Temara brings up double century as Raiders hold out Titans

Veteran playmaker Zahara Temara became the first player in NRLW history to notch up 200 career points on Sunday, as her accurate boot helped lift the Raiders to a 16-12 win over the Titans to close out the 2024 season for both clubs. 

Temara entered the record books with her second conversion of the day, which came after a crucial penalty try call gave her side a 12-point lead with 22 minutes to play, in a contest which ebbed and flowed amid a high error count from both sides. 

Despite a Sienna Lofipo try with three to play setting up a thrilling finish, the Gold Coast were ultimately left to rue poor goalkicking on a day in which they scored the same number of tries as their opponent but failed to add the extras on any of their three attempts. 

Early on it was a horror start for Karina Brown in the final game of her illustrious career which set the Green Machine up for first points, with her fumbled kick reception leading to Monalisa Soliola going over out wide on the next set. 

A try for Warriors-bound fullback Apii Nicholls followed after Temara passed her into a gap, and the Raiders would have considered themselves unlucky not to have led by more than 10, with a last-ditch Jaime Chapman punch of the ball out and a forward pass call all that denied Shakiah Tungai an early double. 

Handling errors from both sides left the game in a holding pattern for the second part of the opening stanza, but a minute out from the break Sarina Masaga powered through an attempted Cheyelle Robins-Reti tackle to cross and reduce her side's deficit to 10-4. 

While they began the second half with a new lease on life, the wheels quickly fell off again for the Titans when Canberra were awarded a penalty try after Montgomery contacted Ashleigh Quinlan as she attempted to ground the ball over the line and the Bunker intervened. 

But Karyn Murphy's charges refused to go away, hitting back through a spirited Taliah Fuimaono run 15 from time, although with the ensuing conversion attempt wide of the mark it remained a two-score deficit. 

The Titans' cause wasn't helped by Fuimaono then being ruled out by an eye injury picked up in the act of scoring, and while Lofipo's effort with three to go gave the Gold Coast some late hope, it wasn't to be as the Raiders held on for their third win of the year.