Canberra raids Brisbane for win
Raiders coach Matthew Elliott has appealed to representative selectors to name both prop Luke Davico and fullback Clinton Schifcofske in Monday's Origin teams following Canberra's 21-14 upset NRL win over Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium.
The Raiders pair were instrumental in Canberra's surprise win, with Davico taking the points in his battle with Brisbane's Origin front-rowers Shane Webcke and Petero Civoniceva, while Schifcofske's security and organisation was the glue to the gutsy win.
"I don't often use this forum to plug people, but I thought Luke Davico's performance, considering some of the front-row rotations NSW have been using in State of Origin, then if anyone has watched Luke play the last three weeks, he's certainly shoved his hand up there," said Elliott at the post-match press conference.
"And I thought the guy beside me (Clinton Schifcofske), if anyone's been watching his form closely for the last weeks ...... I'd be really disappointed if those two guys didn't come into consideration.
"It's not my job to pick people, but their form has held us together and Luke again came up with another enormous game." Rather than push his own Origin barrow for Queensland, Schifcofske backed his coach's push for Davico to make the Blues squad.
"If you look at the stat sheet, Luke played the two Queensland front-rowers and I thought he got the better of the pair of them," said Schifcofske.
"He's been doing the same thing week in and week out and he deserves a chance."
The game featured an amazing four no-try decisions in the first half, with video referee Tim Mander red lighting efforts by Canberra duo Simon Woolford and winger Phil Graham and Brisbane's Civoniceva and Tonie Carroll.
Canberra jumped to a 12-0 lead in the first half through tries to McLinden, who was very creative at times and Woodford, who scored in the same spot where he had a try disallowed a few minutes earlier.
Schifcofske said the team had been lifted by the support for their team at a ground.
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