How Canberra could be on top of the NRL ladder

What would you expect when you have the worst coach in the competition

Yeah but how many games have the Eels been close enough to win? I can only find one that they lost by 2 points to the Sharks and could have won. The Raiders have lost 4 games by 2 points or less. That's the point of the article. They win two of them they are in the 8. They win three they are equal fifth. If the Eels win that game against the Sharks they are still bottom.

Using the 'Canberra is boring' line is almost old fashioned these days. And honestly, it's a pretty unintelligent view to take.

Exactly...Croker does not really have that x factor as a leader as Meninga and Daley had. I would prefer Hodgson any day.

If Parramatta had won every game this season they would be sitting at the top of the ladder all on their lonesome. Strange but true. What an important word "if" is. If my mother were my father.........

The Raiders in 2018 have lost their greatest liability, the error prone Jack Wighton. Jack is now the player everyone hoped he could be. However the only problem with the Raiders is they don't have a halfback, that can build pressure by getting repeat sets, by kicking to corners away from the opposition, who can kick 40-20's & who can feed the backs. What the Raiders need is James Maloney, Mitchell Pearce, Cooper Cronk, Nathan Cleary, Ben Hunt. Any one of them & they'd be winners. However Ricky identified Siezer, paid good money for him & sticks with him. He is not good enough to do the job the Raiders need.

Agree Dutski. Canberra’s best year would be to dump these halves and get two new ones. How much is Blake Green going for? Will NZ let him go (they would be nuts).......?

On-field leadership is what's missing. When the game is close and times are tough you look to your leaders for inspiration and while Jarrod Croker seems like a really nice guy other than being a solid player and goal kicker I don't see anything in him which could turn a game. When their team is going well and winning games by big margins the captain can just worry about his position and the rest takes care of itself. However, when a team is struggling this is where real leadership becomes invaluable. Cameron Smith, Brad Fittler, Wally Lewis, Allan Langer, Ray Price, Steve Mortimer and Darren Lockyer weren't just lucky to be on good teams they were the difference when it mattered. Think of the great Canberra captains; Dean Lance, Mal Meninga and Laurie Daley. They all had the ability to step up in close games and demand the rest follow their lead. Yes, experience was a factor but Croker has played over 200 NRL games so he should know what it takes to get his team across the line by now? Until Ricky awards the captaincy to a truly inspirational leader I won't expect any change to the Raiders knack of losing tight games and remaining middle of the table.

only if they're coached properly Geoff and I don't think Ricky is the guy to get even the most talented Canberra side into the finals. His track record apart from one premiership, is not great.

Sezer and the hooker are not doing their job. Sezer can be good on his day and his kicking game is up there with the best in the NRL but he is simply incapable of controlling a game and making good decision when the game is in the balance. Havili has been a decent fill in but what a muppet going for that field goal, has he ever kicked a FG in his life? Wighton has been a shining light this season and is probably our best player week in week out. I think the game has passed Stuart by aswell. We rarely play as a team, his bench rotation is poor. A number of players in the squad haven't progressed under him. I don't think anything will change when Hodgson comes back either.

So, if Canberra won the games they lost they would be top of the ladder?

Heh, except for 2016, when we did win most of our close games and did finish top of the table. Seems like that was just good luck rather than good management.

I don’t buy a lot of what is said about the Raiders. To some their halves are not good enough but why did the Raiders do so well in 2016? Did Sezer and Austin just suddenly become worse players in 2017? Maybe, but if that is the case why can they still do well in some games and if they are so bad why can the Raiders still do well against almost all other teams at least until the last 10 minutes? They can beat any other team on their day. If you look at Ricky’s record, he seems to be good in getting short-term results but can he sustain them? I think that he can turn things around but if he is to do so he has to draw on the skills he used to build the Raiders and have a positive focus. The Raiders appear to panic under real pressure and forget what got them there in the first place. If you overthink things in sport, then things can go awry. If you become obsessed with avoiding errors, then guess what you become paralysed. This is what I think happens to the Raiders in close games. They stop doing what got them to a winning position in the first place. They just can’t do that as their defence while great at times is not the best in the league – they have to keep attacking not go into their shells.

True madmax, but this article was about Canberra. Perhaps you'd like to write a similar article about one of the other teams you suggest "could be on top of the table had they won their close games …"; the Tigers maybe, but …

Do you call Bj Leilua, Rapana, Austin, Wighton, Tapine, Papalii and Cotric boring? They've all ended up in Canberra for various reasons (or were born in the area) and Ricky has enough pull to get them here. I don't buy the Canberra is so boring so you can't attract quality players argument. Every team has a salary cap and you spend it as wisely as you can. How many marquee players get shopped around? Tedesco chased the bucks and lifestyle at the Roosters, Bird goes to the Broncos for a reported 1 mill a season, Woods is reportedly on $800,000 at the Dogs - does that mean their former teams are boring and unattractive? The only real player of note that Canberra has lost was Milford and he was very young and immature. Sure they missed out on blokes like Tedesco, Mansour and Proctor years ago when they were trying to build a squad but some of the blokes they've recruited have been quality players. But you're right that they've tried to cultivate a laid back family image rather than the glamour Sydney lifestyle because that's the nature of the Canberra lifestyle.

Someone writes the same ole story each year about how Canberra could be on top of the table had they won their close games etc. Let you in on a secret......there are other teams that could be on top if they won all their close games!!

Penrith have Maloney and Cleary in the halves. If the Raiders have these two they are top 4.

We wouldn't have been making a lot of these comments after 2016. A lot of the Raiders squad were playing out of their skin - particularly Hodgson and Leipana. Which begs the question where has that 2016 form gone? They have basically the same team apart from Vaughan (who was a fringe player in that season), Baptiste (who was playing 15 to 20 minutes off the bench), and Edrick Lee (who had a lazy attitude and dropped the ball with the try line wide open which would have got them into a Grand Final). I thought they would miss Hodgson badly but Havili hasn't done a lot wrong. The halves have been solid at best but are not creating enough opportunities needed to close out games. Sezer has had a couple of good games when he has stood up and won them the game but then he goes missing at other times when the game is on the line. Austin has gone into his shell - he needs to be hanging off Papalii and the other forwards when they dent the line. That's why he's in the team for his running game. He's playing too conservative not wanting to make mistakes. On the plus side Wighton is having a great season - minimal errors, great tough carries and defence and involved in try assists. In fact the whole back 5 have been great. They will miss Rapana if that injury is as bad as it looked. Papalii is back to his best and Tapine is a beast. Hodgson should be back in the next couple of weeks. I don't think they are too far away.

The team itself certainly isn’t, the “city” I get - but the rationale of it being for family men doesn’t really gel for me. I don’t think anything is more incongruous than 20 something professional sports person and a person who is saying oh family first and I’ll earn a low risk steady salary for some work life balance.

The simple truth, well put.