2021 Canberra Raiders season
The 2021 Canberra Raiders season was the 41st in the club's history. Coached by Ricky Stuart and captained jointly by Jarrod Croker , Josh Hodgson [ a] and Elliott Whitehead , they competed in the 2021 NRL season , placing 10th out of 16 teams and thus failing to make the finals.
Rugby league team season
Season summary
Canberra looked to capitalise on their successful 2020 campaign, however they fell apart mid-season from heavy losses to other teams such as the Penrith Panthers and South Sydney Rabbitohs , losing five games in a row and being demolished by underdogs the Gold Coast Titans . Rumours of a player-coach riff[ 1] between Stuart and a certain number of players led to the stand-down of Josh Hodgson as captain[ 2] and the departure of English import George Williams .[ 3] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the NRL relocated to Queensland to play the rest of the season. This was further setback with the lockdown in Brisbane and 11 other LGAs in June . Multiple injuries to players such as youngster Xavier Savage [ 4] and hooker Tom Starling [ 5] threatened to derail their season, but they were successful in gaining wins in the second half of the year, with defeats of Manly, Cronulla and Parramatta successively. They came close to reaching the top eight, however a loss to the Roosters in Round 25 sealed their fate.
Results
Round
Home
Score
Away
Match Information
Date and Time
Venue
Crowd
1
Canberra Raiders
30 - 12
Wests Tigers
Sun 14 Mar, 4:05pm AEDT
Canberra Stadium
15,680
2
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
10 - 12
Canberra Raiders
Sun 21 Mar, 6:15pm AEDT
Netstrata Jubilee Stadium
3,145
3
Canberra Raiders
31 - 34
New Zealand Warriors
Sat 27 Mar, 3:00pm AEDT
Canberra Stadium
13,456
4
Canberra Raiders
20 - 4
Gold Coast Titans
Sat 3 Mar, 7:45pm AEDT
Netstrata Jubilee Stadium
5,117
5
Penrith Panthers
30 - 10
Canberra Raiders
Fri 9 Apr, 7:55pm AEDT
Netstrata Jubilee Stadium
20,890
6
Canberra Raiders
10 - 35
Parramatta Eels
Sat 17 Apr, 7:35pm AEDT
Canberra Stadium
20,089
7
North Queensland Cowboys
26 - 24
Canberra Raiders
Sat 24 Apr, 7:35pm AEDT
Queensland Country Bank Stadium
13,791
8
Canberra Raiders
10 - 35
South Sydney Rabbitohs
Thu 29 Apr, 7:50pm AEDT
Canberra Stadium
14,260
9
Newcastle Knights
24 - 16
Canberra Raiders
Sat 8 May, 3:00pm AEDT
McDonald Jones Stadium
6,642
10
Canberra Raiders
20 - 18
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Sat 15 May, 3:00pm AEDT
Suncorp Stadium
45,115
11
Canberra Raiders
10 - 34
Melbourne Storm
Sat 22 May, 7:35pm AEDT
Canberra Stadium
14,120
12
Sydney Roosters
44 - 16
Canberra Raiders
Sat 29 May, 7:35pm AEDT
Central Coast Stadium
10,113
13
BYE
14
Canberra Raiders
38 - 16
Brisbane Broncos
Sat 12 Jun, 7:35pm AEDT
Canberra Stadium
9,608
15
St. George Illawarra Dragons
22 - 20
Canberra Raiders
Sat 19 Jun, 5:30pm AEDT
WIN Stadium
9,239
16
Canberra Raiders
6 - 44
Gold Coast Titans
Sat 3 Jul, 5:30pm AEDT
Canberra Stadium
7,646
17
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
16 - 30
Canberra Raiders
Thu 8 Jul, 7:50pm AEDT
Brookvale Oval
0
18
Canberra Raiders
34 - 18
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
Sat 17 Jul, 5:30pm AEDT
CBUS Super Stadium
3,874
19
Canberra Raiders
12 - 10
Parramatta Eels
Thu 22 Jul, 7:50pm AEDT
CBUS Super Stadium
2,566
20
Canberra Raiders
24 - 34
Newcastle Knights
Sun 1 Aug, 1:50pm AEDT
Suncorp Stadium
0
21
Canberra Raiders
20 - 12
St. George-Illawarra Dragons
Fri 6 Aug, 6:00pm AEDT
CBUS Super Stadium
0
22
Canberra Raiders
16 - 26
Melbourne Storm
Thu 12 Aug, 7:50pm AEDT
Sunshine Coast Stadium
2,523
23
Canberra Raiders
18 - 19
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Fri 20 Aug, 6:00pm AEDT
Suncorp Stadium
6,181
24
Canberra Raiders
28 - 16
New Zealand Warriors
Fri 27 Aug, 6:00pm AEDT
BB Print Stadium
4,079
25
Canberra Raiders
16 - 40
Sydney Roosters
Thu 2 Sept, 7:50pm AEDT
BB Print Stadium
3,473
Ladder
2021 Squad
Top 30 Squad - 2021 Season
Development Players
Coaching staff
Extended squad
Head coach
Assistant coaches
Legend:
(c) Captain(s)
(vc) Vice-captain(s)
(gk) Goal kicker(s)
Updated: 23 August 2021 Source(s): Raiders Team Profiles
Transfers
Losses:
Gains:
2021 Meninga Medal Award Winners
NSW Cup Player of the Year – Kai O’Donnell
NSW Cup Coaches Award – Matt Frawley
Geoff Caldwell Welfare & Education Award – Elliott Whitehead
Gordon McLucas Memorial Junior Representative Player of the Year - Trey Mooney
Fred Daly Memorial Club Person of the Year – Grant Hogan
NRL Rookie of the Year – Harley Smith-Shields & Matt Timoko
NRL Coaches Award – Tom Starling
Meninga Medal – Jordan Rapana
References
^ Until his step-down from captaincy on May 5th.