Panthers 22
Raiders 24
The Warriors' NRL dream died at the foot of the Blue Mountains last night. The Canberra Raiders, who qualified seventh, deservedly beat the Penrith Panthers 24-22 in a pulsating qualifying final.
While the Green Machine rolls on ominously, the Warriors will be drowning their sorrows on Mad Monday. Despite the close scoreline, it would have been an injustice if Raiders had not triumphed. They held the lead for the entire match and were victim of some dubious refereeing calls. The victory breaks a long drought, as the Raiders won their first match in September since 2000.
The Panthers played well in patches, but never matched Canberra in the forwards and too often looked disorganised on attack.
Every finals series throws up an unexpected star and 2010 could be the year of Terry Campese. The five-eighth, surprisingly ignored by a floundering NSW since his one and only Origin back in 2008, was a pivotal figure. He was a constant threat on attack, scored two brilliant solo tries (one was controversially disallowed) and marshalled his team brilliantly.
The more you watch Canberra, the more you see the Eels of 2009. The Raiders blasted into the finals with a late season surge of eight wins in nine games and they are now the wildcard, the team that nobody wants to face. The two sides share an interesting bond, having duelled in two classic grand finals in 1990 and 1991. Canberra took the first, then a year later Penrith won their first premiership and delirious captain Royce Simmons made his legendary promise - apparently honoured - to have a beer with every supporter.
Penrith fans were hoping they are watching their third great team, after the champion teams of 1991 and 2003. From their inception in 1967, the Panthers were affectionately known as the "Chocolate Soldiers" - partly due to their classic brown and white uniforms, but also a reference to their propensity to melt under pressure.
Fans at CUA stadium hoped those days had gone - but had watched their team wobble towards the back end of 2010, and the loss of inspirational warhorse Petero Civoniceva was a huge blow.
It was a frantic first half, with some rollicking play and five tries scored as neither team displayed the caution that can be associated with playoff finals.
Canberra opened the scoring through a strong individual effort from Campese in the fifth minute. Penrith's reply came from a kick, with fullback Michael Gordon first to a angled stab from returning halfback Luke Walsh in the 10th minute.
No team in the NRL this year has profited more from the boot this year, with the Panthers scoring 42 tries in the regular season from kicks - 38 per cent of all their four pointers in 2010. Much has been made of the Raiders huge forward pack - the biggest in the game, and giant prop Dane Tilse strode through some flaky defence to score near the posts with his first hit-up of the match, following a sharp incision by Campese.
The Channel nine commentary team looked on in confused awe - "Look at the big man - he's a giraffe - and an elephant" as they struggled to describe the 2.00m tall, 112kg 25-year-old.
Just as the Raiders seemed to be gaining the initiative, the man nicknamed 'Flash' Gordon struck again, running off a lovely inside ball from captain Luke Lewis after a neat set play to tie up the match.
Canberra took the lead for the third time in the half after Bronson Harrison, starting in his 49th consecutive match, was quickest to a ball batted back from a bomb in the 35th minute. There is a school of thought that tries from kicks should be worth less points and certainly league in 2010 sometimes resembles aerial ping pong, which was always the put-down levelled at the AFL.
Canberra winger Reece Robinson showed blinding pace - and a touch of the invisible man - to score as he beat three defenders down the left hand touchline in the 43rd minute to open up a 12-point lead.
A perfectly legitimate Campese try was rubbed out for obstruction in the 54th minute and Penrith made the most of their reprieve, sometime underwear model Sandor Earl leaping highest to drag down a towering Lewis bomb.
A horrible mistake from Canberra - spilling the ball from a dropout - led directly to a miracle try from Earl, defying gravity to score his second, but Canberra dominated the final minutes to close out the match.
Penrith 22 (M Gordon 2, S Earl 2 tries; M Gordon 3 cons)
Canberra 24 (T Campese, D Tilse, B Harrison, R Robinson tries; J Croker 5 cons).
Halftime: 18-12
