Raiders stun Sea Eagles with second-half comeback

The Raiders have handed the Sea Eagles their first loss in five weeks after producing a remarkable second-half comeback on Friday night to win 26-24 at 4 Pines Park.

Behind by 20 points midway through the first period and facing an 18-point deficit early in the second, Canberra's unlikely surge began on 53 minutes when returning captain Elliott Whitehead scored the first of his two four-pointers. 

It ended with Hudson Young's try three minutes from full-time, with the Raiders surviving two late charges from the Sea Eagles and an attempted two-point field goal from Daly Cherry-Evans with seconds left on the clock. 

In addition to Whitehead's double, and a first-half assist from a flick pass, former Sea Eagle Kaeo Weekes and teenage prospect Ethan Strange were impressive in the halves and each came up with some clutch plays late on to get their side home. 

After being thumped 40 in Round 8, things looked headed in a similar direction for the Raiders when the Sea Eagles scored early through Tom Trbojevic and piled on further tries to Tommy Talau and Daly Cherry-Evans, with both those later efforts coming directly off Canberra errors. 

By the time Reuben Garrick scored and converted on 27 minutes the Sea Eagles sat on a comfortable 20-0 lead at home, where they had won all of their games up until that point in 2024. 

But with Albert Hopoate in the sin bin, the Raiders finally clicked into gear, with Whitehead producing a clever assist for Weekes to race away and reduce the gap to 14 at the break. 

Garrick extended the lead with a try early in the second half, but the Raiders just refused to go away and hit back through a quickfire double to Whitehead.

Nick Cotric then tiptoed down the sideline for a try, before Hudson Young got on the end of an Ethan Strange kick to put his side in front for the first time with three to play. 

Match Snapshot The win was just Ricky Stuart's third in his past 10 games at 4 Pines Park. Canberra completed at 87 percent despite testing conditions.  In addition to his match-winning try, Hudson Young had 114 run metres and 31 tackles for the Green Machine.  Nathan Brown went on report in the 33rd minute for a hip drop. Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold marked his 100th game as an NRL coach. Albert Hopoate was sent to the sin bin in the 25th minute for repeated offside infringements. Play of the Game

Elliott Whitehead has never looked so much like Benji Marshall. An audacious flick pass from the veteran Englishman in soaking wet conditions came off in spectacular fashion, with halfback Kaeo Weekes getting on the end of it and breaking away for a crucial try.

What They Said

"I think it's clear to see that we got what we deserved in the end. We were up 20-0 and just didn't have a hard enough edge to finish the job. You have got to give the Raiders credit... I thought they played really tough and they got what they deserved." – Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold. 

"That's the Raiders' DNA. How we performed last week (in the 40-0 loss to the Sharks) wasn't us. We had a choice to make this week to show what our real DNA is and that was one hell of a win." – Raiders coach Ricky Stuart. 

What's Next 

The Sea Eagles head north now for back-to-back games at Suncorp Stadium, facing the Dolphins on Thursday night before taking on the Broncos there in Magic Round the following week. The Raiders have a bye in Round 10 ahead of being the opening act of Magic Round where they will play the Bulldogs.