam 7. Adam Reynolds 8. Thomas Flegler 9. Billy Walters 10. Payne Haas 11. Kurt Capewell 12. Jordan Riki 13. Patrick Carrigan 14. Cory Paix 15. Keenan Palasia 16. Corey Jensen 17. Martin Taupau 18. Jordan Pereira 19. Brendan Piakura 20. Kobe Hetherington 21. Jock Madden 22. Xavier Willison
Raiders: 1. Sebastian Kris 2. Albert Hopoate 3. Jarrod Croker 4. Matthew Timoko 5. Jordan Rapana 6. Brad Schneider 7. Jamal Fogarty 8. Josh Papali’i 9. Zac Woolford 10. Joseph Tapine 11. Hudson Young 12. Elliott Whitehead 13. Corey Horsburgh 14. Tom Starling 15. Emre Guler 16. Pasami Saulo 17. Corey Harawira-Naera 18. James Schiller 19. Trey Mooney 20. Peter Hola 21. Harley Smith-Shields 22. Clay Webb
Referee: Grant Atkins
Embed from Getty ImagesMATCHDAY PREVIEW
The high-flying Brisbane Broncos will look to maintain their perfect start to the season when they host the Canberra Raiders on Saturday night. It’s been 25 years since the Broncos have found themselves at 5-0 and they will be confident of keeping that streak alive against a Raiders outfit struggling for 2023 form.
Reece Walsh starred yet again last week with two line breaks, two line break assists, and three try assists. He will again be a key man in Round 6. The Raiders have now conceded the most points in 2023, whilst Walsh has feasted on the weaker defences of the Broncos’ opening draw. Even if the Raiders are to hold Walsh in check, both Reynolds and Mam chipped in brilliantly last week and are more than capable at tearing down the Raiders’ defences if they don’t show up to play.
Whilst the attacking prowess of the Broncos’ spine grabs the headlines, the engine room keeps charging through brick walls, and that engine room is certainly Payne Haas. In only 46 minutes last week Haas not only ran the ball 16 times for almost 150 metres, but he also chipped in four offloads and a barnstorming try.
The Raiders have built the foundation of their team on their forwards for several years, so if they want to be competitive it could be through a brutal forward battle that we see Saturday night. In particular, the one-on-one matchup of Haas and Joseph Tapine is fascinating. In 2022 Tapine was arguably the game’s best prop, but whilst solid, has been thoroughly outplayed by Haas this season.
The Raiders have beefed up their own starting pack with Corey Horsburgh getting the start ahead of Corey Harawira-Naera in a move that could show the Raiders’ strategy for this round. Horsburgh, coupled with Tapine and last week’s return of Josh Papali’i, gives the Raiders a big bodied and aggressive middle that could trouble the Broncos.
The Raiders are still missing Jack Wighton and are also coming off a 41-point hiding – the club’s heaviest defeat since 2014. Not only will the Raiders be without Wighton, but his replacement at five-eighth Matt Frawley has been ruled out with a hand injury, with Brad Schneider coming in for his first appearance since Round 11, 2022. Waiting even longer between drinks has been club legend Jarrod Croker, with the veteran named in the centres, who will also no doubt be targeted by the Broncos’ attack.
It will make finding their second victory of 2023 exponentially harder with the Raiders’ backline and attack being an achilles heal for a few seasons now. Despite the defensive woes in 2023 only one other team has scored less points than the Raiders attack so far this season. The Raiders have only scored more than 18 points once in 2023, and against a team shaping up as an attacking powerhouse of this NRL competition, that’s simply not going to be enough.
The Broncos look very short odds not to come away with another victory in front of a parochial Suncorp Stadium crowd, but the Raiders often like to go off script when you least expect it. It will certainly either way result in a fascinating confrontation in Round 6 for two teams at opposite ends of the table.
LAST TEN MATCHES
Broncos 7, Raiders 3.
MATCHDAY PREDICTION
Broncos by 12.
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