Raiders lose to QRL team
Canberra's odds as NRL wooden spoon favourites look set to blow out further after the Raiders suffered a shock 18-12 trial loss to a combined Queensland Cup outfit in Redcliffe.
In a mistake-riddled contest, a near full-strength Raiders side, who have been in pre-season training since December, failed to dominate a combined Brisbane Broncos/Redcliffe Dolphins outfit.
Ten members of Brisbane's Queensland Cup feeder team the Aspley Broncos and nine Dolphins combined to run in four tries to two against the Raiders.
Canberra led 6-4 at halftime but were eventually made to pay for their sloppiness, the Broncos-Dolphins running in three tries in seven minutes at the back-end of the second-half to take an unassailable 18-6 lead.
Wingers Denam Kemp and Gideon Mzembe, fullback Ryan Cullen and centre Nick Emmett all crossed for the home side while Adrian Purtell and Phil Graham scored the Raiders' tries.
Broncos utility forward John Te Reo and Kemp were standouts.
Youngster Kemp was unlucky not to grab a hat-trick after the flyer was put away before being denied by forward passes.
Broncos centre Joel Moon was also impressive.
Experienced Raiders hooker Lincoln Withers had a bad night as he pushed several passes, while axed Bronco Neville Costigan's road to redemption at Canberra began poorly with the utility forward quiet for most of the night.
Aspley Broncos coach Mark Gee said despite his side's scrappy performance it was "pleasing" to topple an NRL side.
"Both sides dropped a lot of ball but I thought our blokes were very good," he said.
"We struggled to get used to their fast pace in the first 20 minutes when they could have had a real job on us but were pulled up for mistakes.
"But for the final 60 minutes we matched it with them and got the job done."
Kemp and Dolphins five-eighth Chris Fox seemed to be the only casualties after leaving the field in the second half.
Broncos forward Derrick Watkins was put on report in the 26th minute for a high shot on Raiders prop Dane Tilse.
Canberra should have led by more than 6-4 at halftime after failing to make their mistake-ridden opponents pay.
But it was the Broncos/Dolphins who capitalised on Canberra's shortcomings after the break.
