Canberra Raiders vow to stick by Ricky Stuart after win over North Queensland Cowboys
CANBERRA CEO Don Furner insists Ricky Stuart — the man with over $100,000 in governing body fines — remains the future of his embattled club.
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CANBERRA CEO Don Furner insists Ricky Stuart — the man with over $100,000 in governing body fines — remains the future of his embattled club, saying: “We’re not an organisation who turns coaches over easily”.
Under increasing pressure after a horror start to the year, Stuart felt some of the heat ease on Sunday after his Raiders thumped an understrength North Queensland 42-12 at GIO Stadium.
The result came 24 hours after the coach also told ABC radio how the “big decisions” he made last year with Parramatta, who eventually earned the wooden spoon, have aided the Eels’ revival in 2014.
“But it seems people are always talking about Ricky, doesn’t it?” Furner told The Daily Telegraph.
“He’s just one of those people. And, honestly, I think everything was fine until we lost consecutive games by 50 points, then all of a sudden people started looking at the coach.
“But we’re not an organisation that turns coaches over easily. You look at most who’ve worked here, they have all stayed four, five, six years.
“So Ricky will be right. We don’t care what people say, we’ll be sticking by him and he knows that.”
With Canberra captain Terry Campese producing his most dominant performance of the season — and Goulburn playmaker Mitch Cornish making an impressive debut — the Raiders ran in eight tries to two in front of a small crowd of 8,412 at GIO Stadium.
North Queensland, meanwhile, struggled like you’d expect a side missing four Origin stars plus another two — injured duo Gavin Cooper (dislocated hip) and Cameron King (ACL) — from last weekend’s squad.
Cowboys lock Tariq Sims also faces an anxious wait after being placed on report for a lifting tackle on Raiders opposite Shaun Fensom.
Yet still the biggest talking point remains Stuart, who last week reached his century in fines after receiving a $10,000 penalty for ‘‘excessive criticism’’ of referees.
Speaking on Saturday about the Eels, who now sit fourth, Stuart told ABC radio: “I’m happy when I see Parramatta winning because I know I did the right thing there. And I know I did a good job.
“That’s not taking anything or being disrespectful to their coach Brad Arthur — he’s doing a really good job and I compliment him.
“But I like seeing them play well and I like seeing them win because the decisions I made there are decisions I have to make here (in Canberra).”
He added shortly after: “In rebuilding a football team there are two things that have to happen: one is time and two, it’s big decisions.’’
CANBERRA 42 (J Wighton 2 J Croker J Kennedy A Milford R Robinson P Vaughan tries J Croker 7 goals) bt NORTH QUEENSLAND 12 (E Lowe C Rona tries E Lowe 2 goals) at GIO Stadium. Referee: Gerard Sutton, Jared Maxwell.
To see how the game unfolded, relive the action with our live blog!
Originally published as Canberra Raiders vow to stick by Ricky Stuart after win over North Queensland Cowboys
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