Raiders skipper Elliott Whitehead is embracing the underdog tag heading into Saturday’s elimination final against Melbourne, believing his side has found form at just the right time.
The Raiders will head to AAMI Park confident after upsetting the hosts earlier this season with Whitehead and Jack Wighton to come back into the side after being rested against the Wests Tigers last week.
After missing the opening 11 rounds of the season with a knee injury, Wighton and Jamal Fogarty's halves combination has helped spark a Canberra resurgence.
When Ricky Stuart’s men were sitting in 15th position after seven rounds of the season, it was looking to be a long year for the Green Machine.
But 33-year-old Bradford-born prop said a timely return of the spine has enabled his side “to come together at the right time”.
“I think we like being the underdog, people keep saying that no one has won it from out of the top four for a while but I believe this year is going to be different,” Whitehead told NRL.com at the NRL Telstra Premiership finals launch.
“We’ve found form at the right time and we’re full of confidence and we’ll definitely be giving it a good go.
“We were a bit disturbed throughout the start of the year when Jamal (Fogarty) was injured and we lost Josh (Hodgson) and then Jack (Wighton) with Origin.
“So our spine was a bit all over the place but they’ve played together now for about 12 weeks so everything’s come together at the right time.”
The experienced back-rower also attributes the Raiders' surprise season turnaround to the 20-16 upset against the Storm in Round 18, at the ground where they have historically been more successful than most.
Canberra’s recent record in Melbourne is uncanny with four wins from their past four games at AAMI Park including a thrilling 12-10 qualifying final win in 2019 which paved the Raiders’ path towards a Grand Final appearance.
“It’s knockout football now and we need to be on our game, Melbourne are a great outfit and have been a great side for many years but we’ve proved that we can go down and win so we’ll be very confident come Saturday,” Whitehead said.
“We like to set our standards high and they’re one of the best teams in the competition so to go down there and get the win a few weeks ago was a massive confidence boost.
“I know [Craig] Bellamy and 'Stick' (Ricky Stuart) have a little rivalry between them, they’ve been best friends but hopefully Stick is the one that walks away smiling come Saturday night.”
The former Super League star is one of the most experienced players in the Raiders squad, with 35 tries in 164 games, but this year is the first time the one-club-man has found himself at the helm of the Raiders.
Whitehead opens the scoring
Whitehead replaced fellow Englishman Hodgson and Jarrod Croker in the job after the pair suffered season-ending injuries.
“I didn’t really expect to be captaining a finals series, since I’ve been here Josh and Jarrod have been my captains and obviously, Josh stepped aside at the start of the year and Sticky put me as co-captain with Jarrod,” he said.
“It comes with a little bit of pressure but I’ve been enjoying it and taking on the challenge. I’m feeling a bit more comfortable now after a couple of months in the role and getting a few wins has made it a little bit easier."
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