‘Would have laughed at me’: Ricky’s ‘not ready’ admission amid Raiders injury crisis

Ricky Stuart admitted some of his players are not ready for NRL, but praised his leaders for carrying the load after his side’s impressive victory over the Titans in Round 9.

Stuart challenged his players to come up with individual performances amid an injury crisis to turn around their slow start to the season and they answered in a 28-12 victory over the Titans.

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The Raiders have struggled with errors and discipline this season, but they put in their first 80 minute performance of the year to dominate the Titans.

“I just visualised all week that we just had to play footy,” Stuart said.

“It wasn’t about what position you were playing in. It wasn’t going to be pretty.

“I thought our first 25 minutes for a team that’s lacked a bit of cohesion with positional changes as late as on Thursday with Ethan dropping out and Daine Laurie jumping in there who did a wonderful job for us.

“You practice all off-season for combinations and it’s not just us, a few teams that have had a little bit of disruption with injuries.

“These boys are handling the challenge. We knew there was a challenge on and we just had to love it more than the opposition did, and they did. They were Raiders today.”

Stuart conceded some of his players are not ready for NRL amid the club’s injury woes, but backed them to do a job if called upon.

“It doesn’t slow it down,” Stuart said when asked if the experience at a young age his accelerating their development.

“Getting wins like that whilst you’re teaching young players who are playing very limited seasons or games it does accelerate it in the furnace.

“We had 18 and 19 men today, Ethan Alaia and Jordan Uta. If I had told them they were going to be Round 9 sitting on the bench at 18 and 19, they would have laughed at me. “They’re not ready for NRL yet, but I’ve got confidence in them that they can do a job if they were playing today.

“They’re football players, but they’re not ready for NRL. Too many managers rush kids today. I can’t rush them. They’ll play when they’re ready.”

Ethan Sanders was the star of the game with three linebreak assists and two try assists and Stuart praised his young halfback post match after he stepped up in the absence of Ethan Strange.

“He’s just getting better,” Stuart said.

“I know he cops a lot of criticism. I remember where I was 11 games in and it was nowhere near his standard.

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“He will just kept getting better and there’s parts of his game we’re trying to eliminate out of him. There’s parts of his game that he has to continue with because it will make him a better player.

“But he’s nowhere near the finished product. Where he will be in two years’ time is going to be a very smart, dominating halfback.”

Stuart reserved special praise for his forwards, who stepped up in the absence of Hudson Young and Joe Roddy, who broke his hand in the first half against the Titans.

“Today when I said we played like Raiders, I put it on every individual,” Stuart said.

“It wasn’t a team performance. It had to come from individuals and that was going to create the team performance.

“When Joey Roddy broke his hand, Ata Mariota had to go to back row, which luckily he trained there for most of the week because Simi couldn’t train.

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“I had three middles and Joe Tapine, Corey Horsburgh and Morgan Smithies, they lead the team today and Joe’s leadership as a captain was as good as I’ve seen.”

Raiders skipper Joe Tapine paid tribute to partner in crime Corey Horsburgh, who set himself the challenge to step up without Young in the team.

“He’s been unreal,” Tapine said of Horsburgh.

“It’s a big challenge for us. A lot of boys out and a lot of experience, but it’s about the jumper and not who wears it. So he stepped up really big and really proud of him.”

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