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Canberra captain Jarrod Croker believes last seasons deep run in the NRL finals has set the team up for more success next year.The Raiders returned for their first day of their pre-season training on Monday, less than two months after falling one game short of a grand final appearance.And Croker said there was an air of expectation among the playing group.The long break, everyone was keen to get back into it, which is a good sign for us, Croker said.Kurt Baptistes re-signing last week meant all 17 players who played when Canberra went close to beating Melbourne in the preliminary final will be back on deck next season.Only Edrick Lee and Jordan Rapana come off-contract at the end next season, creating a continuity Croker is banking on to deliver early results next year.Weve laid a good platform, he said.Weve got a very similar squad for the next couple of years now. Everyones played that season or two together now. The combinations are already there.It might be a bit rusty at the start but obviously after the break, we all know each other pretty well by now so hopefully a week or two in it should just click and we can build on last year.Croker is unlikely to take part in full training for another fortnight as he recovers from ankle and knee injuries that plagued the back-end of his 2016 season.He started straight-line running two weeks ago.Im still at that stage at the moment. It was probably more the ankle giving me grief than the knee, he said.Croker says the recruitment of former State of Origin representative David Taylor on a pre-season deal is an exciting development.If he goes out there and rips in, who knows what could happen, Croker said.Fake Balenciaga 2020 . Fernandez, coached in Toronto by former two-time Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser, scored 267.11 points and is the first champion to successfully defend since Russias Evgeny Plushenko in 2005 and 2006. 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On the heels of a morale-crushing 38th-place finish one week ago at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Harvick drove his No. 4 Chevrolet to victory in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, clinching a spot in the Chases round of eight that starts Oct. 30.Along with Jimmie Johnson, who also is confirmed to advance thanks to winning at Charlotte, Harvick wont have to worry about what happens next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, where the Chase field will be cut from 12 to eight.In some ways, Harvick shares a kinship with the Raiders. Hes brash, often outspoken, and sometimes thought of as one of the bad boys of the Cup Series.But my, oh my, can he back up the swagger. No one comes through in the clutch more consistently than the Bakersfield, California, native and his team led by crew chief Rodney Childers.This wasnt a dominant performance reminiscent of elimination races that Harvick won at Phoenix in 2014 or Dover in 2015. Instead, it was a workmanlike performance that saw the Outback Chevy out front when it needed to be.He seized the lead on a restart with 30 laps to go and pulled away from the field, winning by 1.183 seconds over Carl Edwards in a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.I dont know how, but when theyre in a must-win situation, they seem to find a little more speed, observed third-place finisher Joey Logano. Its interesting that they always seem to have a little extra left in the tank.I think as drivers, we all need to get together and block in an elimination race or just pull for something because hes tough to beat in those final races, added Austin Dillon, who finished sixth. Theres no doubt about it, he steps up when the pressure is there.Harvick led three times Sunday for a total of 74 laps, but he didnt feel he had the best car. That looked to be Matt Kenseth, who led most of the first half of the 267-lap contest before fading to ninth with handling issues.That left the challenge to his Gibbs teammates, Edwards and eventual fifth-place finisher Kyle Busch. But on the final restart, Johnson (who finished fourth) pushed Harvick into a lead he would not relinquish, much to the disappointment of hometown hero Edwards.Kevin and Jimmie lined up on the bottom and they just got far enough ahead, Edwards said. I felt we had fastest car at the end and thats what makes it frustrating, because you should win when you have the fastest car, you should win, especially when you start on front row.After seeing several victories slip out of his grasp over the past three years when he demonstrably had the best car, Harvick was delighted to get a win on a day when the No. 4 car wasnt carrying peak speed.?Its good to probably feel you didnt have the fastest car and win the race, he saaid.dddddddddddd I think a lot of times we felt like we had the fastest car and didnt win the race, so its good to get a few of those back.Weve won two races in the Chase, and I feel like we won both of them on restarts and thats something weve worked on for probably a year now, Harvick continued. When we get behind on something, we dive right in on that and try to make it better.Its that kind of can-do attitude that has generally elevated Harvick and the No. 4 team over the rest of the Cup series field for the past three years. Under Childers leadership, theres no closer-knit team in the garage area.We could say that we need to go jump off a cliff in the morning and everybody would be there at sunrise and say, All right, where do we jump? Harvick said. Thats the kind of group this is. Everybody has got each others back and nobody takes offense if somebody tells them they need to do something better.Its just a unique bunch of people, and youre only as good as the people around you. Thats true in every business, and its no different in this garage.Between them, Harvick and Childers have fostered a winning attitude among the No. 4 group. Points racing just isnt in their lexicon.Just win, baby.I had no idea where we were in the points [after the 38th-place finish at Charlotte] or how many we were behind, Harvick said. The only thing we talked about was trying to figure out how to win this race, and if we didnt win this race, what we needed to do at Talladega.For us, its always about reaching for something to motivate us, he continued. If its having to win a race, or going to a racetrack you havent won at, or rebounding from a bad week, weve been fortunate to be on the good side of this deal for three years now. We know we can perform, and we know we can perform in good and bad situations.With Harvick and Johnson locked into advancing, the focus now turns to which other six drivers will join them when the round of eight starts at Martinsville Speedway.Kenseth is the points leader among nonqualified drivers, closely followed by his JGR teammates Busch and Edwards.Meanwhile, Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski, who both encountered problems at Kansas, are bringing up the rear. Logano is currently the bubble driver, holding a 25-point cushion over 12th-placed Elliott.But even facing long odds, any of the four drivers currently on the outside (Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Keselowski and Elliott) could advance with a victory at Talladega.Thats one thing thats exciting about this chase format -- you never know when your number is going to get pulled, Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner Gene Haas said. I think we were pretty nervous going into Talladega next week. When you get behind a little bit, all of a sudden youre down to win or go home.?Obviously were glad we dont have that excitement for Talladega and now we can focus on getting Kurt Busch into the next round.As Al Davis would say, Just win, baby. ' ' '