The Raiders have the wind in their sails after a pressure-relieving win last week over the Bulldogs.
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A "big challenge" awaits them Sunday against the in-form Cronulla Sharks in NRL Magic Round in Brisbane, and Xavier Savage could be the spark that gives them a much-needed attacking edge.
The Sharks lost some firepower in suspended stars Will Kennedy and Jesse Ramien, forcing standout recruit Nicho Hynes from the halves to fullback.
There's still plenty of weapons at their disposal and when scoring points has been an issue for the injury-hit Raiders, it was a welcome sight for Raiders fans to see Savage on the bench after COVID-19 ruled him out last week.
Savage played just three games in the back-end of last season but in the trials this year at fullback he put his hand up to take on a bigger role with an exhilarating performance quickly making him a fan favourite.
Though he wasn't named to play until round six on the bench, he went on a roll playing the next two weeks as a winger, with the game against the Warriors his best-yet, racking up nearly 100 total running metres.
There's no doubt the future is bright for the junior athletics champion who turned 20 years old last month, and diehard supporters of the Green Machine have at times expressed their frustration on social media that Savage has not received more playing time.
As the Raiders struggled to put more wins on the board, and first-choice fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad had up-and-down performances those cries grew louder. But coach Ricky Stuart has a plan with Savage and is urging patience.
"For me it's still about the learning process for Xavier," he said.
"Now he's got a little bit of a start. He's back on the bench now.
"It's just a slow process with his learnings and I'm excited about the future of Xavier Savage, but the future will be determined by how we handle him today."
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Nicoll-Klokstad was sent back to NSW Cup a few weeks ago to find his footy mojo again and the move was successful with his efforts against the Bulldogs a throwback to his career-best form, according to Stuart. It was only due to a badly corked thigh that his night ended prematurely.
"I thought Charnze got back to a little bit of his old form in that first-half last week," Stuart said.
"He came back Tuesday our first day training ... and that actually surprised me. I thought he might have had to have a day off running, but he came back and trained well."
Stuart believes the constant setbacks the squad has endured early in the season losing their starting hooker and halfback in Josh Hodgson and Jamal Fogarty, combined with Nicoll-Klokstad's interrupted pre-season and Jack Wighton's suspension have been crippling to their attack.
However Adam Elliott and Tom Starling's hooker rotation appears to be working and if Nicoll-Klokstad is returning to better form, the light at the end of the tunnel is there.
"Having the old Charnze there that helps your halves and helps our nines," Stuart said.
"It's been a disjointed start to the season for our spine and getting Charnze back to a little bit of his old form last week, it references to your attack and to the combination and cohesion in the middle part of your attack."
They'll need every bit of that and more this weekend especially with wet weather threatening to put a dampener on the Magic Round showcase.
"It might be a dour weekend of football, but given what I've seen over the first nine rounds, there's a lot of attack in all teams," Stuart said.
"Matty Frawley's experience and vocals are a massive help. There was probably two tries that went missing for us last week that we should have scored.
"How they get the ball on the edges all determines how many points they score. It is a job for our inside on the delivery of the football and on how and when they get the football on the edges. It's so important and it's something we work on very hard.
"We put a lot of concentration and focus on our spine at the moment, as we have to because we've really got a number of new combinations that we are working on, but it's getting there.
"Cronulla have had a good start to the season. I know that they'll be riding on a bit of a high at the moment in regards to how they're playing and what they did last week, so we've got a big challenge in front of us."
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