The Eels head to the nation's capital in Round 11 in desperate need of two competition points as they look to stay in touch with the top eight following a slow start to their 2023 season.
The 2022 grand finalists – who finished last year's regular season with 16 wins – have struggled for consistency through the opening three months of the new campaign, having recorded back-to-back wins just once all year.
Their defeat to the Titans was another case of what could have been with errors opening the door for Gold Coast to hang on for a 26-24 win – a loss compounded by a head knock to star halfback Mitchell Moses which will rule him out of this week's clash due to the mandatory 11-day protocols.
Moses' absence will put more pressure on Dylan Brown, who himself has responded to a sluggish start to the year with a number of impressive performances. Brown was arguably the best on ground despite his side going down at Magic Round, and he'll need to produce a similarly strong effort on Saturday night if he's to lead the Eels past a Raiders side that's starting to hit their straps.
Canberra come into the contest after another close, but hard-fought win – this time holding on to defeat the Bulldogs 34-30 in the first game of Magic Round.
The win marks four on the trot now for the Green Machine – all of which have come by six points or less – and they'll head into Round 11 full of confidence at extending that streak and climbing their way into the top eight for the first time all season.
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Team News
Raiders: Unchanged from the side named earlier in the week. Albert Hopoate returns to the side on the wing in place of Xavier Savage who drops to 18th Man in the only change to the side that beat the Bulldogs in Round 10.
Eels: Jake Arthur takes over at halfback from Mitchell Moses, who will miss Saturday's game as a result of the mandatory 11-day concussion protocols. Arthur has been 18th Man for the past three weeks and will play his first NRL game since last year's grand final. The Eels will run out as per program.
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Stat Attack
- The Eels average the second most post contact metres per game of any team, with their 542.7 metres better only by the Broncos (544m per game)
- Conversely, the Raiders have the lowest run metres per game (1450.5m) of any team with the Eels sitting second with 1,805 metres.
- Parramatta have made 26 more offloads than any other team this year.
- Canberra have lost five of their last six games against the Eels.
- Jordan Rapana requires one try to bring up his century of NRL tries.
- Eels forward Ryan Matterson plays his 150th NRL game.
- The Raiders have scored 65 points and conceded 60 in their past two games.
Stats supplied by David Middleton, League Information Services, author of the
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