The Warriors held their own up-front against the Sea Eagles and as a team they managed to create enough scoring opportunities to win the game, but individually, the starting members of the pack failed to make the big metres.
Of the six starting forwards, none managed more than Lillyman and fellow front-rower Suaia Matagi, who both reached 65 metres, while bench players Ben Matulino and Jayson Bukuya were the stand-outs, with 117 and 82 metres respectively.
"We were definitely down, that's probably been right across the board, especially the forwards. We were all down and a bit dirty on ourselves and we're certainly looking to bounce back," Lillyman said.
Coach Andrew McFadden defended his forward's efforts, and rightly pointed out that overall they were not too far behind the Manly pack's total, with the Warriors' big men accumulating 585 metres to the Sea Eagles' 699.
"I thought the forwards did a fair job. All the stats suggested that although we had a lack of possession in the game that we made just as many metres as them. I thought Ben Matulino particularly had a very good game and they're going to need to be good again against a big Canberra pack," he said.
"We certainly recognised those areas we let ourselves down in but we've got to just focus on this week's performance and if we play our best footy we should win the game."
McFadden expects Matulino to continue his rise in form since returning from knee surgery in their round 18 clash against Parramatta.
The former Canberra player (1997-2001) and Jersey Flegg coach (2009) brushed off questions over whether the Warriors might find it hard to get up for a clash against the 15th-ranked Raiders, who they have dealt with comfortably in their last two meetings (54-12 in round nine, and 50-16 in round 25 last year).
"Where we sit on the ladder is probably enough motivation for us. We need to win because we need to stay in touch with this group that's fighting for the top eight so it's a very important game for us."
- David Skipwith of the NZ Herald
