Raiders desperate after Ricky's spray

Having Williams in the team, Wighton at fullback, Croker in the centres instead of the wing, Cotric on the wing instead of the centers and a half at No.14 to badly share hooking duties has lost Ricky support from many fans. He is so damned stubborn, and any other coach would have to answer to the board and CEO, but he's immune. There are 18,000 Members - many of whom are wondering why they put their hands in their pockets. I'm not upset with (many of) the players - I'm worried about who's leading them. I think the players may be worrying too. Halves come into the side with ability and end up qualifying for the NDIS. I think we'll win on Thursday night, but it won't prove very much, if anything. By that I mean - geez Dean Pay has poor body language; hardly the demeanor of a General taking his men to war...

Kurt wasn't getting many minutes last season anyway. And only Ricky could tell you why. He'd bring Kurt on with 10 minutes to go when the game was gone. Ricky's use of the bench last year was diabolical and it hasn't improved this season. Back in 2016 Kurt would get 30 to 40 minutes per game and would turn the momentum of the game around when he came on against a tiring opposition defence. He tore them to shreds. The Raiders can't sit around waiting for Hodgson to come back. It will be season over if they do. Havilli's been going OK but he needs a specialist hooker on the bench - not trying to convert a half into a make shift hooker. If the penny doesn't drop soon it will be season over.

You have to feel sorry for Ricky. He's lost his best player Josh Hogdson for 2018, and his back-up hooker Kurt Baptise is now at the Roosters for some strange reason.

Maybe your team should relocate there. The Adelaide Raiders.

Very funny Duncan - actually I'm going to miss the game as we will be in Adelaide for a few days catching up with family - so you can probably chalk it down as the first win of the season given I won't be there to see the usual final 5 minutes meltdown

Never mind, Geoff. If you lose next Thursday, at least you'll lose to a team wearing QPR jerseys, assuming they wear the same ones they used against Souths.

I'd just like a win Gary - any form of win. Yesterday was the first time Stuart acknowledged how poor they've been as a team so he's holding them accountable which is a start. But your right the defence was appalling in the first half yesterday and late in games in the first three. I just hope tht he scraps his 3 halves policy which just isn't working and give Garvey a crack. I reckon he would have won a couple of those games with that set up. I honestly don't think Williams and Bateman would get a game in any other side - they are Mounties back ups in the case of injury only. Croker's confidence appears to be down which isn't a good sign given he's the captain but when he's in form he's a pretty useful player. Its a long season but they've got to show something soon.

At this stage it is hard to know what to want from the next few games. If the Raiders manage to grab a win or two then Stuart stays, no one gets dropped and there is next to no chance of much changing. On the otherhand even at a club that is more loyal to family than Tony Soprano if they lose two or three more than even Stuart will likely get his marching orders. Shit will change with a new coach and with the way things are now any change has to be welcome. If I was the new coach (McGuire? Hasler?) Williams Bateman Soliola and Croker would be having a spell in the Mounties (Williams a permanent one). BJ can move into the forwards too. Stuart is right - we have been soft as this season but appalling use of the bench, bizarre selections and the worst defensive structures I have ever seen are not the players fault.

At this stage it is hard to know what to want from the next few games. If the Raiders manage to grab a win or two then Stuart stays, no one gets dropped and there is next to no chance of much changing. On the otherhand even at a club that is more loyal to family than Tony Soprano if they lose two or three more than even Stuart will likely get his marching orders. Shit will change with a new coach and with the way things are now any change has to be welcome. If I was the new coach (McGuire? Hasler?) Williams Bateman Soliola and Croker would be having a spell in the Mounties (Williams a permanent one). BJ can move into the forwards too. Stuart is right - we have been soft as this season but appalling use of the bench, bizarre selections and the worst defensive structures I have ever seen are not the players fault.

I think you could have found fault with the effort yesterday - it was diabolical in that first half. And pathetic in the last 10 minutes of the first 3 rounds. And Hodgson won't be back until around round 16.

Once Hodgson comes back from injury it will all happen for the Raiders. They should string together a few wins starting next week. Can't fault the effort it's the execution and lack of leadership.

Thanks for the observations Albo. There is no doubt that the Raiders are having problems in the middle. Paulo, Boyd and Papalii are big units - you can't have them all out there at the same time - and Ricky has at least split Boyd and Paulo - but Josh Papalii looks both unfit and disinterested and I have no idea why. But the middle defence also need support from the halves and hooker and other support players. Soliola and Whitehead are solid in defence but Ricky needs to settle on a halves and hooker combination that works. I just can't see why he's persisting on persevering with playing halves such as Sezer and Hingano out of position at hooker. For God sake rotate Havilli and Garvey and come up with a settled halves combination for the whole match. The team is not dissimilar to the one that was taking all before them in 2016 apart from the loss of Hodgson and Baptiste but its seems to have thrown them completely off kilter. I've actually been impressed with Jack Wighton this season in a losing team. We were throwing insults at him last year for his errors but this season he has been solid. And I think Sezer should be left at 5/8. Short term I would bring in Garvey to share the hooker duties with Havilli, bring in Knight to replace Bateman and drop Williams. Plus rotate Papalii more often and use him in shorter bursts until he gets full fitness.

Geoff, I think the problem is multi faceted here : 1. The forwards are big but lack mobility particularly in defence around the rucks. The Tubo twins & DCE just tore through them at will with their speed last night. And the ground made by the Warriors no name pack late in the match last week was scary. Some changes need to be made here. 2. The loss of Hodgson ensures this Raiders spine has got to be the weakest in the NRL. The Raiders haven't had decent halves since the mid 90's before Stuart & Daley retired. They needed to do something here years ago. The various options they currently have are all rejects from other clubs. As for Wighton, he is trying hard, but has little nous in setting up his outside men and making any opportunities count. The Raiders have one of the best wingers in the comp in young Cotric, but he is never passed the ball in attack. He had 4 hit up runs off his own line last night and two desperate dodgy flick passes in attack when he had no room to move as he wasn't positioned for the opportunity. Rapana & Leilua try hard and are allowed more ball to do their thing, but opposition sides are managing them well these days, so more needs to be made of others. 3. Because of (1) and (2) their confidence is shot and the lack of strong on-field leadership will keep it there unless some individuals can really lift their performances or Stuart can find suitable replacements.

Canberra did themselves no favours in the first half with the stupid penalties they gave away. Manly effectively had at least 8 or 9 tackles to roll down the field and score, two or three times. If Stuart was happier with the second half, he deserves to go. There were way too many bits of stupid play and ill discipline. Canberra are going nowhere unless they play to their strengths, play as a team, stop the stupid penalties and above all start blaming themselves for their position on the ladder. Might be worth looking at what the Warriors are doing at present, they might learn a thing or two.

Ricky has just got to stop with trying to make halves like Sezer and Hingano into back up hookers - it does nothing for the team and nothing for them. We've been screaming for weeks for Garvey to go on to the bench as the back up for Havilli. And Ricky needs to make a decision on the halves combination and leave them there. Unfortunately Sam Williams terrible defence makes him a liability at first grade level. Sezer at 5/8 and Hingano at half back might be the best option. On the plus side Jack Wighton has been pretty good at FB in a losing side as has Boyd up front. Hopefully they can turn it around against the Dogs on Thursday - they'll need to show a lot more desperation in defence.

The Raiders will hopefully improve but I fear that they will be the bottom four. It is a fairly sad decline since 2016 and it is not as if the side has changed much. If they just try to play confidently and not focus too much on mistakes they can still do very well but please Ricky pick Garvey as the back- up hooker. Given how poor they are going some questions have to be asked about their cap management — how did they end up having to let Baptiste go? Gee they could do with him now.

In theory Manly should have had two really tough home games to start 2018. For some reason both Parra and the Raiders entered the contests with no fight at all. Looking at the Raiders in 16 and the Eels in 17 it wouldn't be far fetched to imagine the punters would be expecting Manly to be on the end of the floggings by now. I was banging on about Manly's pack in pre season and how it was under the infamous radar. Maybe opposition packs are not keen to tangle with this lot especially at Brookie. AFB is the hardest forward in the game to stop I believe. The players don't think Ricky is much chop it seems and he will need to bail out if things don't turn around soon. Turbo Tom has reduced his errors a lot this year and that was the main challenge for him.

Fitness is obviously an issue with the Raiders but who would have thought strength would be too! They way Manly just rolled up the middle, all the Canberra boppa's couldn't put their excessive bodies behind the tackles to halt their progress. Turbo was playing with them. Why would 3 defenders, including the winger rush in to try tackle him so he can just pop it over top to an unmarked winger? No talk, no trust, no wins on the board.

Stuart's coaching career is on the line against the Bulldogs on Thursday. A repeat of last night's "effort" will be proof that the players don't want to play for him.