Las Vegas – Ricky Stuart Breeze Raiders Green.
The Canberra Raiders coach, one of four national rugby league teams to play in the building at Allegant Stadium on Saturday, played for 11 years with the club, part of Glory Day, winning three Grand Finals titles.
Now coaching his 12 seasons of clubs, he burns and wins the title as coach.
“I'll give one back to win as a coach,” Stuart said the post on Thursday after running the team in a 90-minute training session ahead of the Raiders matchup with the New Zealand's Warriors in a game aired by Fox. “Yeah, I won three grand finals when I was playing, but you're going to get one back now with one. That's obviously my ultimate goal.”
Stuart is one of the real characters among the teams here this week.
He's still stocky with a solid build, even at 58.
He said he was nonsense, soft side, and changed his life as a result of having an autistic daughter called “boss.”
“People who know him know that he's just a passion,” Raiders star Joseph Tappin told the Post. “He cares about the club, he cares about our game. He cares so much, so it's emotional. So people probably appreciate me, especially me, as a player who plays under him.”
As a player, Stuart was known to his NRL followers as one of the greatest trash cans of all time.
“He seemed like he was a cheeky mate when he was playing,” Tappin said with a laugh. “I always said this whenever I play against him. I wanted to take off his head. He's talking about trash right now, he's not even playing. He's a bit of a piss.”
A true measure of Stuart's passion is the fact that Coach Stuart is the sideline coach, unlike almost every coach in the rugby league who coaches from his coach's booth (like the NFL offensive coordinator).
Because he wants to be in the middle of it. Furthermore, it is difficult to tell the trash to the opposing team from the coach's booth.
Three years ago, fierce Stuart went through a moment like what former Giants coach Tom Coglyn had when the brass of the team informed him that he needed to brighten up his tough approach.
“I didn't think I was intense until everyone told me I was,” Stuart said. “Look, I just want to win. I know them. [the players] I want what I want, and I want what they want. And sometimes it is the most hungry man who gets it. It's in my DNA. I think it's important for players to see how much you care about.”
But Stuart said his intensity was “heartbeat knocking me healthy, just as I was being drained and I wasn't getting through the loss well.”
“Some of my seniors told me how it was affecting them, so I discussed it with the boys. [that] I had to change my approach.”
Stuart, along with the CEO, the son of the team's first coach, calls the close-up Raiders a “very unique club.”
“We have a big tendency to remember the past, remember our history and remember the players who were there before us,” Stuart said. “I want to keep my passion alive in Canberra. The club has given me a lot. My feelings are that it's my job to pay the club back for what they did for me.”
