The Raiders don’t need protecting anymore.
After a season where they finishing 10th for the third time in four years, Ricky’s Raiders currently sport a 5-1 record and equal top spot - on points - on the NRL ladder.
It’s a remarkable turnaround for a club that lost 11 games by nine points or less in 2018, eight of which were by a converted try.
After losing the first three games of 2018 by a combined five points, a round 4 loss to Manly provided the perfect stage for the always quotable Stuart to give a damning assessment of his charges.
“Soft. Soft football, soft pieces of play, soft choices and I've probably protected them for too long," Stuart fumed.
Fast forward to Easter Sunday, with the Raiders condemning Brisbane to their fifth loss of the year, and Stuart was far more complimentary.
“Confidence within each other, I reckon, is something that I’m feeling from where I sit,” Stuart said.
“They’re a lot more mature group this year. They’re an easier team to coach this year because I feel that individuals have grown up. When that happens you don’t have to baby blokes as much.
“When you’ve got a little bit of depth you certainly don’t have to pat blokes on the back; you can be a little bit more honest to them when you have to tell them the truth about certain parts – or scenarios – of their game.
The Raiders aren’t a finished product – but they’re a huge improvement; two Broncos tries early in the second half had Canberra down 16-14 and, if this was 2018, the seemingly inevitable late-game fade was on.
Not so in 2019. New five-eighth Jack Wighton’s 40/20 kick soon thereafter set up John Bateman’s try. Another Wighton kick – a grubber this time, with a headbutt assist – put Ryan Sutton in.
“They’re a lot more mature group of blokes and I’ve been working hard to make it a player-centric type of environment here at the club,” Stuart said. “With their maturity, accountability and responsibility they’ve shown, it’s making it easier for me to have that type of environment here.”
While not being clear at the top of the NRL ladder would be nice – it’s not at the forefront of Stuart’s mind right now.
"That doesn't worry me. Winning's the thing that worries me. When we have been winning recently we've been winning by big points, but we can't defend," Stuart said.
"Now we're putting a lot of pride into our defence. That's the important part for me at the moment is the way they're defending and showing that resilient, comfortable style defence."
Before Sunday’s game, the Raiders’ starched defence had given the Green Machine their best defensive start since 2000, leaking a stingy 11 points per game.
In 2019, the Raiders conceded 28 points per game.
