Raiders 38
Warriors 12
The Warriors slaughtered themselves before the Raiders even got into top gear in Canberra yesterday, failing miserably in all aspects of the game.
The biggest concern for coach Ivan Cleary after a loss that mimicked last week's 34-12 slump to the Cowboys has to be the continued slow starts.
His
team conceded two or more tries before realising their boots were on.
At the start of yesterday's match, they stood and watched the Raiders' playmakers and they made errors and conceded turnovers and penalties, so they tackled too much as a result.
After completing 11 of 17 sets in the first half, they finished with 22 from 31, too low to expect to win.
Canberra weren't that great, 13/17 at the break and 29/39 by the end.
The Warriors, though, missed 41 tackles to the Raiders' 26, disappointing results for both coaches.
Canberra dominated up front, scored early, got confident and made the Warriors play catch-up. After conceding three first-half tries, the visitors let slip four more in the second 40, while failing to capitalise themselves despite numerous chances.
Yes, they were sometimes dudded by the referees. But it would be churlish to blame the magnitude of this loss on officialdom's failings.
Hooker Ian Henderson's service from dummy-half is too slow as the game opens up. In each of the last few matches, they have sparked when Lance Hohaia comes off the bench.
Wade McKinnon is suffering from a paucity of good ball in good situations where he can use his elusive running as do the centres and wings.
The only attack option seems to be Stacey Jones kicking to Manu Vatuvei's left wing. Yesterday Vatuvei batted one high ball down for Simon Mannering to score an excellent try.
Mannering and captain Steve Price were rewarded with the Warriors' only touchdowns. Those two, bench prop Jesse Royal, who looked threatening with off-loads, and Hohaia played with attitude and accuracy - the rest need a wake-up call.
When the Raiders started without their inspirational captain Alan Tongue and regular centre Todd Carney, the Warriors were in the box seat. They knew they needed to win to resurrect their season. They were near full strength. There are no excuses for the woeful performance yesterday.
They cannot afford to carry Denan Kemp any more when he kicks the ball out on the full after opposition tries. It was not his fault, though, that the Raiders' stand-in captain, Terry Campese, then took a quick tap and Kiwi Bronson Harrison ran them to within spitting distance of the tryline while the rest watched.
They had no bounce-of-the-ball bar a Campese 40/20 attempt falling short.
Lose like this again to the Tigers at Mt Smart next weekend and the Warriors might as well forfeit the rest of the season.
There was just the one positive from yesterday: there were no serious injuries.