NRL 2022: How Ricky Stuart turned around a Raiders season that was on the rocks
The Raiders 2022 season began much the way the year before it did – badly. Matty Johns identifies the turning point for the team and the one thing that could trip them up on Friday night.
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This has been one of Ricky Stuart’s finest seasons of coaching, he’s never coached better given the challenges he’s had to contend with, but he’s fixed, adjusted, mended and absorbed, to get his team to where they are on Friday night.
There wasn’t a lot of optimism about the Raiders’ chances this year, the previous season was a bludger.
They had underachieved, suffered some big losses and Stuart had to deal with constant talk of unrest. Suggestions that the playing group were divided and a rift had developed between Ricky and some of his most important players.
And of course there was the George Williams fiasco.
Ricky had built a lot of the team around the English halfback and then suddenly, out of the blue, he wants out.
The Raiders club didn’t look like a fun place to be and let’s be honest it wasn’t.
Things didn’t exactly start well in 2022, with injury to two of their most vital players.
Jamal Fogarty, the man brought in to replace George Williams and steer the ship, would not be available until Round 12. On top of that their key creative player Josh Hodgson suffered a knee injury in the opening moments of Round 1 and his season was over.
Canberra started by winning just two of their first eight and already their season was on life support.
Everything looked laboured, they were struggling to create and you could see that like the previous campaign things were pretty grim.
Sebastian Kris and Hudson Young talk about the Raiders’ Finals Week One success.#WeAreRaiderspic.twitter.com/wtQzN7xTOr
— Canberra Raiders (@RaidersCanberra) September 12, 2022
But then things started to change.
Watching their big Round 11 victory over the Bunnies closely, there was a definite tactical adjustment from Ricky.
Rather than just trying to grind down the opponent, they threw off the shackles, played sideline to sideline, took risks and beat Souths at their own game.
You could see the players were enjoying the change of style and it sparked an attitude change.
In the next month there were still some inconsistencies but crucially you could see the players were all on board.
It was a masterful piece of coaching from Ricky, to be willing to move away from some of your own coaching principles and then discover a formula that works, is difficult and brave.
If rumours of player unrest were true, Ricky had clearly mended those relationships because his best players started looking like their best selves.
Out of their Round 17 bye the Raiders have exploded, winning nine of the last 10.
Jamal Fogarty has been fantastic, clearly benefiting from playing under one of the game’s great No. 7s.
At the Titans I saw Jamal as a handy player, at Canberra he’s a very good one.
A coach’s talents are best recognised in the improvement of his players and the improvement of many of the Raiders has been dramatic.
Hudson Young has been a revelation, there hasn’t been a better back-rower in the back half of the season.
Xavier Savage and Sebastian Kris get better with each performance and Joseph Tapine!
Joseph’s suddenly being spoken about as a million-dollar player.
But Ricky’s had his own challenges and adversity to overcome. The Jaeman Salmon episode knocked him for six.
It brought back a lot of pain, he was said to be enormously embarrassed by what transpired.
But he absorbed the pressure, not letting it affect his players a fraction.
The Raiders arrived in week one of the final right in Ricky’s coaching sweet spot, a team defying the odds, but to many still not a title chance.
Beating the Storm in Melbourne shows they’re not here to just give a bit of cheek.
The next challenge is Parra tonight and once again they’re outsiders.
The Eels had enjoyed their best month of football, but losing in week one and attempting to bounce back against a team on a roll is a bit like turning a cruise ship around in a river … tricky.
Crucially, unless there’s a late surprise Mitch Moses will take his place, but just as important Dylan Brown and Clint Gutherson need to get themselves into the contest early. Last week they weren’t entirely absent, but they were far from entrenched.
I love the way Canberra are playing and their momentum has me leaning their way but there’s one concern I have.
I’ve written numerous times the difference between day football and games played at night.
Dry afternoon football suits the adventurous, night the defensive.
Classic example, the Roosters/Rabbits turnaround of the last two weeks.
Since the Raiders went on their nine from 10 run, eight of those victories were dry afternoon games.
7.50pm at CommBank Stadium is a far more slippery surface which makes it trickier to play the type of football the Raiders like to play.
But then again, subtle adjustment has been a hallmark of Stuart’s coaching in 2022.
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