NRL: Tigers devour Raiders

Tigers' Lote Tuqiri is tackled at Canberra Stadium last night. Photo / Getty Images

The west's Tigers began the 2012 season as the competition favourites and they are finally starting to play like it.

They easily accounted for a disappointing Canberra Raiders side to extend their winning streak to six games and have cemented themselves in the middle of the top eight.

Steady rain in the Australian capital made handling difficult for both sides but the Tigers were able to hold on to the ball better and used a smarter kicking game to take full control of the territory battle.

Kiwis skipper Benji Marshall and NSW hooker Robbie Farah controlled the game well by kicking early in the count and by employing an attack that was more suited to the wet conditions.

Raiders coach David Furner made a bold move earlier in the week in naming regular fullback Josh Dugan at five-eighth in his first game back from a club-imposed ban for breaking the team's rules around alcohol consumption. It didn't make the impact he had hoped as the classy Dugan failed to find a smooth combination with hooker Travis Waddell or halfback Josh McCrone and was made to make a lot of tackles by the Tigers. Former premiership winner Furner will be under immense pressure to remain at the helm of the struggling Green Machine while a number of his players would be better suited playing reserve grade next week. It was only the second time in club history that the Raiders have been held scoreless at home and the 40-point margin was the biggest lost in their 30-year existence.

The spotlight was on the two starting props from the Tigers - Keith Galloway and Aaron Woods - who were looking to give their State of Origin cases one final push ahead of the squad naming later today. In a head-to-head battle against current Queensland prop David Shillington and former NSW bookend Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, the Tigers pairing certainly put their hands up for selection.

Rookie five-eighth Curtis Sironen opened the scoring for the Tigers in the 15th minute when he carried a couple of Raiders over the try line. The son of former Balmain and Australian test star Paul Sironen looked good getting his first career start in just his second first grade game.

Tigers skipper Farah took advantage of the weak Raiders defence to slip between defenders, while bench forward Ben Murdoch-Masila crashed straight through to hand the visitors a 20-0 lead by the break. Beau Ryan, Chris Lawrence, Matt Utai and Liam Fulton added second half tries to complete the flogging.

With injured stars Gareth Ellis, Blake Ayshford and Matt Groat to return from injury in the coming weeks, the Tigers are hitting their straps at the time of the season they usually struggle.

The Raiders simply don't defend like a first grade side and their goal for the rest of the season must now be about avoiding the wooden spoon.

Raiders 0, Tigers 40 (C. Sironen, R. Farah, B. Murdoch-Masila, B. Ryan, C. Lawrence, M. Utai, L. Fulton tries, B. Marshall 6 goals). Halftime: 20-0.