Ricky Stuart will find himself on the coaching hot seat by season's end if the Raiders again fail to make the finals.

The team from the nation's capital have had two straight seasons of tenth place finishes and in a results based business such as the NRL, most clubs would not allow these type of poor results for a third consecutive year.

Stuart’s Raiders have always been known for their incredible ability to quickly shift into fifth gear and score a couple of quick tries, this approach culminated in a second place finish in 2016, since then results have not been so positive.

The trend over the last two years has featured many blown leads and close loses due to the fact that this team is clearly not showing up with the attitude to win or play for each other and their coach.

It is something that Raiders fans will not want to hear but unless this changes, be prepared again for a mediocre Raiders team that is competitive but just not consistent enough to get over the hump.

However, if Stuart, who won the 2016 Dally M Coach of the Year with the Raiders, can bring the consistency in attack and defence, this team could contend for a spot in the finals.

For this to be done Stuart must first improve the defence, something that he has publicly stated the Raiders are focusing on at training.

Along with this Stuart must weave some magic to get his new halves partnership of Aidan Sezer and Jack Wighton to gel and perform consistently well. The Raiders lost former five-eight Blake Austin who had a big hand in their attack over the last few seasons, he will play in England this upcoming season.

The Raiders were dealt a huge blow for the upcoming season when they learned they would be without star winger Jordan Rapana. The exciting wingers absence will leave a huge dent in the side as he and Joseph Leilua have often carried the attack for the Raiders.

The only way Stuart keeps his job if the Raiders were to again miss the finals is the history that he has as a Canberra Raiders player.

The former Canberra halfback helped his team make three consecutive Grand Final appearances from 1989-91, winning in 89 and 90. Stuart was the Clive Churchill Medallist in the Grand Final in 1990 and also won the Dally M Medallist in 1993.

It was a quiet off season in terms of player signings with Stuart clearly happy to make possible under the radar signings and trust the players already on the roster to make leaps forward.

The Raiders may prove to be one of the more interesting teams to watch this season and only time will tell if Stuart's approach will work out. The Raiders kick off their season against the Titans on Sunday, March 17.

15 COMMENTS

  1. No Rapana and have lost their forward firepower. Can honestly see them battling it out with the Dogs for the spoon. I think they will be safe as the Dogs are looking good for it this year.

  2. Yeah alright Parra boy lmao. You lot are heaps more likely to get it than the Dogs, you know all about the spoons 😉

  4. In my opinion the raiders are in a lot better position then last year. Instead of having two big boys that play 30 minutes max. They have Batman an hall that can play long minutes an make 45 tackles a game. Plus they don’t have that hole in defence where Austin was the loose cannon. They are in much better stead for this yeah

  5. Lol, Sticky’s last chance…ha ha according to who exactly????? Where is your proof JSCIB45??? Huh??? Where does it say that the Raiders will definitely terminate Ricky if the team doesn’t perform this year? I love how you have covered your arse by stating the only way he will keep his job after this year is because of his history with the club, meaning if the Raiders don’t make the finals yet we still don’t sack Ricky you don’t look like a complete douch…which tells me you have no facts your just writing an article for the sake of writing one….your simply going on your own personal opinion. Which is weak…very very weak.

  6. Just the one Finals appearance in 10 years is not good enough.
    A decent coach would have the Raiders as a top 4 side.

  7. Rubbish.
    Boyd was over rated and the two English Int are both good replace,east for our back and forward.
    Wooden spoon keep dreaming lol

  8. Dogs, manly and the eels will be battling it out for the spoon but I have to agree the dogs would have to be the favourite to take it out, there whole team is trash.

  9. ricky is an average coach, The Raiders not being able to close out games is a perfect example. Canberra are no hope of winning a premiership while he is there.

  11. Not so sure about that?
    The Panthers have let a mass of good players go in the last two years. Especially good attacking players. Not really brought in any great attacking players.
    If they retain the most penalised honour again this year, as in 2018? It could be them at the bottom. Especially after losing May & all the video problems there now.

  12. Do you think so? Sezer is overrated & how will bully boy Wighton go at 5/8th over a full year?
    Austin may have been a problem at 5/8th in defence? He also made a hell of a lot of tries for the team . Which they won’t have now.
    The centres are only so, so . As with many other teams.
    So why should they be a top four team?

  13. Stuart is an enigma. When joining a new club, he does great in yr 1 then slides thereafter until the inevitable happens. On paper, he should be a good coach but in practice he doesn’t seem to be able to get players fired up. How he has survived this long I cannot understand. There have been plenty of better coaches than him that have simply disappeared from the scene in the last decade but he keeps soldiering on. Calling him an average coach is flattery and he is one person I hope never to see at my club.

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