{"id":331027,"date":"2023-09-14T20:44:34","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T20:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=331027"},"modified":"2023-09-14T22:02:25","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T22:02:25","slug":"real-worry-for-raiders-after-letting-superstar-walk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=331027","title":{"rendered":"'Real worry' for Raiders after letting superstar walk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Few clubs experienced more of a rollercoaster ride over the 2023 season than Ricky Stuart<\/a>'s Canberra Raiders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Canberra lost four of its first five games and appeared certain to miss the finals before stringing together a host of wins that saw it in top-four contention.<\/p>\n

In the end, they just fell into the top eight, and bowed out in the opening finals round – but not before giving hot favourites Newcastle an almighty scare<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Wake-up call' that brought troubled great back to AFL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Former NBA star dead at 42 after collapsing at yoga<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Tigers to lose 'best schoolboy' star over Sheens axing<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Raiders found a way to ice the close games in 2023 and that got them into the finals – their for-and-against was an unflattering -137 yet of their 14 wins, every one was by 12 points or less.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

New signing Jamal Fogarty made the No.7 jumper his own and played some decent footy, steering the Raiders around the park.<\/p>\n

Centre Matt Timoko came of age as an NRL player, as did fiery forward Corey Horsburgh, who deservedly won his maiden Queensland jersey.<\/p>\n

Stream the NRL premiership 2023 live and free on<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Timoko finished with 11 tries – equal top scorer with another man who gave his heart and soul every week, utility back Jordan Rapana.<\/p>\n

But the loss of star utility Jack Wighton – and the club's inability to replace him to date – shapes as a real worry looking ahead to 2024.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Best player:<\/strong> Corey Horsburgh inspired his teammates with whole-hearted approach and big effort plays – little wonder he is now as popular as the Viking clap in the ACT.<\/p>\n

Biggest disappointment:<\/strong> Nick Cotric is now one of the Raiders' most experienced players and should be a gun – but injuries and lack of form saw him restricted to just 13 games and three tries in 2023 \u2026 he will be hoping for better next season.<\/p>\n

Key signing:<\/strong> Kiwi born Simi Sasagi, with just 16 career games to his name at the Knights, is the club's lone 'name' signing to date and the Raiders need to get more active in the player market to climb up the ladder.<\/p>\n

2024 gains:<\/strong> Simi Sasagi (Knights)<\/p>\n

2024 losses:<\/strong> Jack Wighton (Rabbitohs), Matt Frawley (Leeds Rhinos), Jarrod Croker (retired)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Few clubs experienced more of a rollercoaster ride over the 2023 season than Ricky Stuart's Canberra Raiders. Canberra lost four of its first five games […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":331029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331027"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=331027"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331031,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331027\/revisions\/331031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/331029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=331027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=331027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=331027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}