Ricky Stuart’s Raiders scraped home against the Wests Tigers yet the Canberra coach had some stern words for the naysayers over his decision to rest skipper Jarrod Croker.
Stuart took aim at some of the officiating in the 20-19 win, which was decided by a penalty goal late when Tigers second-rower Isaiah Papali’i crashed into halfback Jamal Foggarty’s legs after he attempted to lock up the scores with a field goal in the dying minutes.
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However, the Raiders coach was more frustrated by some of the noise surrounding his decision to rest Croker for the game to ensure the Green Machine legend would play his 300th NRL game in Canberra next week.
Stuart could not contain his frustration when asked if his side missed their captain against the Tigers.
“When did we miss him, mate? You reckon Jarod would have stopped those three (tries)?” Stuart said.
“It was a risk. When you lose, you’ve got to take a risk. These muppets who’ve been bagging me, they’re all the guys who will read the textbooks … but they can’t actually execute it.
“They’re not the people I want in the trenches with me.
“What I did was the right thing by all the Canberra fans. I wanted to make sure they knew I was resting Jarrod this week.
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“I could’ve kept him in the team all week, they would have bought their tickets and poor buggers would’ve come down here to see him play 300, but no, I did the right thing. I was open and honest.
“I was probably wrong to be open and honest. I might as well just lie.
“It really shitted me off that these so-called experts who’ve never man-managed, never been leaders in making tough decisions – and that was a big risk tonight and I knew I was going to cop it from every one of you in here tonight if we got beaten.
“But I was prepared to take a risk. That’s leadership. Not these other muppets who pretend they know.
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