Canberra made a statement in its season opener against New Zealand Warriors, winning 30-8.
The Raiders' tight defence, offload efficiency and kick-and-chasing all contributed to the first up victory.
They were able to put early scoreboard pressure on, making for a comfortable night for the team in green.
The biggest challenge to negotiate was a Joseph Tapine sin-binning late in the second half which kept the door ajar for a New Zealand comeback.
But Canberra defended gallantly throughout that period despite being a man down, conceding just one try and neutralising or winning some key moments.
It capped of a brilliant performance, where they allowed just 21 tackle breaks to the Warriors 43 and rarely allowed the Warriors any time or space.
Second rowers Hudson Young and Zac Hosking did the grunt work, with 41 and 44 tackles respectively.
โ(Hudson) was extremely dominant,โ Stuart said.
โWhat I like about him is from an emotional point of view, he's calmer.
โHe's that hungry for representative football. Having (Australian coach) Mal (Meninga) here; he wants to play for Mal and (NSW State of Origin coach) Laurie Daly.โ
Stuart also detailed the reasons for picking Hosking in a lineball call over Matty Nicholson, who has been signed on a three-year deal from the Super League.
โNot picking Matty Nicholson was a really big call for me,โ Stuart said.
โSimi Sisago handles a number of positions, that's why I gave him the bench spot โ from an outside back, to lock to back row โ he's got great utility value.
โI had to make a call between Zac and Matty Nicholson.
โI had to go with the guy that's been with us and played with us, had some bad luck with injury last year who has that experience because I knew what the start of this game was going to be like.
โWe prepared for it all week. A big part of our preparation was the start โ getting in to the fight first โ and Zac's little bit of experience came into it.โ
