BY DAN

The annual ‘Ricky Stuart said something controversial’ has come early this year. In a valid attempt to defend the decision for his players to not play in the Indigenous All Star game, he’s instead stirred the pot. The outcome is that he has kicked along something that should have been put to bed days ago, and inflamed an issue he sought to diffuse.

For better or worse Ricky Stuart is a divisive rugby league figure in the wider community. People tend to either love or hate him. For Canberra fans he’s the only person willing to stand up to a rugby league world that is at best indifferent to their existent. And he loves the team, the club, the community. Find yourself someone who loves you like Stick loves the Milk. There’s also no question the team is better for him having taken over. He also does a remarkable amount of work in the community. This is why we love him.

For the rest of the rugby league world he’s a cantankerous and arrogant voice. Where many Canberra fans see a fighter, they see a limited coach. He’s the person that searches for excuses in the form of refs, the league, and anyone else that isn’t within the four walls of the club. He’s burned more bridges than retreating armies. Mention his name and you’ll get inundated with the hatred from at least two clubs fueled with the fire of a thousands suns. He inserts himself into discussions that don’t concern him, in ways he shouldn’t, with undeserved (in their eyes) gravitas.

Stuart is all these things at the same time. He is a good person. He is a good coach, capable of getting loyalty and performance out of players that won’t and don’t produce it elsewhere. He is also limited, caught up in building ways of winning without any structure or precision, relying on his emotive and turbulent personality to overcome obstacles he’s often built. He’s burned bridges, but he’s also made tough decisions and usually been right. And he’s said things that don’t need to be said.

Knowing that Stuart is all these things is the key thing to understanding him, and his recent statements about Adam Blair and the All-Stars game. As you’re probably aware, in the post game shuffle Blair, a relatively inexperienced coach, noted his job would have been easier if all eligible players had been available. He made the mistake of specifically noting that he would have preferred to have Canberra’s players, of which he suggested he would have picked half a dozen.

“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 … those are five of Canberra’s best players

These statements were naive and probably wrong. For starters it overstates the Raiders importance to the endeavor. In 2024 Joe Tapine, Matt Timoko and Trey Mooney were picked for the Maori team. I’m not sure if Seb Kris would have outranked Dane Gagai, or if Kaeo Weekes would have trumped Kalyn Ponga (he’d probably fit in somewhere though). Blair exaggerated to make a point when he didn’t need to.

Non NRL or Origin games are always plagued by the club’s desire to protect their own interests. The clubs haven’t been the drivers of the All-Star game; the players are. While their collective will is determined to play in these games, for reasons of culture or meaning to the community, then the game will be successful and supported. Naming Canberra as a club holding back players seemed unnecessarily pointed. So let’s be clear. We agree with the idea that Blair didn’t need to say what he said.

But the response from Stuart was equally bizarre.

It was a childish comment, it comes from a very inexperienced coach. He’s obviously coaching the way he used to play, very selfishly. This club still has not got an email asking for any of the boys to play in the Maori football team. Blair has really tarnished our relationship with that game. That game is played at the wrong end of the season, for a start. I’m probably the only courageous one who will actually say that. I enjoy the game, I like watching the game, but it’s played at the wrong time of the season. For Blair to come out and say that, when he didn’t even communicate with this club, is wrong. It comes from an inexperienced person who is trying to coach

Let’s work through that. Blair is inexperienced – we’ve already noted the comments were naive and unhelpful. But they would have been that without rebuttal. I’ve no idea what Blair did to Stuart in a past life but the random pot-shot at his playing style is confounding and beside the point. The idea that the club needs an email formally inviting people to play is comical and, as noted above, not really relevant to whether they play.

The pitch that the game is played at the wrong end of the season is a random aside, not half as courageous as Stuart seems to think, and as questionable as your cousin’s political takes. Would be it be instead of internationals then? Would Stick support it eating into pre-season due to players needing their collective-bargain required break? The game is perfectly timed as the season opener – the format and timing is proven perfect by the fact it’s fast become a permanent fixture on the calendar.

The insinuation that Blair should have asked the club if the players could play undermined the players’ agency in the decision. It was inexplicably defensive to a real and valid concern implicitly raised – that the game’s status, and the cultural importance of Maori and Pasifika players to our game is not as recognised as it should be by the rugby league apparatus. Given more than half of NRL players are either Aboriginal or Pasifika, pitting himself against a game that matters greatly to them was a strange choice, both from broader inclusivity perspective, a man-management approach and a strategic recruitment one. It undermines the worth he has seen in his own camp from this game – his captain made his leadership bones through it.

I suspect Stuart’s intent was pure. Joe Tapine had been front and centre of this decision, and owned it like the leader he is. Stuart didn’t want him to be a target, from either the Maori, or the wider rugby league community. He saw men that had only done what they thought was right for the team criticised. He didn’t want the integrity of people who have embraced and elevated their communities in the rugby league world to be questioned. You can feel the ‘siege mentality’ in it. Stuart hackles were raised. When fight or flight time comes, Stick will stick up the dukes and get ready to rock.

But Stuart didn’t need to even respond beyond what was obvious. Timing of this and the Vegas trip, fitness and potentially other factors had made the game an unacceptable risk. This was an unquestionably defensible decision, one that most people didn’t really put more thinking towards than the two seconds it took to read Blair’s quote. Everyone loves the All-Star game but regardless of the value we put into it we’re also realists. Winning a premiership, succeeding in your career, and making the most of your NRL time is the focus for many players, and their clubs. That will normally win out.

So instead of Blair’s statement being a passing comment there is now a news cycle with Ricky at the helm. In trying to hide his players, and his club, from criticism, Stick has opened up a wound with his own knife. We’ve seen it before. We’ll see it again. I’s self-defeating, unnecessary and frankly, embarrassing.

No one loves the Raiders like Ricky Stuart. No one has or would do more for the club given a chance. But in the weapons he uses can hurt both his targets and his home. I wish he’d wield them better.

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