Monaghan tips Raiders for title
January 29, 2012 16:58:59 UK
Joel Monaghan believes that no matter what experts of the game think, his former team Canberra Raiders has the ability of contending for the NRL title in the upcoming season.
''I'd be surprised if they don't make top six or top eight.
Joel Monaghan
The Raiders are widely expected to have little impact in the 2012 NRL season but Monaghan, who now plays for English club Warrington, thinks otherwise.
He has pointed towards the return to full fitness of Terry Campese and NSW fullback Josh Dugan and said that Raiders can do what they did in 2010 even though their last season was a major failure.
Canberra Raiders are 1001.00 to win the 2012 NRL Grand Final. Manly Sea Eagles can be backed at odds of 6.00, while Wests Tigers are available at 51.00.
Canberra were able to win just six times in the entire 2011 season and if it had been any worse, they might have finished at the bottom of the league table.
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In a recent interview, Monaghan said: ''I'd be surprised if they don't make top six or top eight. With Campo being fit and Duges being fit … no disrespect to the other players, but there would've been five or six games that if Campo was playing they would've won. And you look at that, that's 10 points and that puts us firmly in the eight.''
Campese instantly agreed with Monaghan's views and said: ''I think we're a top-four team, we've just got to get our combinations right, which we've been working hard on over the off-season.
A big thing is our defence as well. With all the personnel on the field, no injuries, I'm 100 per cent confident in the squad we've got.''
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