Bailey Simonsson shines in Canberra Raiders victory

The Raiders won their first game at Canberra Stadium since round one, thrashing the Brisbane Broncos 38-16 on Saturday night to keep their top-eight hopes alive.

In even better news, Bailey Simonsson shone in the No.1 jersey.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has turned to the former All Blacks sevens player in the absence of Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (neck), who's been ruled out for the season.

Simonsson ran for 253 metres and set up two tries in an assured display at the back.

Maybe the Raiders don't need unwanted Dragons fullback Matthew Dufty, who toured Canberra's centre of excellence on Thursday.

Stuart was emphatic when asked if Simonsson could make the No.1 jersey his own for the rest of the year.

"Playing like that he can, absolutely mate. I was really happy for Bails and I said to him tonight in our prep that it's your position to lose," he said.

Green Machine second-rower Corey Harawira-Naera was caught high by Broncos hooker Kobe Hetherington, who was sent off for the incident with 20 minutes remaining.

Hetherington was a little unlucky given Brisbane halfback Tyson Gamble clipped Harawira-Naera's ankles, tipping the forward into his shoulder.

But these are the days of the NRL crackdown on high contact, so who knows if the match review committee takes leniency on Hetherington when they hand out their punishments on Sunday.

The Broncos also had John Asiata put on report for a high tackle on Raiders co-captain Elliott Whitehead, while Raiders centre Sebastian Kris was also put on report.

In his first NRL game since 2009, Broncos five-eighth Karmichael Hunt was largely anonymous.

That wasn't the case for Raiders hooker Josh Hodgson, who was excellent against the club he's been linked with joining as early as this season - even though neither Hodgson's manager nor the Broncos have asked for permission to speak to the England international, who's contracted until the end of next season.

Simonsson started well in his new custodian role - linking up down the Raiders' left edge for the opening try, with Kris crashing over.

He also produced a heart-in-mouth moment allowing a Jake Turpin bomb to bounce to give up a forced dropout.

But overall he was excellent and showed he could be the perfect cover for Nicoll-Klokstad for the rest of the season.

Jack Wighton might not have played much in NSW's State of Origin romp, but he was clearly paying attention.

Known for his powerful runs on the left, he bobbed up on the right to link up with halfback Sam Williams before putting Corey Harawira-Naera through a massive hole.

It brought up the Raiders' arch nemesis - a 10-point lead.

That curse, combined with officials missing forward passes, saw the Broncos strike back through some good luck.

Tyson Gamble, who the NRL gave permission to come into the side after Albert Kelly (leg) pulled up lame in the captain's run, put up a bomb that Brisbane winger Herbie Farnworth ended up with.

Farnworth threw a pass NFL legend Tom Brady would've been proud of for Gamble to run onto and score.

It's not the first time the Raiders have been dudded on a forward-pass call - with Warriors halfback Kodi Nikorima getting away with a crucial one in their win over the Green Machine back in round three.

"It was a bit hard, but that's the game we're in at the moment. You've just got to cop it the way we have and get on with things," Broncos coach Kevin Walters said.

"He couldn't go anywhere, but when you make contact with the head - regardless of the situation - that's what we're trying to remove from the game.

"If you look at it that way. I'm not sure if it was a send-off though. There was no intent from Kobe to do anything except make the tackle."

Both the Broncos' first-half tries came off Raiders errors - Tapine losing the ball before Gamble scored and Ryan Sutton doing the same before Brisbane fullback Tesi Niu produced some individual brilliance to cross, gathering his own grubber.

Niu wasn't even meant to play, but had 10 minutes to get ready after Queensland winger Xavier Coates injured his hamstring in the warm-up, although Walters expected him to be fit to face South Sydney on Thursday night.

They came either side of a Sam Williams four-pointer and Emre Guler crashing over.

Williams's came off some great work by young centre Matthew Timoko, who was brought in to cover Curtis Scott.

Scott's been stood down indefinitely following an incident at Civic nightclub Kokomo's two weeks ago.

He showed enough to suggest he could make the spot his own in Scott's absence.

"He was great wasn't he. He was so good tonight. I was so happy for him because he's been on the fringe for a little while now and like every young player they get their chance and take the opportunity, and he did that tonight," Stuart said.

The Raiders led 22-10 at half-time.

Controversial Broncos prop Matt Lodge had an opening 15 minutes to forget, giving away a penalty and making two errors.

But his fellow forwards Payne Haas (144 run metres) and Tevita Pangai jnr (148m, five offloads) were both excellent.

As was Raiders enforcer Josh Papalii (169m), back after a three-week suspension, and he barged over in the second half to effectively end the game as a contest.

Simonsson produced a brilliant offload for Valemei to score, then Wighton produced his trademark power-run try.

Brisbane winger Selwyn Cobbo scored a consolation try.

But the Raiders were back on the winners list ahead of travelling to Wollongong to face St George Illawarra.

AT A GLANCE

CANBERRA RAIDERS 38 (Sebastian Kris, Corey Harawira-Naera, Sam Williams, Emre Guler, Josh Papalii, Semi Valemei, Jack Wighton tries; Sam Williams 5 goals) bt BRISBANE BRONCOS 16 (Tyson Gamble, Tesi Niu, Selwyn Cobbo tries; Jesse Arthars 2 goals) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: Chris Sutton. Crowd: 9608.