Canberra's 2010 nightmare gives hope of finals recovery

Raiders
Can't bear to look! Corey Horsburgh felt the anguish as the Raiders went down to Brisbane. -AAP Image

If Canberra want proof it is possible to bounce back from Sunday's marathon loss to Brisbane, they need look no further than one of their last finals heartbreaks.

Few teams could know exactly what the Raiders are going through this week, with the 94-minute epic the second-longest golden-point NRL game this century. 

But there is symmetry in the 2010 Wests Tigers, who had a finals win snatched from their hands thanks to a 100th-minute Shaun Kenny-Dowall intercept.

Like Canberra will against Cronulla on Saturday night, the Tigers had to back up six days later. 

And the Tigers did recover, ironically sinking the Raiders when Jarrod Croker missed a late field goal in the nation's capital.

"There was a mental comedown," then-Tigers winger Lote Tuqiri recalled to AAP.

"But I think we just wanted to get back on the field. We just wanted to right some of the wrongs."

Like Canberra players who twice celebrated victory on Sunday before being beaten, the Tigers also thought they had a win locked in over the Roosters in 2010.

The vision of Simon Dwyer crunching Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, only for the Roosters to win the scrum and send the game to extra time with a field goal, would still hurt Tigers fans to this day.

"It was gut-wrenching, I don't know if I slept too much that night," Tuqiri said.

"But we didn't really review it and harp on it too much, which I thought was important.

"We just drew a line under it and wiped it. Let's move on to what we have to do next."

It's a situation several of Ricky Stuart's Raiders could empathise with this week, after several what-if moments at GIO Stadium.

"I think Ricky said they won't do much this week, which is the right thing to do," Fulton said of the Raiders' plight.

"It's just about getting your head right. It takes a couple of days to get over it. I saw they had their presentation on Monday, that would have been hard.

"But you just have to move on."

Canberra's opponents this week also know a thing or two about the Raiders' predicament, after Cronulla lost a 93-minute final to North Queensland in 2022.

The Sharks went on to lose to South Sydney seven days later, with Nicho Hynes admitting this week they didn't handle it well.

"It was more of an emotional hit, we should have won that Cowboys game," Hynes said.

"Everyone reacts differently ...  you could be emotionally or physically drained. 

"We didn't react to it as a team very well, Souths put 30-odd points on us and we got knocked out.

"We're not going to be too worried about that this week. That is a problem for them, but they have a lot to play for and will come out fighting and ready for it."

And as far as Tuqiri is concerned, there is one thing on the Raiders' side.

"Being so young probably helps them," he said. 

"If you're older it takes a bit of a toll on you. But being so young they can probably absorb that stuff and move on really quickly."