The Raiders have sent me an email asking that I once again take up a membership for next year. It’s too soon for me.
The disaster that has been 2013 is still lingering on my mind and since many issues haven’t been resolved.
Why is the club asking people to re-sign as members when they have not told us anything about 2014 other than that Ricky Stuart will be the coach for Round 1?
The sickening departure of Josh Dugan and the rewarding of his disgusting behaviour towards my club would have made 2013 a bad year by itself.
That Dugan could be picked for New South Wales was a kick in the guts, as he should have still been on the sidelines at that time.
I hear that the NRL has a body that is in charge, they must have been on holidays when the Dugan crisis was happening.
The inevitable happened when Blake Ferguson went out on the tiles with his old mate Dugan in the lead up to Origin Game 2.
Some mate, that guy. A real mate would have smacked ‘Fergo’ on the chin and put him in a cab to go home.
Fergo played one more game for the Raiders, before he too did a Dugan and left the club. He’s still waiting for his reward – probably a stint with the Roosters on more money.
How they have their current squad under the salary cap is amazing, but that’s another topic right there.
Why don’t ‘average’ players act like this? Because they’d get sacked and no other club would want them, so they have to show some respect towards their club, teammates and fans.
But this isn’t necessary for really good players because they know they’ll end up in a top club with more money, get more empathy from the media and their old club can just get stuffed (Michael Jennings anyone?).
We get to the end of the footy year and a star that we’ve had on our books for six years, Anthony Milford, is now so homesick that he wants a release.
He was playing SG Ball last year, before debuting in under-20s half way through the year.
He’s been in first grade this year, and he’s only 19 years old. Maybe the Raiders held up his progress too long – we must have done something wrong by him?
I hear the Broncos have been speaking to the Queensland born kids to see if they’re homesick.
No doubt the guys that are really good will be very, very homesick.
Those with less ability can be homesick, but what the hell – if they want a chance to play first grade they had better get over it! And they will.
Raiders members are waiting for an announcement on Milford’s future. As the days go by, I care less.
I only want players at my club if they are committed to the club. Off field problems with Dugan, Ferguson and Milford have made it very hard for the other players to concentrate on playing good footy.
I have hated this year, and I will not be involved next year, as a member, if things don’t look like changing.
Before I sign up again as a member I want the club to:
I love the Raiders but we’ve been bashed from pillar to post this year.
If some things aren’t changed, we will be the type of team we’ve been for years – scraping into the top eight one year, then miss the finals the next.
That’s not good enough, so some basic changes are necessary. I’m more than happy to lose some guys if they want to leave – a successful team needs to be cohesive and have all staff and players concentrating on the one goal.
It would be lovely to be a great club again, one I can be proud of.
I’ll be very proud if we try hard every game, winning a premiership is not a key indicator at the moment, but it would be nice.
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