NRL 2025: Raiders coach Ricky Stuart slams Maori All Stars coach Adam Blair over snub accusation
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has slammed Maori All Stars coach Adam Blair as ‘naive’, ‘inexperienced’ and ‘selfish’ for suggesting Canberra players were pressured into skipping the pre-season clash.
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Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has slammed Maori All Stars coach Adam Blair for suggesting Canberra’s best players were pressured into missing the annual pre-season contest against the Indigenous All Stars held last weekend.
Stuart said Blair was “naive”, ‘’inexperienced’ and “selfish” for bringing into question the Raiders support for the growth and development of both Maori, Pasifika and Indigenous players.
Blair led the Māori to a 10-6 victory over the Indigenous team last Saturday and afterwards accused Stuart of encouraging his Raiders players to make themselves unavailable so they didn’t get injured before the NRL season.
“Everyone’s dream is to play NRL and if you sit on the fringe of that it’s hard to stand up to your coach and say, ‘Hey, I want to represent my people’,” Blair said.
“I understand how it works … the more the game (NRL) can expose us to this game, the more the game can say, ‘If you’re Māori, you’re available to play in this game’.
“The more they hold everyone accountable then it becomes easier for the clubs to go, ‘well, the game says you have to play – unless you’re injured – you go and play’.
“There’s so many talented players that could’ve been here but due to pressures … for example, I love our Canberra boys and we could have taken five or six of them and put them in our squad.
“But I get it, I’m on the other side now (working for Newcastle) … those are five of Canberra’s best players.”
“There should be no question around whether you represent your culture or not.”
Stuart took umbrage for the assertion that the Raiders had “pressured” their players into sitting out the match.
“Anyone with an ounce of knowledge about rugby league would know how dedicated and proud the Canberra Raiders are in regards to supporting the development and opportunity to play at the highest level of our Maori, Pasifika and Indigenous players,’’ Stuart said.
“Ruben Wiki, John Lomax, Laurie Daley, Mal Meninga, Quentin Ponga, Ken Nagas, I could go on and on.
“Joey Tapine has played in the last four All Stars. Jamal Fogarty is an All Stars representative.
“Our longstanding support and absolute understanding how special the NRL All Stars game is has been deeply tarnished by these naive comments from an inexperienced person.
“This proud club does more for our Maori, Pasifika and Indigenous players than Adam Blair would ever do and will ever know of.
“Our players made a decision not to play by themselves, many of which without our knowledge due to the way the Maori team conducted their communication.
“I’m fairly sure we all agree the All Stars concept is wonderful, but it is played at the wrong time of the year.’’
Stuart’s retort emerged as The Daily Telegraph learned that the Raiders football department fired off an email to All Stars organisers to report that none of the Canberra players were formally asked to play in the match.
The Raiders claim Blair phoned Canberra players directly who were eligible for the Maori team without discussing the prospect of their selection through the club’s football department.
It is normal practice for representative teams to inquire of a player’s availability for a match prior to approaching the player.
The Raiders coaching staff only learned of the decision by their Maori eligible players, including Joseph Tapine, Matt Timoko and Trey Mooney, to reject the invitation by the players themselves.
Officials from the Indigenous All Stars submitted an email to the Raiders requesting the opportunity to determine the availability of Raiders players with Indigenous heritage.
“To say we’re disappointed by the comments made by Adam Blair is an understatement,’’ Stuart said.
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Originally published as NRL 2025: Raiders coach Ricky Stuart slams Maori All Stars coach Adam Blair over snub accusation
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