History then heartbreak in ‘sad’ Hammer sight as history against Raiders after Dolphins demolition

Everyone knows the statistic.

No team has ever conceded 50 points in a regular-season game and gone on to win the premiership.

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MATCH CENTRE: Dolphins vs Raiders teams, scores, updates, videos

Now, there has to be an asterisk next to it if the Canberra Raiders go on to win the title because this was a very different 17 to the one that will contest for the Provans-Summons trophy in the next few weeks.

But nonetheless, the Raiders will still have to technically defy history after a red-hot Dolphins outfit cruised to a 62-24 win to close out their season in ninth position.

The only dampener in an otherwise entertaining final game from the Dolphins came in the form of a Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow injury, with the speedster suffering what was suspected to be an MCL issue.

Tabuai-Fidow had well and truly left his mark on the game by that point, however, scoring a hat-trick and making Dolphins history in the process as he became the club’s first player to bring up 50 tries.

There were a few close calls for the Dolphins early, with the home side creating plenty of chances on their right edge.

But it was Tevita Naufahu on the left who ended up producing the first points of the afternoon, first making a linebreak after Kodi Nikorima held up the ball beautifully for Trai Fuller, who put the winger away.

That set up the Dolphins deep in Canberra territory and eventually the pressure led to points as Naufahu scored in the 9th minute.

The Raiders weren’t necessarily playing poorly, but it was clear early on that the Dolphins had far more strike out wide and that remained true as Tabuai-Fidow popped an offload for Fuller, who then found Oryn Keeley trailing in support for the Dolphins’ second try of the afternoon.

The points quickly started to pile up as Nikorima put the ball in the air and the Raiders let Tabuai-Fidow have a clean grab at it before spinning the ball right as Jake Averillo dove over in the 29th minute.

Nikorima produced the goods off another last-tackle bomb just a few days later as Manaia Waitere put the ball down, with Tabuai-Fidow on the spot to score.

The Dolphins speedster later made it a quickfire double after Ethan Sanders threw an intercept to Isaako, with the Raiders defence unable to recover.

That left the halftime score at 30-0 and while throwing the ball around had paid dividends for the free-spirited Dolphins, it backfired early in the second half as Michael Asomua pounced on a loose pass to score on debut.

It didn’t take long for the Dolphins to start troubling the scoreboard again, however, as Jeremy Marshall-King embarrassed some soft defence in the middle from Canberra to put Ray Stone over in the 45th minute before Tabuai-Fidow scored his third of the afternoon soon after.

At that point Tabuai-Fidow was threatening to run down Mark Nawaqanitawase for the NRL’s top-try scorer gong but a suspected MCL injury cut his afternoon short in what Fox League’s Andrew Voss described as a “sad sight” given the form he was in.

There were still plenty of highlights to come even with the Dolphins speedster off the field, however, headlined by a fairytale final try and successful conversion for the retiring Mark Nicholls.

Nicholls quickly came crashing back to earth on the next set as he dropped the ball to gift the Raiders a full set on the Dolphins’ line and Noah Martin crashed over as Canberra quickly cashed in.

Raiders debutant Joe Roddy also scored a double in the space of three minutes to give Canberra fans a rare reason to smile but otherwise it was all the Dolphins, with Naufahu and Jamayne Isaako crossing late as the home side brought up the half-century.

Fuller then capped off a standout afternoon with a linebreak to set up Averillo for the final try of the afternoon.

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