Green Machine steamrolls Broncos as Hetherington marched

Josh Papalii ended his three-match exile from the NRL with a try in the Canberra Raiders much-needed 38-16 win over the Brisbane Broncos on Saturday night.

But the night had another talking point due to the send-off of Broncos forward Kobe Hetherington in the 59th minute for a high tackle on Raiders back-rower Corey Harawira-Naera.

Referee Chris Sutton had no hesitation pointing to the sheds despite the fact Harawira-Naera appeared to be falling at the moment of impact.

That reduced the Broncos to 12 men for 21 minutes and they did well to hang tough and only concede one more try, to Jack Wighton in the 64th minute.

The win broke a four-match losing streak by the Raiders at GIO Stadium. They had not won a game there since the round one victory over the Wests Tigers back in March.

Papalii had been absent due to a dangerous tackle suspension and his welcome try on return was complemented by 178 metres and 18 hit-ups.

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Kris crosses, and the Raiders jump jump

The Broncos also had a prodigal son returning in Karmichael Hunt. His 126th NRL game was also his first game since Brisbane’s preliminary final loss to Melbourne in September 2009.

But while being more than capable at five-eighth, Hunt couldn’t stop the onslaught up the middle.

Things got off to a bad start for the Broncos even before the whistle. They lost Origin winger Xavier Coates in the warm-up after he twinged a hamstring and Tesi Niu was brought into the side.

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Hetherington sent off for high shot on Harawira-Naera

But Niu was one of Brisbane’s two tries in the first half. The other was from halfback Tyson Gamble, who kicked the ball twice in the one movement to score.

However the Raiders’ four first-half tries through Sebastian Kris, Harawira-Naera, Sam Williams and Emre Guler meant they took a 22-10 lead into the break.

The second half produced three more tries and the Raiders could finally celebrate a home win.

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