Senior Canberra Raiders throw support behind embattled coach David Furner
DAVID Shillington has thrown his support behind David Furner in the wake of NSW Origin coach Ricky Stuart being repeatedly linked to the Raiders.
CANBERRA captain David Shillington has thrown his support behind coach David Furner in the wake of NSW Origin coach Ricky Stuart being repeatedly linked to a return to the national capital.
As Canberra prepare to host the Gold Coast Titans today, Shillington said talk the Raiders' senior playing group had been told Stuart was coming to the club next season was wide of the mark.
With a horror injury toll that has included losing key players Terry Campese, Josh Dugan, Brett White and Shaun Fensom for a large part of the season, Furner has done an admirable job to win seven of 16 games.
"It's not like the board have said to Dave (Furner) you've got until this round to be performing this well or we're talking about some possible coaches for next year or anything like that," Shillington said. "The board has supported him 100 per cent and as you know the Raiders have never sacked a coach. We've got a proud tradition of that.
"It seems as though all the pressure on him is a bit of a myth through the rumour mills. That's footy, I've seen plenty of coaches go through it. It's tough to ask fans for patience, but that's what we need."
Furner has endured a two torrid seasons after piloting the Raiders to the 2010 finals. In particular, he has been hampered by injury to captain and five-eighth Terry Campese.
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Furner, who is contracted until the end of 2014, won't buy into the speculation linking Stuart to the Raiders.
"I'm seeing things very clearly. We need to win games and continue to try to make the finals," Furner said.
"I'm determined to prove a few people wrong with the side that I've got and that's really all I can focus on."