Canberra coach Ricky Stuart says the Raiders’ squad should aspire to be as good as the Sydney Roosters after Sunday’s 34-6 defeat at Allianz Stadium.
Six of the Roosters backline scored tries against the hapless Raiders who continually turned over possession and struggled to fire in attack.
The defeat was their third in four matches and losing to Manly in Albury next Saturday will have the alarm bells ringing in the nation’s capital.
Stuart maintained it’s too early in the season to be concerned and vowed he will eventually build a team that is good enough to challenge for a top-four spot.
“We all go ‘wow’ about that roster they’ve got,” Stuart said.
“Not from a jealousy point of view, but that’s what I’ve got to aspire to.
“They are the benchmark. We’ve got to aspire to getting that type of roster.
“We’ve got to keep developing our own and bringing people into our squad.”
The defeat was Canberra’s 16th in their last 17 encounters at Allianz Stadium and Stuart said his side’s woeful start to the game – which saw them fall 12-0 behind in the opening 11 minutes – came back to haunt them.
“The boys are a proud squad and they are upset they didn’t give more of a fight,” he said.
“But we didn’t lose the game in and around the middle. Our forwards were very good today.
“They were just too smart in the halves and classy around the edges and that is where they got us.”
“But it’s round four … we won’t worry about this.”
Duncan
Guest
Im confused as to why this bloke still has a job the fool hooked Cornish this week geez thats got to be close to 50 halfs combos that hes changed since hes been a coach and he wonders why his record is hopeless. The man is no good for the NRL its a joke
The lazy Phoenix
Roar Pro
Ricky is a well balanced coach too - he has a chip on both shoulders.
bbb
Guest
Michael maguire is the most overrated coach since craig Bellamy South sydney have to be miles over the salary cap they're just protected species they will never get stripped I reckon the Melbourne storm were lucky not to be kicked out of the competition
Muzz
Guest
Move Souths to China.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
Even that loss?
bbb
Guest
Ricky stuart is the tony abbott of the raiders
bbb
Guest
Jay c the raiders just need to play their old school style of football which is all out attack and then perhaps they can win more games and really give the top sides a run for their money just like they did in 2008 when they were scoring at will like 74 against panthers and 50+ against bulldogs twice Neil henry was the coach at the time and was dally m coach of the year in 2008 To win premierships you need to be a good attacking team that even scores 50+ against the weaker teams
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Guest
As a supporter of the Raiders I'm prepared to give Stuart a chance to build a decent squad - but he has partially done that already in my opinion by recruiting Austin, Hodgson, Soliola etc. What I'd like him to do is develop the team he already has by building on ist strengths and fixing up its weaknesses e.g. Austin is obvioulsy good at breaking the line similar to Foran at Manly but he needs Wighton to be sweeping in behind him in support. Hodgson and Cornish both appear to have good kicking games that need to be used more. Waqa and Edrick Lee are tall wingers and have a great leap at the ball but we have hardly seen any high balls this season. Why? Defence has been an issue on the edges for years - why hasn't it been addressed? I just find it disappointing when Stuart makes these comments that imply that many of the current team aren't up to first grade quality and the club should be aspiring to be like the Roosters with internationals and origin players. The Roosters didn't get there overnight. They've recruited well and developed a game structure that works. The players have taken on board the coach's phillosophy and stuck to it which has created a winning formula. Maloney and Pearce were chosen for Origin a couple of years ago because their team was winning. Similarly blokes like JWH, Guerra, RTS, SKD, Tupou and Cordner ended up playing origin or playing for their country because they played their role in a successful team. The Roosters didn't buy these players when they were established origin players or internationals. They were obvioulsy talented but became better players because they adopted the philosophy of their coach. Stuart should be trying to do the same with his existing squad along with topping up only where there may be deficiencies.
Gaz
Roar Rookie
I thought the coach is there to direct the players how to play - not the other way around.
Gaz
Roar Rookie
You missed my point, that is he blamed his roster for his losses.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
Sorry. I have to disagree with that. New Zealand area quality outfit and losing to them should not really be reflection of the Australians or their coach. Had they lost to minnow nations, then yes. But not the Kiwis.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
I was a fan of Murray. I feel he didn't get the respect he deserved.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
That is something I don't get. Why bag your players like that? I'm not anti-Stuart or anything like that. He did take the Roosters to three grand finals and turned the Sharks into a gritty competitive outfit. But I don't understand this constant belittling of his squad. Was that something he used to do when he was being more successful?
Jay C
Roar Guru
Ricky: "Could I be that out of touch?" Ricky: "No, it's the players who are wrong." Ricky Stuart is actually a good coach its just that he can't coach this particular team for all sorts of reasons that don't involve him not being a good coach. If only there were some avenue for him to change the team by somehow giving money to players from other clubs in exchange for those players playing for him. Conversely being able to remove the players that were not able to play to his game plan. In such a way that after say, 18 months, comprising 2 off seasons he might have a team that is capable of playing his game plan. If only.
Jay C
Roar Guru
Graham Murray was the best thing to ever happen to NQ and he was treated like crap. Great bloke.
Jay C
Roar Guru
Sack them all
nrl
Guest
At least Ricky stuart is consistent Remember his first 3 years of coaching were all grand finals that has to be a record Ricky stuarts is actually a good coach the problem is his game plan just doesn't suit the raiders style of play which is all about attack
Gaz
Roar Rookie
He had the Kangeroos. That's a pretty big roster - still got beat. End of story.
TheoT
Guest
Time to get the squad together and announce who should be looking for another club, in front of all their team mates.That always works a treat for team morale.
Doc79
Roar Rookie
Sadly for raiders fans, politcians don't pull the crowd like the bright lights of the east coast cities. So in that regard, retaining young developed players or recruiting big names from afar will be difficult for regional areas (no disrespect to our nation's capital) and will have to accept this as the going rate. BTW I'm a raiders fan in nth qld, regional also. But ricky will never, never be the answer.