Fog strands Canberra Raiders after historic win over Storm

The Green Machine barely had time to celebrate their historic 22-6 win over the Melbourne Storm on Saturday night.

They were whisked away from Melbourne Park shortly after the final whistle blew to hop on a chartered flight to Canberra that might not land.

If the fog makes the landing unsafe, the flight may be rerouted to Sydney and the Raiders would have to then catch a bus back down the Hume Highway.

It would add at least another three hours to their already tough road trip, which began with an early-afternoon flight from Canberra Airport.

"Apparently we won't know until we get in the air, but knowing our luck with travel we will be going to Sydney," Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said.

"It makes it for a tough week if we have to get on a three-hour bus trip after this flight."

Rapa's returned.

He's picked up right where he left off in last year's grand final. After all, he played zero games during his rugby union stint in Japan.

Jordan Rapana scored the opening try of the Raiders' 16-point win over Melbourne, which continued their undefeated start to the NRL season.

It's the first time in 15 years Canberra has started the season 3-0, kicking the Green Machine into gear for another grand final run.

It took the New Zealand international just four minutes to work his magic down the left edge, pouncing on a quick release from centre Jarrod Croker.

Michael Oldfield was expected to start on the wing when Bailey Simonsson was ruled out with a minor leg infection.

But Rapana proved why he was the man for the job and it was like he had never left. He nearly scored a double in the second half and ran 166 metres.

His last try also came against the Storm in round 22 last year, the first of the Raiders' three game winning sequence at Melbourne Park.

Six again? Say it again, for all the right reasons.

A call that cost the Green Machine a premiership is suddenly a good thing for Canberra.

The Raiders scored their first two tries off a repeat set, with halves Jack Wighton and George Williams taking advantage of the new rule for ruck infringements.

Canberra was put on the front foot late in their first set thanks to a Kenny Bromwich infringement, leading to Rapana crossing over on the left edge.

Williams pounced on an under-presser Storm defence shortly after, sending a long ball to winger Nick Cotric who dived in the corner.

Raiders co-captain Josh Hodgson said the rule change benefited their mobile forward pack, who were given more room to work their magic against a tough Melbourne outfit.

"It was something we spoke about during the week. We were pretty lucky we had the Saturday game so on Thursday and Friday we got to watch a little bit to see what its like," Hodgson told Fox Sports after the match.

"There's certainly a lot of rugby on the front foot, it's ad lib.

"It certainly suits our style with George and Jack, we've got a great running game and great strikes on the edge."

AT A GLANCE

NRL ROUND THREE: CANBERRA RAIDERS 22 (Jordan Rapana, Nick Cotric, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Joe Tapine tries, Jarrod Croker 3 conversions) bt MELBOURNE STORM 6 (Dale Finucane try, Cameron Smith conversion) at Melbourne Park