Culture Club: How the Canberra Raiders got it right

Culture is such a hollow, overused term in rugby league these days. Listening to a coach trying to explain team culture is like overhearing a colleague drop the word ‘synergy’ in a business meeting.

‘Synergy’ sounds impressive, but you’re pretty sure even the person saying it doesn’t know what it means.

Like most NRL clubs, the Raiders have publicly jumped aboard the culture bandwagon, breathing enough hot air on the subject to keep the Hindenburg aloft.

However unlike the billowing Sirocco coming from rival clubs, something actually feel different in Canberra this season. After years of mediocre results, player controversies and Terry Campese, it looks like the Raiders are finally onto something.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, it’s time for an old fashioned honesty session.

The Canberra Raiders have been irrelevant for the better part of two decades. Since the retirement of Laurie Daley after the 2000 season, the Raiders have finished in the top four only once (2003).

And despite nine seasons of finals football, Canberra are the only side in the NRL era who are yet to reach a preliminary final, let alone a grand final. Basically, you can rule a line through them in March.

Sure they have fielded a few decent sides during this time and have always been tough to beat at home, but their September form has been less reliable than Ryan Lochte’s police report.

While the talent has always been there, the problem is that an unhealthy proportion of their star players have turned out to be either deviants or malcontents.

Disciplinary issues and “homesickness” have plagued the Raiders in recent years. It felt like every other week, Canberra CEO Don Furner was fronting a press conference and delivering the sombre news that yet another star player was to be sacked or released.

Keeping track of Todd Carney’s court appearances became more mesmerising than a trip to Questacon. So where did they go wrong?

The simple answer is culture. For much too long, the Raiders have tried to build a winning side the Sydney way.

They have recruited and invested in players based on talent alone, without taking external factors into account. And while it might sound precious and trivial, recent history suggests that many players simply fail to adapt to living in Canberra.

Compared to Sydney or Brisbane, the weather is lousy, the nightlife is non-existent, and once you’ve sampled the delights of Fyshwick, there just isn’t much left to do. Those unprepared for such a dramatic shift in lifestyle can quickly become bored. Boredom leads to restlessness. Restlessness leads to recklessness. And before you know it, you’re at the counter of a Dan Murphy’s with a six-pack of pineapple Cruisers under your arm.

The signing of Ricky Stuart was heralded as a turning point for the Raiders. And while chasing a coach coming off a horror season at Parramatta might have seemed counter-intuitive, it was actually a sensible choice.

The Raiders were a team in desperate need of a cultural shift, and Stuart had enjoyed coaching success in environments where he was able to establish a fresh culture and galvanise his team.

During his introductory press conference for the Raiders, Stuart’s clichés were in mid-season form: ”It’s a matter of all of us buying in to the culture we want to set.’

Raiders chairman Dr Allan Hawke echoed these sentiments with a gem of his own: ”It’s about establishing a new culture and a difference in attitude and Ricky’s just the person to take us into the future.”

Now being a Stuart sceptic and a Canberra cynic, I was more inclined to believe tales of the Lithgow Panther than the second coming of the Green Machine. And when Ricky swung and missed on the signatures of James Tedesco, Kevin Proctor, Michael Ennis, and Josh Mansour, I felt like my suspicions were confirmed.

But these failed signings proved to be a blessing in disguise. It forced the Raiders to finally confront the uncomfortable truth that all footy clubs are not created equally. Canberra were going to have to pay more money than other clubs to lure these star players to the Heart of the Nation. And this simply wouldn’t do.

So the Raiders brains trust of Stuart, Furner and recruitment manager Peter Mulholland sat down and developed a new strategy. Instead of chasing the best available players and expecting them to quickly acclimatise to their new surroundings, they came up with a two-pronged approach. They targeted the cold-blooded and the cold-hearted: those accustomed to playing in cold weather and those spurned and with something to prove.

The first part of this strategy plays to the point that you can’t dump a Parrot fish in Lake Burley Griffin and expect it to thrive. So the Raiders actively searched for players who they knew were already suited to playing and living in Canberra.

This involved delving further into the player’s history, looking at factors such as where they grew up, whether they were from the bush or the coast, and if they were used to living in cooler climates. A player’s character and background became as important as their on-field talents.

Without many NRL sides sharing the chilly alpine climate of Canberra, the Raiders were forced to get creative and cast their net a little wider. Actually a lot wider.

The UK Super League is generally viewed as an NRL retirement village or juvenile detention facility, with players only enduring the inhospitable conditions of Northern England to either pad their super accounts or resurrect their careers. But it’s been a recruiting goldmine for the Raiders.

The signings of Iosia Soliola, Elliot Whitehead and Josh Hodgson have yielded incredible results thus far. Soliola has become the inspirational leader of a young Raiders forward pack; Whitehead has an excellent motor and the ball-playing ability coveted in back rowers; and Hodgson has blossomed into the second best hooker in the competition and is a dark horse take home the Dally M.

The Raiders’ cold weather mandate has also seen them focus on signing and developing local juniors, born and bred in surrounding Riverina. Players like Jack Wighton, Jarrod and Lachlan Croker, and Shannon Boyd are all products of the Canberra junior system, and are integral to the culture Ricky Stuart is working so hard to foster.

The second part of their strategy saw Canberra target players with a chip on their shoulder, much like themselves. Blake Austin, Joey Leilua and Aidan Sezer are perfect examples of highly talented players cast aside by their former clubs and given a second chance at the Raiders. And each has made the most of their opportunity.

Sezer and Austin have formed a dominant halves partnership, and Leilua has transformed himself from a lazy and overweight liability into one of the most powerful ball runners in the NRL.

Identifying the right players and building a strong roster is one thing, but transforming that into consistent performances on the field is another. And the key to achieving this? Culture.

Ricky Stuart has done an outstanding job of moulding his players into a cohesive unit, and the results on the field are an obvious reflection of this.

The Raiders are the number one attacking side in the NRL with their defensive structures improving every week.

They are poised to enter the finals series on the back of their most successful regular season since 1997, and have a legitimate chance of contending for their first premiership since 1994.

And it’s all thanks to an energy more elusive and powerful than The Force: culture. The Melbourne Storm have it, the Canterbury Bulldogs have it, the North Queensland Cowboys have it, and now Canberra, you have it.

Follow Taking it One Week at a Time throughout the 2016 NRL season on The Roar, by liking our Facebook page or registering your email address on our blog.