Although the men from the Capital have been one of the most dangerous attacking teams in the NRL for the past few seasons, coach Ricky Stuart and his troops are taking a defensive mentality heading into 2019.
Off the back of missing the finals for the past two seasons, Ricky Stuart is aware that he could lose his job if he extends that record to three seasons in a row. When pressed on the matter of his job security in an interview with NRL.com, Stuart agreed with the notion, "Why wouldn't I be?... I haven't made the eight in the last two years."
With the knowledge that it could be do or die for his coaching career in 2019, Stuart and his staff know they are going to have to change something in order to avoid another early Mad Monday.
That something won't be their attack, as the Raiders scored the second most tries in the competition last season and more points than seven of the top eight teams.
The Raiders have never struggled offensively, as they scored an impressive average of 23.5 points per game last year. However, at the other end of the field, they conceded an equally unimpressive 22.5 points per game. Coach Stuart is now acutely aware of their defensive struggles, telling NRL.com that "I've got to have a defence mentality [in 2019]. Being one of the top attacking teams in the NRL doesn't mean a damn thing if you can't defend it,"
Off the back of their defensive woes and the departure of regular five-eighth Blake Austin, Stuart detailed to NRL.com that he now plans on selecting his first choice halves pairing off the back of their defensive capabilities.
"I've got to make a decision on No.7 and No.6 and my whole focus will be around my strongest defensive line".
Senior player and halfback Aidan Sezer has noticed this shift in focus in the Raiders' pre-season, telling Raiders.com that "our focus is on defence this year".
While the increased focus on the problem should assist the Raiders in their quest to improve their defence, a few off-season departures could equally aid them. Namely those of Blake Austin, Junior Paulo, and Shannon Boyd to Warrington, Parramatta and the Gold Coast respectively.
Although Boyd and Paulo were key to the Raiders power game and often won the physical battle in the middle, it is no secret that they are not the most mobile men in the world. As a result of this lacking mobility, they weren't of great assistance when they had to work from the inside and let their outside defender shift out.
In regards to Austin, he did have a brilliant attacking influence on the team, but according to NRL.com Stats, he was responsible for 16 try causes at an average of 0.67 per game (the second most of any Raider) in 2018.
If the Raiders can tighten up their leaky edges and maintain their attacking output, It will go a long way to getting them back to the team that was within one game of the 2016 grand final.
The Raiders will kick off their 2019 season at Cbus Super Stadium against the Gold Coast Titans, who finished season 2018 with sixteen losses and eight wins.
Stuarts Record as a coach started off magnificently when he coach the Dogs lower grade team to a premiership then took over the Sydney Roosters top job winning a premiership in his first year and guiding them to a further two more grand finals in a row. His biggest asset back then was defence. Sometimes going back to basics is all that needs to be done.🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱
Explains the whole Wighton at 5/8 idea…his defence is prolly the best thing about him, he is not afraid to take any one on. As long as he does not try to kick it or play the perfect pass every time he might be OK at 5/8 although I’m still sceptical. With ball in hand he just needs to take the line on, let Sezer and Hodgson do the kicking. With the whole defence mentality thing, it would make us very competitive. But I’ll believe it when I see it…its much easier to say your gonna do it then actually do it. Time will tell I guess…
Woodchook Sticky was handed a premiership winning side when he took over at the roosters.
Hell even Brad Arthur could have won the premiership with that squad.
Stuart as a myth of a coach.
Raiders to finish outside the top 8 with Stuart looking for a new job by seasons end.
Ha ha love it…thank you
I am sick to death of Ricky saying that the Raiders are going to focus on defence. In 2016, the Raiders played a great attacking brand of footy, they were totally different to every other side in the NRL. They could be behind by 20 with 20 minutes to go & come home strong in attack & win. Remember that if Edric Lee caught the ball & scored they were in the grand final. The point of difference that the Raiders had, made them impossible to defend against. Every team feared playing them. Their unique style of play was very successful. It was great to watch as a fan, I even got used to winning more often than not. I loved every minute of 2016. The reason being that it didn’t matter that the opposition scored the odd try of four, we could alway score more, second phase play made it impossible for all the other teams to defend.
Come 2017 I believed that we could win the comp. But Ricky came out just like now & said, we will focus on defence. We will try to play Melbourne like Melbourne. Did it work? NO. Come 2018 Ricky repeated the same old game. Did it work? NO. So now again in 2019 Ricky is going to try the same plan that hasn’t worked for the past two seasons. Will it work? NO.
Why Ricky can’t you go back to the 2016 plan, defence is not the focus, ATTACK is. This is what works for the Raiders. Have a point of difference that defensive focused teams can’t contend with. Play with an unpredictable style that tires the opposition & doesn’t let them set up defensively. So what if you have the worst defensive average, it doesn’t matter if you score more points that the opposition. You win.
The biggest problem with the Raiders is game management from the halfback. The Raiders kicking game is woeful. Why we haven’t invested or developed a proficient halfback in Ricky’s five years is beyond belief. After all Ricky Stuart was an outstanding half, his game management & kicking game was brilliant. Great player, but obviously not at the same level as a coach. If defence is the Raiders focus in 2019, heaven help us. Every NRL team focuses on defence, having a point of difference to this is what effects the oppositions defensive structure.
At least we only have to put up with Ricky until the end of 2020. Surely they won’t resign him again?
I’ll coach them for nothing, I’m sure that I could do no worse than a pair of 10th placed finishes.
Not really in 2001 under coach Murray the Roosters let in 589 points during the regular season, while in 2002 Stuart got then tackling 3 in every tackle which reduced the total the following year under Stuart back to 405. We lost our regular halfback Paul Green in the first game of the season and Stuart reinvented Wing to take on the stop gap role as halfback.
Rooster fans appreciate Stuart’s efforts and I will always have a soft spot for the charismatic bloke. If he has got the cattle at Canberra then they will improve. Remember over the past few years they have been scoring heaps of points but lost many many games by 6 or less. If the defence is strengthened then they win those close games. 💪🐔👍
Taree Raider, great analysis!
Think you’re on the mark too.
I’d be running this by the Raiders board, could be a coaching job in it for you. Thanks for the read. Well said.
When was the last time an attacking side won the comp❓❓❓ Was it Ted Glossop’s Bulldogs in 1980 The Entertainers or Probably Canberra’s side in 89-90 was big on attack, Parra in 2001 flogged everybody all season scored about a massive 812 points for which is a record that still stands today but got beat in the Grand Final. The Roosters of 1975 was a good attacking team but defence won them the comp. In fact most premierships are won by teams with great defence. Ricky Stuarts lone premiership in 2002 was based on brilliant defence. Robinson’s Roosters in 2013 created a record by keeping 6 teams to Zero through the season and another 5 teams to under 10 on the way to winning the comp
For me Defence will 99% of the times defeat a team big on attack. Souffths last season where the best attacking side in the comp but in the Preliminary Final got defeated by the best defensive team in the comp when they went down by 0 tries to Sydney’s 3. You see attacking sides get rattled when what works normally does not work against the best defensive sides and then they end up making lots of errors taking risks. In 2016 Canberra’s great attack could not out muscle both defensive based Grand Finalists Melbourne and Cronulla. Canberra got defeated by both of them by 2 points in the semis.💪🐔👍
When was the last time an attacking side won the comp Was it Ted Glossop’s Bulldogs in 1980 The Entertainers or Probably Canberra’s side in 89-90 was big on attack, Parra in 2001 THRASHED everybody all season scored about a massive 812 points for which is a record that still stands today but got beat in the Grand Final. The Roosters of 1975 was a good attacking team but defence won them the comp. In fact most premierships are won by teams with great defence. Ricky Stuarts lone premiership in 2002 was based on brilliant defence. Robinson’s Roosters in 2013 created a record by keeping 6 teams to Zero through the season and another 5 teams to under 10 on the way to winning the comp
For me Defence will 99% of the times defeat a team big on attack. Souffths last season where the best attacking side in the comp but in the Preliminary Final got defeated by the best defensive team in the comp when they went down by 0 tries to Sydney’s 3. You see attacking sides get rattled when what works normally does not work against the best defensive sides and then they end up making lots of errors taking risks. In 2016 Canberra’s great attack could not out muscle both defensive based Grand Finalists Melbourne and Cronulla. Canberra got defeated by both of them by 2 points in the semis.💪🐔👍
In Ricky, we trust…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Panthers in 2003 had pretty terrible defence, but were able to score more points than their opposition more often than not. Tigers in 2005 perhaps?
You are right though in that, on average, a better defensive team will win out in the end. The key though is being able to adapt when/if other teams work you out. Souths problem last year wasn’t necessarily that they weren’t good enough defensively, but more about teams working out how to limit the effectiveness of Cook. Siebold probably needed to change things up a bit.