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Ricky Stuart won the 2002 grand final with the Sydney Roosters, in his inaugural year as a first-grade coach. He hasn’t won the Big Dance since and 2018 doesn’t look like his year, with his side – the Canberra Raiders – having lost their first four games of the season.
You have to feel for the man, who wears his heart on his sleeve. He took the Raiders to the semi-finals two years ago and last year, with a mountain of expectation, couldn’t crack the top eight.
Now he’s lost his best player, Josh Hodgson.
Strangely, the impressive back-up hooker from last year, Kurt Baptiste, has somehow turned up at the Roosters via the English league.
Not to mention, there’s a scandal brewing behind the scenes regarding fullback Jack Wighton.
On the whole, Stuart has decided to pick and stick this week, challenging his troops to get themselves out of the mess they got themselves into. One omission is Josh Papalii, one of his most damaging forwards. This seems bizarre, but it is Ricky’s way to make big statements. No one player is bigger than the team in Ricky’s world. And it’s a team on the ropes.
He didn’t hold back at the press conference after Canberra’s capitulation to a rampant Manly side, calling the team “soft” and “not of first-grade standard”.
Will his words fire the team up or flatten them further? One thing is for sure, the talented Blake Austin won’t be there to create opportunities as he was dropped two weeks ago.
This team desperately needs a win at home against the Bulldogs. I’ll be tipping them to somehow snatch a victory with a more dedicated pack and the skills of Joseph Leilua, Jordan Rapana, Nick Cotric and captain Jarrod Croker.
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