Macquarie Raiders assistant coach Peter Gibbs is staying upbeat despite his side slipping down the Group 11 ladder after back-to-back losses.
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Gibbs gave all the credit to Wellington on Sunday after the Cowboys downed the Raiders by four points in a back-and-forth contest at Kennard Park.
the 34-30 result came after the Raiders had been beaten 26-12 by Parkes at Dubbo prior to the long weekend but Gibbs was adamant there was plenty of positives in Sunday's loss.
"I can see we're coming together," he said.
"There's a lot more improvement in different areas of the game and we haven't turned into the second round so there's nothing to panic about."
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Despite next week marking the halfway point of the regular season, the Raiders still appear to be a work-in-progress.
As it the case with all sides this season, momentum has been hard to build given the number of byes during the first half of the year but it's been more of an issue for the Raiders given they started the season with almost a completely new lineup.
The side was again without representative prop Oliver Gordon on Sunday while captain-coach Alex Ronayne was below his best as he continues to battle a quad injury.
The biggest issue on Sunday was the handling errors as the Raiders struggled to complete a set in the second half.
Penalties at key times also hurt the Dubbo side, which now sits fourth on the ladder behind CYMS, Wellington, and Parkes.
Gibbs admitted very few teams would have won on Sunday with that kind of poor completion rate but the biggest positive for him was seeing the effort and desire within his players.
"There was a massive improvement from the last few weeks," he said.
"You can start to see that and we're starting to build towards something.
"I'm disappointed in the loss but we didn't play as well as Wellington today, they were a little better on their own turf."
Ronayne was visibly struggling with his quad injury late in Sunday's game and it will be a concern leading into next weekend's massive Dubbo derby clash with CYMS.
CYMS heads into that one having had a bye on the weekend but they sit atop the table having won five-from-five so far this season.
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