NRL 2021: Canberra Raiders Season Review

The Canberra Raiders entered the NRL season as premiership smokies but failed to play finals football in 2021 and finished as one of the most disappointing teams in the competition.

Here’s your Canberra Raiders Season Review for 2021:

• The Season In Brief: Stats and Summary
• Takeaways From 2021
  • Things I Liked: Matt Timoko, Jordan Rapana, Josh Hodgson
  • 3-2-1: Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Corey Harawira-Naera, Harley Smith-Shields
  • Summer Notepad: Joseph Tapine
• Preseason Prediction Throwback
• Way Too Early Thoughts On 2022

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The Season In Brief

We’re summing up the NRL season in a few words before getting into the nitty-gritty and breaking down some of the key moments in 2021.

By The Numbers

The Canberra Raiders disappointed on both sides of the ball. Their unexpected rise to the final fortnight of the prior two seasons came on the back of a significantly improved defence. However, their 24.1 points per game finished up at 9th in the NRL. Attack and scoring points hasn’t been something the Green Machine has needed to worry about regardless of their ladder position but they made hard work of their 20 points per game (10th) in 2021. Running metres typically correlate with successful footy teams, and while the Raiders finished up at 7th and 9th the last two seasons, they couldn’t overcome their 11th-ranked 1,590 running metres per game this year.

Copy: Bar Chart
Infogram

The Season In 200 Words

We only need one word to describe the Canberra Raiders in 2021 – disappointing. 

For a side that was in just about everybody’s Top 8 predictions, the Raiders’ 10th place finish was as sobering as it was surprising, as on- and off-field dramas riddled the club for most of the season. When your team isn’t winning, the fingers start pointing, and there was plenty of pointing in the nation’s capital in 2021. 

Canberra’s best two players – Jack Wighton and Josh Papali’i – failed to find the kind of form that ranks them at premier players as their position. George Williams’ sudden and dramatic departure hampered Canberra well beyond his final game in Round 11 while Joseph Tapine’s partner was letting rip on the socials. Josh Hodgson’s status as first-choice hooker and co-captain of the club also came under pressure. Throw in Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad missing 17 games and just about everything went wrong for the Raiders in 2021. 

Credit must go to Ricky Stuart for weathering the storm and getting this team within two points of playing finals footy. A 40-16 loss to the Sydney Roosters in Round 25 felt like a disappointing end to a disappointing season at the time, but it’s enough to make me think Ricky’s Raiders could still be a force in 2022. 

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Takeaways From 2021

Things I Liked

Jason picks out a few moments, matches or players that he liked most throughout the 2021 NRL season.

Matt Timoko

I’ve got a bit of a bone to pick with Ricky Stuart and the Raiders.

How do you play with an attack averaging only 20 points per game (10th), see the young bloke you have in the centres do this…

…and only give him the ball 13 times per game?

Matt Timoko is a 183cm and 96kg wrecking ball. He’s a ridiculously strong carrier of the ball that can drive through and break tackles at will. We always hear about edge players that simply “need early ball” and Timoko is one of them. Engaging the middle and getting him one-on-one on the edge is ideal, obviously. However, in a struggling attack rotating through faces in key playmaking positions, the Raiders could have done a lot worse than getting Timoko the ball with some room to move.

He doesn’t need much. Taking this pass half-stumbling, Timoko straightens, shimmies to the left shoulder of Moses Suli which forces Tevita Funa in, and releases an outrageous offload to Harley Smith-Shields in the corner.

Throw some doubt into the defensive line by sending Timoko a handful of rampaging carries early in a match will open up opportunities for him to use his offload later.

The Raiders didn’t offer many surprises outside of how disappointing they were, but Timoko stood out in his limited opportunities.

Jordan Rapana

Everybody has those players they just love to see play well.

I covered off Ben Hunt as one of those in the St. George-Illawarra Dragons season review and Jordan Rapana is another one.

He wasn’t at his best throughout a disrupted 2020 season but bounced back to earn himself a two-year extension in 2021.

It feels like he popped up everywhere throughout the year. NRL.com has him down for 15 games on the wing, six at fullback and one in the centres. However, he floated around a lot more than that, often called upon to till the gap mid-game.

Rapana’s effort is never in question. You’ve not watched a Raiders game if you haven’t seen Rapana on one knee sucking in the big ones before getting up and finishing the job. His spell at fullback – which he really wasn’t ready for fitness-wise – showed just how much he puts into every game.

Turning 33-years-old next season, Rapana still has a lot to give this side. The backline is relatively young and will benefit from the consistency and experience he provides. There is some tinkering to be done in the Raiders backline, but I’ll be surprised if Rapana doesn’t remain in first-grade through to the end of 2023 when his current contract expires.

Josh Hodgson

The role of a #9 is looked at differently these days.

No longer tasked with simply providing clean service and stacking up tackles in defence, we’re looking for the likes of Damien Cook to dart out of dummy half and use his super-speed to break the line. Or it’s Brandon Smith and his super-strength breaking tackles. Harry Grant is a combination of both.

Josh Hodgson, on the other hand, is a little more old-school. As somebody that loved to watch Cameron Smith pull teams to pieces by making good decisions and executing full sets rather than single plays, Hodgson is one of few hookers in the NRL that takes a similar approach to his game.

He plots a path to the goal line and works through multiple tackles to get there. While looking for the typical cue’s as a hooker (slow peel, player on the ground, numbers etc), Hodgson plays out a set in his mind two or three tackles ahead of time. He’s getting the team to spots on the field, noting who is making tackles and promoting fatigue.

One tried and tested approach is to hit the middle of the field for a couple of tackles before exploring around the right post. His intention then is to drag the middle defence into the tackle and leave the opposition edge backrower at A defender on the short side before isolating a Raiders runner onto the opposition half.

Round 2

Here Hodgson plays one-off to Josh Papalii who drags multiple defenders into the tackle.

Hodgson shapes left to send the fullback running and you can see the first marker switch off just for a second. That’s enough for the Englishman to jump out from behind the ruck on the right side, engage the backrower at A and send Hudson Young at Matt Moylan.

Round 15

Here he goes again…

Once more it’s Papalii off the ruck dragging in multiple defenders.

Hodgson shapes left, darts right, engages the opposition backrower (again, at A defender on the short side) and plays Corey Harawira-Naera onto Corey Norman.

Round 24

The buildup to this one isn’t quite as clean but Hodgson makes it clear what he has in mind with a long pass out of dummy half from the left edge. Elliott Whitehead hits up to the same spot Papalii did in the two prior examples and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad recognises the signals.

Hodgson jumps out and holds up the backrower at A defender for long enough for Nicoll-Klokstad to fly onto the ball and straight through a flimsy Sean O’Sullivan attempted tackle.

A lot goes into these plays. It’s good coaching, cohesion and repetition. But most importantly, it’s Hodgson pulling the strings and playing the team to spots on the field to execute. He’s 31-years old now and on the outer at Canberra (I don’t get it), but Hodgson’s footy smarts will ensure he’s an effective first-grader for years to come.

~ Jason

3-2-1

True rugby league fans will know there’s nothing more legitimate than the Dally M’s 3-2-1 voting system…With that in mind, Oscar picks out three elements from the 2021 season that deserve a mention.

3 – Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad

It was his absence more so than his presence this year that highlighted Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad’s importance to the Raiders in 2021. Despite their decorated and damaging forward pack Canberra struggled in kick return metres (11th) and total run metres (also 11th) this season – areas where Nicoll-Klokstad typically excels. He consistently gets Canberra off to a good start in exit sets and statistically he ranks in the top six along with some very decorated names – Trbojevic, Tuivasa-Sheck, Tedesco – for average possessions and run metres per game. 

Despite a neck injury limiting him to just eight games this season, Nicoll-Klokstad amassed a neat little highlights reel that shows off his development as a modern day fullback. 

He’s always been a running threat with the ball and with a rehab program that clearly included plenty of time in the gym, Nicoll-Klokstad used his newfound strength and size to barge over in a very Tom Trbojevic-like fashion in Round 24.

His eagerness to be involved on every play paired with his speed, size and strength makes Nicoll-Klokstad a dangerous prospect this close to the line, but it was his ballplaying in that game that stood out for me. 

The final touch he provides for Sebastian Kris’ try early in the second half (below) suggests to me that Nicoll-Klokstad has the skills to break into the top tier of NRL fullbacks. 

He gets the ball from Wighton out the back of a regulation block shape but it’s not the shape that gets the Warriors here, it’s Nicoll-Klokstad. Taking the ball at close to full speed, Nicoll-Klokstad already has Chad Townsend beat for speed on the outside. It means that Rocco Berry has to hold in the line despite knowing full well that Kris is waiting unmarked outside him. 

Berry actually does a good job to keep his hips turned outwards here until Nicoll-Klokstad digs his heels in and straightens up which forces Berry to bite. The moment he does, Nicoll-Klokstad releases the pass and Berry – having lost all momentum – is no chance of turning and chasing on Kris from there. Try time. 

Canberra haven’t consistently worked to create actions like this for Nicoll-Klokstad in attack in the past. He’s been used primarily as a yardage man or as a ball receiver in backline shifts, but the subtleties of Nicoll-Klokstad’s ballplaying here has me looking for more in 2022. There’s been talk of him moving into the centres to accommodate some of Canberra’s young talent but Nicoll-Klokstad at fullback has been one of the Raiders best since joining the club and he will be so again in 2022. 

2 – Corey Harawira-Naera 

In a season where Canberra struggled to consistently create reliable actions in attack, Corey Harawira-Naera’s outside-in line off his half was as repeatable as the Raiders got in 2021. He has his defensive deficiencies but Harawira-Naera’s impact in attack was undeniable this season as he formed a nice combination with Sam Williams on the right edge. 

Harawira-Naera runs this line as well as any backrower in the competition. His timing is tight and he’s mobile enough to bounce inside or outside the opposition half here depending on how the defence and his halfback react. Harawira-Naera had four linebreaks from 15 games this season but that’s a number I’m expecting to significantly increase in 2022. 

Harawira-Naera is a perfect example of a player who will improve tenfold with a good half passing him into good areas on the field, and it’s a job incoming halfback Jamal Fogarty can do next season. He’s no gamebreaker, but Fogarty can steer a team around the park effectively and he deserves at least some credit for the 22 line breaks (competition-high among backrowers) David Fifita made in 2021. Fogarty will be key to getting the most out of Harawira-Naera in 2022 and if the pair can click then a Canberra right edge featuring them, Matt Timoko and Harley Smith-Shields is starting to feel a little more complete. 

An area Harawira-Naera does need to improve on if he’s to remain an 80-minute edge forward is his defence. 

Harawira-Naera averaged 34.8 tackles per game when starting in the backrow this season – nothing to sneeze at – but the 3.3 missed tackles needs to drop. Having a reliable and regular halfback beside him in Fogarty will certainly help, as will the Raiders hopefully spending a little more time next year attacking the line rather than defending their own. With a new halfback and a full preseason to build some combinations, Harawira-Naera feels like a player with a bit of upside heading into 2022. 

1 – Harley Smith-Shields

I’m getting in early on all the Harley Smith-Shields stocks for 2022. He’s not as big or flashy as some of the outside back talent unearthed across the competition this season but Smith-Shields impressed me with his game smarts and awareness just as much as with his obvious skills and talent. 

Actions like this when returning the ball or in early in exit sets were few and far between for the Raiders in 2021 without Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad on the field. 

Their inability to work effectively out of their own half hamstrung Canberra for most of the year but by season’s end Smith-Shields gave them something to work from. He’s got speed to burn but the best part about this action for me was his vision and awareness. 

Smith-Shields spotted an opportunity with Kieran Foran retreating late down the short side and backed himself to burn Tevita Funa for pace. He was also clever enough to go to ground and take the tackle – the percentage play. It’s first tackle and Smith-Shields has just got the set off to a great start even if he concedes and gets a slowish play-the-ball here. Too often we see wingers lob a hail-Mary pass back infield as they are dragged over the touchline in actions like these, and I liked the patience Smith-Shields showed here. 

He also knows how to finish a try. 

With Matthew Timoko looming as a mouth-watering offensive talent at right centre, this is an action we are likely to see more of in 2022. This is all Timoko here, but Smith-Shields still has a job to do on the end of it and he was safe in these actions in 2021. 

He was also safe in defence. The same smarts and awareness Smith-Shields showed in going to ground (above) were evident in the way he defended, too. This tackle against Melbourne in Round 22 shows it best. 

When Melbourne launch a short side raid and a Kenny Bromwich offload creates the extra number, Smith-Shields doesn’t panic. He knows he has Josh Addo-Carr on his outside and so he keeps his hips turned outwards and backtracks in the line as Justin Olam carries the ball. Smith-Shields trusts his teammates to get to Olam in time rather than jamming in and thanks to his positioning in the line he can turn and make a good tackle on Addo-Carr, dragging him into touch. 

That combination of speed, smarts and skill isn’t common among wingers with nine NRL games to their name. Smith-Shields played with an experience beyond his years in 2021 and all while the Canberra Raiders battled around him. I think there might be a few more jumping on the Smith-Shields bandwagon in 2022 and I want it known that I’m in the front carriage with my drivers cap on.

~ Oscar

Summer Notepad

The NRL Notepad is a feature that has run all season. With the 2021 campaign wrapped up, we’re starting to think about what we’d like to see between now and March next year.

Joseph Tapine

We really liked the look of Joseph Tapine before the season kicked off:

“If you’ve ridden the Joseph Tapine roller-coaster since his debut in 2014, you’ve thrown up multiple times and more than likely considered attracting the attention of the attendant and asking to get off. It’s been a rocky road—one filled with pleasant inclines followed by sharp and sudden drops. But no incline has reached a higher point than in 2020.” – 21 Things For 2021

Like, really liked the look of him:

“Corey Harawira-Naera and Hudson Young appear to be jostling it out for Bateman’s vacated edge role, but both men are running back-rowers who cannot replicate the creative attacking output of Bateman with the ball in hand. 

Enter Tapine.” – Canberra Raiders Season Preview

It’s safe to say that Tapine did not live up to our expectations in 2021. Not to start the season, anyway.