Raiders captain Terry Campese paid tribute to his teammates for keeping their faith in him in Sunday’s 44-14 thrashing of the Newcastle Knights.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Campese made two crucial kicking errors in the opening 15 minutes leading to the Knights getting the early advantage, before finding his range in the second half.
The former NSW pivot openly admitted he had a shocker despite the Raiders pulling off the upset of the season in beating the Melbourne Storm 24-20 last week, and was keen to turn it around after the Knights’ early onslaught.
“I was disappointed in myself, I didn’t put the team in the best position, but I just wanted to make up for it,’’ Campese said.
“The boys definitely helped me out and reassured me behind the line that they’ll do anything in the next 60 [minutes] and we did that.
“Normally we would’ve put ourselves in a hole and wouldn’t be able to get back.
“But the boys reassured me, tackled harder and ran harder and I was able to build myself off the back of that.’’
What Campese did was two-fold.
First was about putting the Raiders into prime field position with his expert long-kicking game.
The other revolved around finishing off the play with a pinpoint grubber or bomb.
Yet his radar was decidedly askew in the opening stages.
A cross-field chip kick aimed for Sandor Earl sailed over the winger’s head and into the 10th row of seats.
Then, an attempted 40/20 kick missed its mark by a handful of centimetres, turning a potential attacking play into one which put the Raiders under immense pressure.
The Knights captailised and had all the momemtum up 14-0.
As the Raiders grew in confidence, so did their leader.
His grubber kick to set up Ferguson’s third was straight out of the coaching manual.
The ball curved on an arching loop, turning just enough for the NSW-bound centre to win the race and seal the game, taking the Raiders to a 34-14 lead with 10 minutes on the clock.
Campese was always going to take several weeks to regain his peak form given injuries have restricted him to a spectator for the past two seasons.
But for all of Ferguson’s brilliance, which there was a lot, and Josh Papalii’s damaging runs out wide, how far the Raiders go in the premiership will be heavily influenced by their champion five-eighth.
For now, Campese is keeping his goals simple as he works his way back, slowly, to his best.
“I’m glad to be out there,’’ he said.
“I’ve just got to keep working throughout the week and getting better.’’
If he does, the Raiders have the attacking arsenal to go a long way.
