An injury to first-choice kicker Adam Pompey has cost the Warriors dearly as Chanel Harris-Tavita missed a shot to equalise from right next to the posts in the dying minutes in Canberra.
The miss allowed the Raiders to hang on for a 20-18 win, snapping a four-game losing streak by the skin of their teeth.
Pompey converted the Warriors' first try of the night but had to be helped off the field with a knee injury at half-time and did not come back out for the second stanza.
Harris-Tavita took over kicking duties and hooked all three of his chances including a kick from just to the left of the posts that would have levelled scores at 20 with five minutes left in the game.
Former Canberra halfback Sam Williams said on ABC Sport the Warriors five-eighth would have been better off throwing the ball over from that spot, and Cooper Cronk on Fox Sports said Harris-Tavita clearly had no conviction off the tee.
"He's looked nervous all night. At no stage did he look confident," Cronk said of the 25-year-old, who would also be behind injured halfback Shaun Johnson in the goal-kicking pecking order.
A clearly upset Harris-Tavita made a beeline for the sheds the moment the full-time siren sounded.
It was made extra heartbreaking by the fact the Warriors had worked their tails off to get back into the game after going behind 14-0 in the opening 20 minutes thanks to Hudson Young's double.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck scored to give the Warriors some momentum going into half-time after he shifted back to fullback after Taine Tuaupiki, himself covering for the injured Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (calf), left the game early after a head knock.
The Warriors' returning State of Origin heroes, Kurt Capewell and Mitch Barnett, cross before the hour mark, but Harris-Tavita's misses from out wide meant the score was tied at 14.
Xavier Savage put the Raiders back in front when he pounced on Kaeo Weekes's 71st-minute chip, before Addin Fonua-Blake barged over, setting up a potential equaliser that turned into a heartbreaker for the Warriors.
Look back at how the match unfolded in the live blog below, and check out all the stats in our ScoreCentre.
Well that was certainly an exciting finish, although the standard of the game was down a bit.
Tomorrow's action proves to be more exciting:
And of course we'll be here to bring you all the latest in our live blog.
Thanks for sticking around!
Former Raider Sam Williams shared his ABC Rugby League player of the year points after the game:
3 Addin Fonua-Blake
2 Jamal Fogarty
1 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
"Fonua-Blake, the big front rower played 75 minutes, he made 200 metres with the ball, he got through 36 tackles and scored a cracking try to get his team back into the contest."
"Fogarty came back into the Raiders side and controlled things well. His kicking game was really good, he set up a great try there for Hudson Young."
"The other man that stood up for the Warriors was RTS. He had 255 metres from the back and a really good try to get the them within eight points of half-time."
Rabbitohs fullback Jye Gray joined ABC Sport to preview South Sydney's match against the Tigers tomorrow afternoon in Gosford.
The team is set to celebrate Damien Cook's 200th NRL game for the club and Gray said their motivation was to reward his milestone with a win.
Meanwhile, the 20-year-old is still pinching himself that he gets to play alongside Cook and other NRL stars now in his debut season, after watching them play as a teenager.
"It's been surreal, it's something that you dream of as a kid. Pretty crazy, these are the guys you watch growing up and aspire to be like. I don't take it for granted, I love playing with them every week."
Gray also shared his thoughts on Wayne Bennett heading to the Rabbitohs next year to take on the coaching reins again.
"I haven't talked to Wayne yet, but obviously it's very exciting him coming to the club, he's such a big name in the NRL community so I can’t wait to meet him and learn from him. All the boys hold him in high regard and say great things, so I'm looking forward to it."
Sticky isn't wasting his time feeling sorry for any opponents.
"No-one's gonna feel sorry for us if we get unlucky. I don't feel sorry for anyone. I'll take the two points."
Tom Starling played 80 minutes at hooker tonight, which meant Danny Levi didn't get off the bench (coincidentally, neither did Warriors back-up dummy half Freddy Lussick).
Stuart says it's because he had to hook some players.
"I don't like not using anybody. I apologised to Danny. There were some individuals not up to standard tonight and I had to take them off the field, and that disrupted my interchange."
Both Whitehead and Stuart have thanked the fans for coming out in arctic conditions, where the apparent temperature was below freezing, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
"After the month we've had, for them to show up shows how much we mean to those people," Whitehead says.
"That was freezing out there," Stuart says.
"I'm so happy we won for those people. Jesus, it was freezing. They are your deadset tough, loyal fans and I want to thank them."
The Warriors coach isn't inclined to blame the goal-kicking for losing the game.
"We'd love to be 100 per cent on our goal-kicking every week. The goal-kicking's not the thing that decided the game."
He says the poor start was the most unacceptable part of the match, along with some poor defending.
I'd say that will do very little to put a smile on Chanel Harris-Tavita's face, but probably nothing would at the moment.
Mitch Barnett says is didn't cross his mind to not back up after Origin, because his club teammates are the ones who helped him get that sky blue jersey in the first place.
Kurt Capewell caught up with ABC Sport after playing 72 minutes in Origin III for the Maroons on Wednesday and a full 80 minutes two days later for the Warriors.
"Obviously I was a bit disappointed after Origin, so I was keen to get back out and get another game in to try and get a win, but unfortunately on the other side of the scoreboard again. Second-half we tried to rip in, so there are some positives but we can't be missing starts like that. I'm looking forward to getting home after three weeks away now."
Start of a Raiders rampage into the finals?
- Mike
Hi Mike,
The middle of the NRL ladder is more congested than a chronic hayfever sufferer with a deviated septum, but that means anyone can make a charge.
With this game, bearing in mind it's the first of the round, the Raiders leapfrog the Knights to 10th and are tied with the Cowboys on 22 points. But Canberra has the worst for-and-against (-91) of anyone ranked in the top 14 this season, so they're going to have a very hard time of it.
They are, however, now within one game of fifth spot. They almost certainly won't be by the end of the round, but it says something about how close the competition is.
ABC Sport caught up with Raiders halfback Jamal Fogarty after his return from a bicep injury to get the win.
"It's good to be back playing footy. I was a bit rusty there in patches, but my arm felt food throughout the match. Didn't even think about it. Obviously the Warriors are a good team and in the second half they showed up, but good resilience from us. We could have crapped the bed really and made things a mess, but we were able to fix things a bit there towards the end there and get away with it."
He was full of praise for the Warriors prop Mitch Barnett backing up after a hard game in the Origin decider.
"He's a weapon mate. To be able to play the way they did on Wednesday night, so physical and then for him to back-up goes to show what the club means to him and Kurt Capewell as well. Quality players. I take my hat off to all the boys backing up."
Chanel Harris-Tavita is storming off the field quickly after that late miss cost them a chance to equalise, and the Raiders hang on to win 20-18 despite scoring three tries to the Warriors' four.
Canberra had lost four in a row leading up to this game and this helps them stay in touch with the top eight, while the Warriors are fighting to play finals this year after losing four of their last five.
The Warriors need to go 100 metres, out of their back right corner, in 30 seconds.
Adam Pompey's injury might have cost the Warriors this game, because back-up kicker Chanel Harris-Tavita is having a nightmare.
"He's looked nervous all night. At no stage did he look confident," Cooper Cronk says on Fox.
This time he hooks a conversion from just to the left of the posts and a chance to level the scores goes begging.
"He should have thrown it over," former Raiders halfback and ABC Sport expert Sam Williams says.
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak leaps alone and takes the short kick-off for the Warriors.
And Dylan Walker ums it up with a brilliant no-look short ball to Addin Fonua-Blake to score right next to the posts.
The Raiders spin it right and fullback Kaeo Weekes drops it on his foot so quickly and the chip kick finds the grass between RTS and Ali Leiataua, and bounces perfectly for Xavier Savage to touch down.
He must be feeling himself after scoring that try because he's swooped into dummy half on the last and doesn't even look to pass, chipping over the top to absolutely no-one.
What the hell happened there?
Even his end-over-end bombs are giving Roger Tuivasa-Sehck, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Ali Leiataua nightmares.
You're seeing tonight why these teams are rarely in this primetime slot.
The Warriors get on top, and now they give away a foolish penalty as Dylan Walker flops onto Jordan Rapana late.
And the Raiders get penalised for being offside off the ensuing set.
Just a mess.
Phenomenal play from the Origin debutant. Kurt Capewell gets a quick play-the-ball and Mitch Barnett swings to the short side, hits the ball at speed and barges through Matt Timoko to score.
Brilliant heads-up play by Barnett, set up by Capewell.
A couple of errors creeping in for the Raiders, and now Jamal Fogarty just takes a hit-up out on the right to end a set.
RTS can't track down Jamal Fogarty's bomb, but gets lucky as the bounce carries it dead.
And then the Raiders get a hint of luck as Te Maire Martin's grubber takes a rotten bounce for Xavier Savage, but Mitch Barnett can't handle.
ABC Sport sideline eye Tim Gore poked his head into the changerooms at the break. Here's what both coaches had to say.
Ricky Stuart was annoyed with his Raiders side.
"He wants them to cut out the silly errors and stop forcing the unnecessary pass, just be patient. He wants them to complete sets and pressure the kicks. He said, 'You did so much good work in that first-half and you unravelled a bit of it at the end'."
Meanwhile, Andrew Webster was stoic.
"He wants the Warriors to focus on their ruck defence. They're trying to get Adam Pompey back on field. He says they’ve got to win the forward battle and every single Warrior has to support each other to do that."
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