Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has admitted his side were "lucky" in their win over the New Zealand Warriors at home on Friday evening.
Kicking off Round 20 just 48 hours after State of Origin 3, a battered and bruised Warriors, well down on man power, were able to reverse the tide after letting in 14 early points.
In the end, a missed conversion from Chanel Harris-Tavita just minutes from fulltime would enable the Raiders to see out a two-point victory, but Stuart, who paid credit to the Warriors, particularly Mitch Barnett and Kurt Capewell in backing up from a brutal deciding Origin match, said his team got lucky after their hot start.
"We were lucky. We were really lucky. I think Webby [New Zealand Warriors' coach Andrew Webster] has done a wonderful job with what he had there tonight. I thought the two Origin players who backed up and the amount of football they played," Stuart said during his post-match press conference.
"I know Mitch Barnett very well. He is a tough kid and for him to back up and do what he did after a massive Origin - I was sort of half expecting it because you can't wait to get back and play with your mates after a series win like that, I thought Mitchy would jump into it and have a lot of energy tonight. For Kurt Capewell, I think he played 80 minutes so a massive effort.
"I think we brought them into the game at the 30th minute. We probably didn't respect the position we were in and it cost us. We went into halftime and I was disappointed at halftime. We could have gone into halftime if we were relentless in the last ten, we could have gone in a lot more upbeat and confident.
"We started the second half poorly and gave them momentum, and they took it. But I'll take the win. No one is going to feel sorry for us if we get beaten and unlucky, so I'll take the two points."
Despite not picking up the win, Stuart said his side had played well the last two weeks and not won, so was happy to take the two competition points despite having an off night.
"I've got belief in these guys, unlike a lot of other people who have jumped off us for the last four weeks. That's my job. I'm not in the business of picking and choosing. I've got belief in these guys, and we had an off night tonight and won," Stuart said.
"We played quite well over the last two weeks and we got beaten. Credit to the teams that beat us, but we played okay football the last couple of weeks and didn't get the two points.
"Tonight, there were some passages of play that I'll show them tomorrow about how good we were, and then I'll show them some passages of play that we let them back in and didn't play well, but I'll take the two points. Xavier scores that try last week at the back end of the game and we are two from two. He scored one tonight and got us in front. That's how close we are to winning or losing."
The win leaves the Raiders just a single point out of the top eight on the live ladder, likely needing either four or five wins from their final seven games of the season to factor in top eight calculations, although a horror for and against of -91 will leave them with plenty of work to do.
Stuart's side play the South Sydney Rabbitohs (home), Canterbury Bulldogs (away - Belmore), Manly Sea Eagles (home), North Queensland Cowboys (away), Penrith Panthers (home), Sydney Roosters (away) and St George Illawarra Dragons (away - Kogarah) on the run to the finish line.
