Raiders coach Ricky Staurt reveals his plan to deliver premiership to Canberra

CANBERRA coach Ricky Stuart has revealed he is in the final stage of his bold plan to lead the Raiders to a premiership.

Raiders coach Ricky Staurt has revealed his plan to deliver a premiership to Canberra.

RICKY Stuart has spent the past three seasons teaching his players what it means to bleed green.

As Stuart knows, playing for Canberra is an honour steeped in tradition and it’s why he wanted to educate the current crop of Raiders.

Now his players are well versed in the club’s rich history, he wants to take the final step in his bold plan to rebuild the Green Machine.

Unsatisfied with last season’s preliminary final loss to Melbourne, Stuart has set his sights on finding that extra inch of perfection to deliver a premiership to the nation’s capital.

“And we still have a long way to go,” Stuart told The Sunday Telegraph.

“My first goal was to get the club back to a competitive football team that cherish the green jumper.

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Raiders coach Ricky Stuart celebrates a try by his team on the sideline.

“We’ve got that. Now we’ve got to take our next steps and we all need to be better.

“We weren’t good enough last year, so we all need to individually from staff right through to players need to improve in the work we do.

“We’ve got to work as a team and most importantly individually we’ve got to have that mindset to want to be better than where we’ve been.

“That next bit of improvement is always the hardest piece of improvement.

“That’s when a lot of sacrifice, commitment and hard work comes in. At the forefront of it is one you’ve got to identify it and two you’ve got to have the courage to take it on board and want to become better.”

Coach Ricky Stuart with Jack Wighton after losing in the finals series.. Picture: Colleen Petch.

Stuart, a three-time premiership winner at Canberra, learnt the Raiders way from the senior players, like unassuming heroes Dean Lance, Craig Bellamy, Phil Carey and Ashley Gilbert.

“They were thorough Raiders players,” he said. “Those guys were team driven and not selfish people. They drove the ethos and Mal (Meninga) as a captain was all about the club and jumper.

“That’s what these younger players are learning today.”

Canberra’s senior players are now using lessons from the club’s past to inspire and educate the Raiders’ next generation.

Stuart says the likes of Iosia Soliola, Jeff Lima and skipper Jarrod Croker have been excellent in passing on their knowledge and experience.

Unfortunately for the Raiders, scans revealed that Croker had suffered a kneecap subluxation - partial dislocation - injury in Friday’s All Stars match and will miss the start of the season.

Croker took to twitter and said: “dislocated knee cap, very disappointing! Hopefully around 6 weeks.”

Jarrod Croker lays on the ground injured during the All Stars match.

Stuart will be disappointed with the loss of his captain but relieved he won’t be sidelined for too long, as he understands the impact he has on his teammates.

“Senior players like that are really teaching our young players to become a Raider and how we want to play the game and prepare,” he said.

Thanks for all the kind msgs of support, it means a lot 👍🏼 dislocated knee cap, very disappointing! Hopefully around 6 weeks. #BleedGreen

— Jarrod Croker (@Jarrodcroker) February 11, 2017

“A lot of these young players we’ve got a very fortunate in the senior players and their behaviour and how they handle themselves. They are learning how to do it the right way.

“You are going to see the response in five years’ time when these younger blokes are the senior players teaching the other younger players coming through.

“That’s where your culture is driven through your players and that’s why I’m fortunate as a club coach and from a Raiders point of view that we have good blokes in our squad.

“That’s the first thing I try and identity when I’m recruiting.”