Friday 14 June 2013 2:05 PM
Star Canberra Raiders playmaker Josh McCrone has revealed that the side’s unbeaten record at Canberra Stadium provides the team with a great deal of confidence and has called on fans to turn up in droves on Saturday to cheer the side on against the Penrith Panthers.
The Raiders have played five games at Canberra Stadium so far in 2013, winning all five games. Conversely, Canberra has won just won game from seven away games.
“Our record at home is something that we are proud of and something that we aim to keep intact,” said McCrone.
“We’ve wanted to make Canberra Stadium a fortress an intimidating venue for opposition teams to play at and as our unbeaten record has shown, we’ve started to do that.
“We have to keep going with that now because we’re a long way from finished. The players really lift when we play at home in front of a sea of lime green and it’d be great to see a massive crowd at Canberra Stadium on Saturday night against the Panthers.”
The Raiders home ground advantage will be extremely beneficial when they face the Panthers considering that the men from the foot of the mountains trumped the Green Machine 32-10 in round one.
“This week is pretty important after the display we put in against Penrith in round one,” said McCrone. “Definitely in my mind, I’m extremely keen to put in a good performance this weekend because we were very disappointing in that round. We’ve got a point to prove and we’re keen to show that we’re a lot better team than what we were then.”
And that they are.
The Raiders are now sitting in 8th position on the ladder and part of Canberra’s form reversal has been due to the rotation system of McCrone, young gun Anthony Milford and hooker Glen Buttriss that has been employed by Coach David Furner.
“It’s something that we’re still getting used to but we’re getting better at it with each game,” said McCrone. “It’s something that was brand new to me but it has been effective. I hadn’t played hooker before in my career but it’s been good because it’s added another string to my bow.
“We’re also learning how to use Anthony better too. He’s a pretty impressive ball runner so I think that the rotation system will be something good for our team but time will tell just how good it will be.”
When asked if he saw himself as a permanent hooker in the future McCrone cheekily replied “No way – I’m much too good looking to play hooker permanently!”
The match against the Panthers kicks off at 5:30pm at Canberra Stadium.
CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for the match.
CLICK HERE to read the official match preview.
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