Round 5, 2024: Canberra 41 Parramatta 8

Green Machine hits top gear in big win over Eels

The Green Machine hit top gear on Sunday night as Matt Timoko and Xavier Savage starred in a 41-8 win over the Eels at GIO Stadium.

The speed of Canberra's backline proved too much for the Eels as Ricky Stuart's Generation Next ran in seven tries to bury the demons of last week's fadeout against Cronulla.

The Raiders took the lead through a Jamal Fogarty penalty goal in the 10th minute after Joey Lussick held on too long in the play the ball.

The Eels had a golden opportunity to hit back in the 13th minute, but Wiremu Greig spilled the ball and the Raiders came away.

In Canberra's next set five-eighth Ethan Strange exploding into the back field and found Hudson Young who combined with Simi Sasagi before Seb Kris finished off the movement and the home side led 8-0.

Five-eighth Dylan Brown was next to come up with an error with the Eels in good field position as the Raiders continued to hold firm.

The Eels crossed in the 24th minute when Brown grubered for Maika Sivo to score in the corner but replays showed Clint Gutherson had lost the ball into a Raiders defender in the lead-up.

Come the 29th minute and the Raiders had a second when Savage left Gutherson in his wake with some slick footwork and the score hit 12-0.

A pinpoint kick by Strange in the shadows of half-time earned the Raiders a repeat set before James Schiller repeated the dose with a grubber kick but both times the Eels were able to recover the ball via a short dropout.

The Raiders rounded out an impressive opening term when Fogarty landed a field goal in the 40th minute to make the score 13-0.

Three minutes into the second half the home side produced another long-range special after Schiller found space and sent the pass inside to Timoko who produced an acrobatic finish to plant the ball down in the corner.

Trailing 17-0 the Eels hit back when Gutherson put Sivo over in the left-hand corner with a long cutout pass but the No.1 couldn't land the conversion.

Savage then stamped his class on the game again in the 53rd minute with a grubber back infield for Danny Levi to regather and score to make it 23-4.

A right-side raid in the 59th minute finished with Schiller crossing out wide after some slick hands from Jordan Rapana and Timoko.

The tireless Young then capped a big night in the 61st minute when Timoko busted the line and sent the ball back inside for the backrower to streak away and score. Fogarty converted for 33-4.

An error by youngster Blaize Talagi with 13 minutes to play handed the Raiders good field position before Fogarty slotted another penalty after J'maine Hopgood was pinged for not being square at marker.

Sivo completed his double with nine minutes to play thanks to a long ball from Brown as the Eels grabbed a late consolation before Timoko completed his double in the 79th minute to round out a 41-8 win.

The Raiders have now won both their home games in 2024, racking up 67 points to 20 in victories over Wests Tigers and the Eels.

Match Snapshot
Raiders fullback Jordan Rapana left the field after five minutes with a knee injury, but he was able to return in the second half.
The Eels came up with six errors in the opening 40 minutes as they were held scoreless in a first half for the first time this season.
Xavier Savage ran for 163 metres in the first half for the Raiders and finished the night with 235 metres and a try.
The Raiders won the penalty count 10-3.
The Raiders had nine-line breaks to the Eels' three.
Danny Levi's try was his fourth of the season - the most he has scored in a single season in the NRL.
Raiders centre Matt Timoko scored two tries and had eight tackle breaks to go with 209 run metres.
Raiders centre Seb Kris has scored five tries in six games against the Eels.
The Eels have won only two of their past 13 games at GIO Stadium.
Joseph Tapine led the way up front for the Raiders with 18 runs for 143 metres while Englishman Morgan Smithies ran for 153 metres.
Eels prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard was placed on report twice in the closing minutes for two separate high tackles.

Play of the Game
Matt Timoko showed brute strength to hold off Dylan Brown before diving into the corner for a spectacular try in the 43rd minute. Taking an inside pass from James Schiller 30 metres from the line, Timoko still had 10 metres to go when Brown got hold of him by the collar. The powerful Kiwi refused to surrender and managed to get the ball down in the corner despite being spun around by a desperate Brown.

What They Said
"All week we spoke about what was our reaction going to be [to the loss to Cronulla]. And I have to give every grade credit. The reason I couldn't make changes was because NSW Cup were so poor last week. They were very strong today. We won three grades today. I know the football we can play so that's why I get so upset and disappointed as I did last week. I will single out one bloke - I have visualised for three years Xavier Savage doing what he did tonight, and that's why I've been patient, and I've cuddled him, and I've tried to get him to his potential. It's only one game, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves, but I know the player Xavier Savage is." - Raiders coach Ricky Stuart

"I don't want to contemplate that [making changes] at the moment but we need 17 players that are going to own their moments in the game, make sure they are getting their fundamentals right and making sure we are staying in the contest the whole time, we can't be drifting in and out. When you have everyone across the board not owning their fundamentals it does put pressure on Dylan [Brown] but I thought he was good tonight." - Eels coach Brad Arthur

What's Next
The Raiders are at home at GIO Stadium in Round 6 as they face the Titans.

The Eels face the Cowboys at CommBank Stadium on Saturday.

NRL.com