Raiders stun Sea Eagles with second-half comeback

The Raiders have handed the Sea Eagles their first loss in five weeks after producing a remarkable second-half comeback on Friday night to win 26-24 at 4 Pines Park.

Behind by 20 points midway through the first period and facing an 18-point deficit early in the second, Canberra's unlikely surge began on 53 minutes when returning captain Elliott Whitehead scored the first of his two four-pointers. 

It ended with Hudson Young's try three minutes from full-time, with the Raiders surviving two late charges from the Sea Eagles and an attempted two-point field goal from Daly Cherry-Evans with seconds left on the clock. 

In addition to Whitehead's double, and a first-half assist from a flick pass, former Sea Eagle Kaeo Weekes and teenage prospect Ethan Strange were impressive in the halves and each came up with some clutch plays late on to get their side home. 

After being thumped 40 in Round 8, things looked headed in a similar direction for the Raiders when the Sea Eagles scored early through Tom Trbojevic and piled on further tries to Tommy Talau and Daly Cherry-Evans, with both those later efforts coming directly off Canberra errors. 

By the time Reuben Garrick scored and converted on 27 minutes the Sea Eagles sat on a comfortable 20-0 lead at home, where they had won all of their games up until that point in 2024. 

But with Albert Hopoate in the sin bin, the Raiders finally clicked into gear, with Whitehead producing a clever assist for Weekes to race away and reduce the gap to 14 at the break. 

Garrick extended the lead with a try early in the second half, but the Raiders just refused to go away and hit back through a quickfire double to Whitehead.

Nick Cotric then tiptoed down the sideline for a try, before Hudson Young got on the end of an Ethan Strange kick to put his side in front for the first time with three to play.