Raiders’ bonus point win after no-show

It may not have been their first choice, but the Reef Raiders did not need to be coerced into accepting maximum points after their Saturday opponents Cairns Brothers were unable to field a team for this scheduled Rainforestation Cup match at the sporting complex.

“Brothers forfeited due to lack of numbers and Raiders received a 36-0 bonus point win,” was the official line.

This unexpected bye has provided the Raiders with a two week break which ends on 3 July at 8.30pm against Wanderers at Jones Park, in this Round 10 fixture.

Thanks to this unexpected bonus, the Raiders are now in the Top 4 on the points table which places even more significance on their match against Wanderers at the weekend.

Raiders’ coach Travis Gooch said the team can only provide an improved performance and bounce back after losing 29-15 to Wanderers in their season opening match.

“We are expecting Wanderers to bounce back after their defeat to Southside (24-36) at the weekend. We will therefore we need to be on our game from the kick off.

“This will be our first game of the season under lights with an 8:30pm kick off so we will be addressing that at training and preparing the team as best we can. Wanderers got the better of us in the first game of the season so it will be a good indicator to see how far we have come since then,” said Gooch.

Gooch is buoyed by the fact that they now have a solid squad who will see them through the rest of the season.

“As in previous years, we’ve relied on a few internationals to boost the local numbers. There has been no denying that we struggled with numbers at the start of the season. However, we have now settled on a squad of around 30 which we believe can take us deep into the season and defend our title.”

But Gooch did say he would have preferred to have played this past weekend rather than get a two week break before the Wanderers fixture.

“Yes, we felt our most recent game against Barron (38-17) was our best performance this season so it would have been good to continue with that momentum rather than have a two week break. It is a long season, though, so the team should be refreshed heading into the business end,” he said.

Raiders have one more home game in the regular season fixtures against Southside in this Round 12 match on 24 July at 5:30pm.

Their remaining fixtures are as follows:

• 3 July v Wanderers, Jones Park, Mann Street at 8:30pm (Round 10)
• 10 July v JCU, The Crabpot, Yorkeys Knob at 8pm (11)
• 17 July – bye
• 24 July v Southside, PD Sporting Complex at 5:30pm (12)
• 31 July v Barron, The Paddock, Machans Beach at 4pm (13)
• 7 August v Brothers, Stan Williams Park at 4pm (14)
• 14 August v Southside, Peterson Park, Edmonton at 5:30pm (15)

The points table: