Ricky Stuart has unleashed on the critics of his decision to rest Jarrod Croker from this weekend’s win over the Wests Tigers, taking aim at ‘muppets’ in the media who disagreed with his decision.
Sticky was questioned by a reporter in the post-match press conference following his side’s late win, in which they threw away an 18-0 lead to trail 19-18, only to nick it in the end with a late penalty goal.
“When did we miss him?” he responded to the journalist’s question. “It was 18-0 with 67 gone. You reckon Jarrod would have stopped those three (tries)?
“I’m one of the leaders of this club, and it was a risk. In leadership, you have to take a risk.
“These muppets who have been bagging me, they’re all the guys who’ll read the textbooks and talk about courageous leadership, game management and talk at corporate functions, but they can’t actually execute it.
“They’re not the people I want in my football team, in the trenches with me. There wasn’t a player there tonight that didn’t want Jarrod to be having his 300th game at home. I didn’t plan this last week.
“What I did was the right thing by all our Canberra fans, not to go out and buy tickets to come here, to save their hard-earned money because I wanted them to know I was resting Jarrod this week.
“I could have kept Jarrod in the team all week, they would have bought their tickets and the poor buggers would have had to come down here after work to see Jarrod play 300.
“But no, I did the right thing, I was open and honest. I was probably wrong to be open and honest, I might as well just lie. It really shitted me off that these so-called experts who have never man-managed, who have never been leaders in regards to making tough decisions.
“That was a big risk tonight and I knew I was going to cop it from every one of you in here tonight if we’d have got beaten, but I was prepared to take the risk.
“That’s leadership. Not the other muppets who pretend they know.”
Stuart went on to explain how much it meant to have the game at home, especially as Jason Croker’s 300th game was an away game in Brisbane.
“This’ll be one of the biggest events that we’ve had for a player in Canberra,:” said Stuart. “Jarrod Croker is one of my best mates, I’ve made a decision and I want Jarrod to play his 300 at home. It’ll be a great event for the club.
“We get nothing at the Raiders. We’re battlers, we’re brawlers, you could see that tonight. We’re happy to be proud of it.
“We’ll have a great event this week and Jarrod Croker deserves everything he gets next weekend. He’ll have to bring the energy because he’ll be playing with a team that’s very wounded and tired.”
G money
Roar Rookie
football team/multi million dollar turnover, pressure cooker, performance based enterprise.. you're right though, it's just a 'game' lol
Phil
Roar Rookie
Ricky having a rant???? I would never have thought. You've got to hand it to him, he does love his team. From weak-gutted dogs to muppets he's got it all covered for anyone that he doesn't agree with. As for the Croker case, I think he's wrong to put an individual before the team.
Adam Bagnall
Roar Guru
He is putting individual achievements ahead of team performance and deserves to be criticised. If it was a must win game at the end of the season would he still do it? Whose to say Croker does his knee at training this week and is forced to retire, thus stranded on 299 games
Antho
Roar Rookie
Emotion doesn’t win comps, Ricky. Calm down.
Tetley
Roar Rookie
Agree. Journalists shouldn't keep badgering the bloke for "almost losing" after he's won. Just let it be.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Its been good to see Fogarty steering the team around with Jack playing more of an explosive running supporting role in the past 5 or 6 games. Prior to that it was throw it to Jack and see what he could do. Jack deciding to go to Souths has almost been a good thing in terms of sorting out the roles of the Raiders halves. Fogarty's kicking game in particular has been very important in the Raiders recent run.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Still, there was no need to call Kermit Cronk a muppet.
Albo
Roar Rookie
I give Fogarty plenty of credit. He had the game of his career last night. Everything he did came off, including the directions of the ricochets off the posts and a winning penalty from a missed field goal. That is football. But its swings and roundabouts. Maybe next week those kicks to the posts bounce away from him or go dead?
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
It was a big call. The Raiders had won 6 out of 7 with Toots in the team. He brought some stability and maturity to the backline after HSS had a few horror games in the centres earlier in the season. Tampering with a winning team was a risk and to be fair they were lucky they just got away with it.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Well Ricky - and I suspect the senior management at the club - took a calculated risk by resting Jarod and it only just paid off with a bit of luck at the end. Jarrod's 300th is a pretty big deal here in the national capital and the decision to rest him will ensure a massive crowd. I've been a critic of Ricky at times but he's delivered some decent results without quite delivering that elusive premiership. He gets pretty worked up at times in pressers but you can see his heart is in the right place. He might not be the most brilliant tactical coach but you can see why the players put in for him.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Think you could give Fogarty a bit of credit for those two kicks into the padded posts that led to tries. Pretty smart plays I thought - and I suspect he practising them a lot at training - they were more than just dumb luck.
Albo
Roar Rookie
Yep ! As we have always known, it really is all about Ricky. Sure he took a 'leaders' risk leaving Croker out until next week. And he needed a season full of good fortune last night to get away with the win and to justify his decision. I hope he doesn't whinge about having no luck again this season ? His team was slowing down every play the ball all night to restrict the Tigers attack, until the referee finally took action with ten minutes to go. Then they score those three only tries from a dropped bomb and two lucky ricochets off the posts, and then a final penalty to grab the win off a missed field goal attempt ! So you got away with it Sticky ! Thank your lucky stars .
Farmyard Friend
Roar Rookie
Good morning Tony. Ricky must have been tempted to “frogmarch” those pesky muppets out of there.
Nick Maguire
Roar Rookie
:laughing:
Raps, Taps and Paps
Roar Rookie
It has always been cruel throwing coaches into press conferences just after matches but it certainly is great theatre. He would have had PTSD after nearly losing the match leading by 18 with 10 to go. But it wasn't really a big call and a pretty obvious decision given Toots is only a marginal call to be picked at this stage of his career. Stick really doesn't like to be criticised. Most of us got over that in our 20s but he'll get there eventually :) I'm still very supportive of him as our coach though. We're all looking forward to the 300 game at home this week!!! And see our favourite Charnze play again too!!
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
Ricky, Ricky, Ricky. The League ethos has always been , Team First , individual glory , well down the list. I think Ricky has lost the plot. I can't recollect anything like this where a club puts the Team last ( except for player health concerns). The Raiders have no chance of Team glory with Ricky in charge. He's shown his hand and I know who the head Muppet is. He always wears green.
Farmyard Friend
Roar Rookie
Good morning Tony. Bet Ricky was tempted to have those pesky muppets “frogmarched” away.
Frank from Geebung
Roar Rookie
Big decisions? Great leadership? He’s running a football team……. Someone needs to get over himself
Farmyard Friend
Roar Rookie
Good morning all. Having problems with my IPad. Have had to resubmit a comment a couple of times. Apologies in advance if it is duplicated or even triplicated.
Farmyard Friend
Roar Rookie
Good morning Tony. Bet Ricky was tempted to “frogmarch” those “muppets” out of there.