True Blue Jamie Soward believes the Canberra Raiders team in The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup can play a role in helping the NRL team snap a five-match losing streak.
The fifth-placed Raiders are coming off a 22-20 loss to Newcastle Knights last round and face a Parramatta Eels outfit which scored a commanding 39-0 win over the North Sydney Bears.
Forwards Ryan James and Dunamis Lui have been promoted to the NRL side from last round while hooker Siliva Havili has been dropped and will start at No.9 in The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup.
“They’re trying to find their mojo in the top grade and my personal experience is when that happens sometimes that filters down,” Soward told the Short Side for nswrl.com.au.
“So, I’m looking for the senior guys at the Raiders this weekend to step up and say, ‘Let’s not worry what’s going on the NRL team all the chatter around that. Let’s concentrate on our own job and maybe a couple of our guys will get picked to go up and try to help the NRL season.’
Soward said the Raiders could also benefit from the Eels decision to hand in-form halfback Jakob Arthur his NRL debut with five-eighth Dylan Brown unavailable through suspension.
“It’s going to be a really tight game against Parramatta,” Soward said.
“I do like to go against teams who have their halfback out, but Parramatta are just too good at the moment.
“Freddy Lussick will go into the halfback role and usually that doesn’t pan out too well when you have to move one position to make another one stronger.
“But (coach) Ryan Carr and his men are playing pretty well at the moment. And they come up against a Raiders side with lots of changes.”
