Fogarty stars as Raiders cruel Souths’ finals hopes
Jamal Fogarty has revived Canberra’s NRL finals hopes, orchestrating a second-straight victory since his return from injury.
The Raiders had looked set for oblivion after losing four in a row, but after a 32-12 victory over South Sydney at GIO Stadium on Sunday night they are right back in contention.
Once again, Fogarty’s boot was instrumental.
The halfback assisted three tries, kicked six goals and tormented the Rabbitohs’ makeshift backline with his towering bombs.
Fogarty’s influence went beyond his kicking game.
Canberra played with new-found direction and organisation in attack with him back in the halves.
They’ll need to be on top of their game if they are to play finals footy, with tough tests against Manly, Penrith and the Sydney Roosters to come.
Souths, already without star fullback Latrell Mitchell, lost winger Alex Johnston to a suspected ruptured achilles injury in the first half.
For the second week in a row, hooker Damien Cook was shifted into the centres with Taane Milne pushed to the wing.
Xavier Savage vaulted straight over diminutive South Sydney fullback Jye Gray to pluck a Fogarty bomb out of the air and score his second try in two weeks.
But the Raiders winger also missed a Cody Walker cross-field bomb at the other end, allowing Milne to clean up the loose ball and put the visitors on the board.
Michael Chee Kam also struggled under Fogarty’s kicking, copping a ball to the face after losing sight of a bomb in flight.
Raiders fullback Jordan Rapana was on the spot to plant the loose ball in the corner and complete his brace.
Rapana had earlier opened the scoring after Hudson Young broke through the Rabbitohs line with a dart down the short side.
Centre Sebastian Kris and forward Ata Mariota also contributed with tries as the home side treated the Canberra faithful to their biggest win since round five.
But the 12,114-strong crowd were bemused when Elliott Whitehead was sent to the sin bin after the final siren in his 200th game for the Raiders.
Souths played without spark in attack and at times came up with some turnstile defending.
The loss leaves them four points adrift of the top eight in 14th and likely needing to win all their remaining games to make the finals.
With Johnston out for the season and captain Walker’s fitness also in doubt after limping off with a suspected hip flexor injury, that is looking a near-impossible feat.
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