Rugby League: Raiders' finals hopes rest on grabbing away wins

By PETER JESSUP

The Canberra Raiders come to Auckland this weekend for their National Rugby League match against the Warriors not having won away from home for a year.

That fact is nagging coach Mal Meninga night and day.

"We've tried to address the problem but really we don't want to focus too much on that. We're at a stage now where we have to start stringing some wins together home and away if we want to be there when the serious stuff is played," Meninga said yesterday.

They will arrive in Auckland early as part of the procedural changes put in place to secure a win. Given the side's familiarity with the city and a relationship built up with fans here over the years before the Warriors were on the scene, they will hold an open training session, inviting the public to attend, at Mangere's Walter Massey Park at 4 pm today.

Skipper Laurie Daley will play lock at Ericsson Stadium tomorrow night, even though Meninga knows he is one of the best standoffs in the game. The positional shift has been forced to allow youngsters Mark McLinden and Andrew McFadden to pair up in the halves.

"We have to look to the future. We all know Laurie's best position is No 6 but we have to blood new guys. Laurie is happy playing lock, he likes the freedom to roam the field," Meninga said.

That will be dangerous for the Warriors. The Raiders will lose little with the "Mac Attack" in action behind the ruck. The pair offer speed and vision, while Daley's skills threaten closer in.

Just two weeks ago, Daley made noises about chucking it all away at the end of this season, of walking away with a year to go on his contract. Meninga wants him to stay.

"He's playing well and enjoying his league right now. I think he's just getting sick of the body abuse and doing everything he has to keep doing to make sure he gets on the field."

At 30, Daley has played 236 premiership games, 23 State of Origin matches and 26 tests, seven as captain of Australia.

"He's carried a chronic knee injury for a while now. He's had a bad shoulder, now it's ribs. But he's playing well and his contract says he has another season to go."

There are 11 Raiders off contract and able to negotiate elsewhere from June 30, among them Brett Mullins, David Furner and Luke Davico.

Mullins could be a target of the Warriors, given their difficulties at the back. Furner has been offered $A200,000 and said he expects more. Meninga wants to hold them all.

The Raiders have trained well after the bizarre, snow-bound game against Wests Tigers at Bruce Stadium last weekend, with Meninga happy with the way the team are running on-field, too.

There will be no complacency, despite the 52-6 hammering they dished out to Auckland at Bruce Stadium in round six.

Meninga said: "I wouldn't say we're confident. We've all watched Auckland's last few games. They were right in it against Newcastle for most of the game. We'll concentrate ... we respect the opposition."

Canberra's record is almost 50-50 this season: nine wins and eight losses, 313 points for and 279 against.

Big Mal's own record as coach is improving after a difficult 1999 in which his contract was under threat. He has handled the Raiders for 88 matches, for 50 wins, 37 losses and one draw.

The Warriors have to win this game if they are to have any hope of making the top-eight playoffs. They sit just three points outside the eight but in their remaining games - against Penrith (h), Melbourne (a), Sydney City (a), Parramatta (h), Sharks (a), North Queensland (h), Broncos (a) and Eagles (h) - they meet four teams at the top of the competition, with the "easy" games against the Eagles and Cowboys coming too late to save them if they have lost what goes before.

Their for-and-against differential of 160 is the worst in the NRL, their 268 points scored the lowest and the 428 scored against them the highest.