BY DAN

In the Fox sports ‘pages’ today, one of the Crawleys asked the question as to why Ricky Stuart has managed to escape blame for our beloved Canberra Raiders atrocious form. The truth is that he has. It’s just it took the 16 weeks for the Sydney media to notice.

This is a trope sometimes rolled out across the wide expanses of the internet. It’s perfect for online rage-baiting because it requires no evidence, but can be argued in each and every direction, and plays to a certain segment of the online community for whom Ricky Stuart is an engine that fuels all that is dark inside them. But yet Stuart has avoided it.

Crawley’s explanation for this perceived lack of criticism was a grab-bag. Over-achieving last year, poor discipline this year, player form (Kaeo Weekes and Ethan Strange were blamed, for some reason), injury (but only to Josh Papalii and Simi Sasagi and not Noah Martin or Matty Nicholson), and the absence of Jamal Fogarty. He also acknowledges that ‘mates in the media’ will be a popular explanation.

I’m not sure how these go as explanations. It’s hard to see how last year’s success has made Coach Stuart immune from criticism this year. Indeed as likely is that some people are more frustrated because for a second they got a taste of the good life. Poor discipline is certainly a factor in why they’ve played poorly, but is more a reflection of Stuart’s impact than likely to protect him from blame.

Injury is a significant one, and one that we’ve leaned in heavily to. And while Crawley suggests that Canberra’s toll isn’t worse than any other club (which, tbh, fair), it’s not so much the quantum but the specificity of the issue for Canberra. Losing all their backrowers has also impacted their middle depth, and their ability to play with pace through the middle, turning them into the plodders we saw in the second half at Melbourne. That lack of roster flexibility has exacerbated a strategic myopia that hasn’t allowed the club to handle the changing world.

It’s hard to look at these things and not think Stuart has a role in them. So why is Stick being left out?

I would question the premise of this. Stuart’s tenure has definitely been questioned, consistently and thoroughly, in any online space. The comments of these pages are littered with concerns about every decision he’s made this year. The good people of the Green Machine Podcast have had their criticisms, as have a litany of non-Canberra Times spaces. People are asking questions. We’ve even asked a few ourselves, some before the season even started. But it’s fair to say that most of these questions have come more recently. That makes sense. That’s the period that Canberra shifted from a slow start to crashing out.

Of course, that’s not the chucklefucks of the Murdoch media empire, and I guess that’s what Crawley is seeking to explain. It’s an interesting jump, and pre-emptive. The eye of the Sydney media has only turned to Canberra this week, six weeks deep into its second dip of the season. While people in the ‘chats’ have been talking for weeks about the collapse of Canberra’s fortunes, and how much that reflects on Stuart, the Sydney media, bereft of other talking points, have taken it up.

We may yet get some ‘hot seat’ gear for Stuart. It’s an easy discourse, and fun too. There’s no right answer, doesn’t require research, and can rage-bait engagement. It’s everything that modern rugby league media loves, which only highlights why they haven’t stumbled on this until this point of the season.

But those that know the Raiders realise it’s a meaningless premise. Canberra, for better or worse, doesn’t burn through coaches like Sydney teams, and with the Sydney media always looking to pivot to a conversation closer to home, the coaches here rarely are subject to the scrutiny of the Sydney media, be they as known as Stuart or as Matty as Elliott. David Furner is the only coach the Milk have fired and it took much longer than this. The Raiders simply operate at their own pace. Half a season of shithouse football might get you on the hot seat at Belmore or Campbelltown. In Braddon it takes a little more time.

Besides, the heat never stays long on the Raiders. The truth is Canberra just isn’t a big enough market for the traditional cycle of pressure building until they media gets its meal to be sustained. The work is easy but the clicks just aren’t of a sufficient volume. Simply put, outside of me, and you, no one actually cares that much. Sure, me and you can talk about Stuart’s decisions, his inability to turn out a good team more than one year at a time, the perceptions and questions around the use of Jed Stuart. But if someone in Canberra claps does the Sydney media hear them? Of course not.

There’s less clicks in Canberra. Less people to rage against the idiocy. And if no one clicks the link, then what’s the point of putting pressure on. Especially when there’s always a Tigers article to write.

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