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Sharks learn to swim the Raper way
By Steve Mascord
February 28, 2004
New Cronulla coach Stuart Raper doesn't like predictions - but his boss isn't afraid to say what is expected of him and the Sharks this year.
"After what has happened, this year is critically important," chief executive Steve Rogers said yesterday as the Sutherland Shire boys prepared for tonight's trial against Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour and Wingham in Port Macquarie.
"I'm not saying that we have to win the competition but we certainly have to be a competitive outfit and make the finals.
"I'd like to think we've got a squad there that's capable of finishing in the top four and, if you do that, who knows? I certainly want to be one of the sides who are in and around the top four, top eight, for the majority of the season."
Rogers's statements neatly encapsulate the focus on the shire this season. Chris Anderson replaced John Lang in 2002 and Lang went on to win a premiership at Penrith. Now Chris Anderson has gone, despite coaching the depleted Kangaroos to a 3-0 Ashes series win.
The decisions being made by Cronulla directors are under scrutiny and the one to install Raper has to be the right one. That means the son of Immortal John has a lot of people relying on him to be successful this year.
He just won't be drawn into pandering to those people.
"One thing I'm not saying is, 'We're going to be top four, top eight', or anything else," the new coach said yesterday on the North Coast. "It's a big thing I've been very careful to avoid. There's been so much going on in this club. We need stability in the way we play and I just don't want to make any predictions.
"I just want us to play and then show people what we can do."
Raper, a former reserve-grade coach at Cronulla, has had almost as rocky a road to this appointment as his new club. He was poached from Castleford in 2001 to head up famous Wigan and then sacked mid-season last year when he announced he was returning to Australia.
"The pressure I feel is pressure I put on myself," he said.
"I was more pissed off, basically, that Maurice [chief executive Lindsay] didn't give me the chance to finish off and the reasons why I was let go were fairly petty, I thought. But it's typical Maurice and typical Wigan. I'd already made the announcement I was going home at the end of the year and all it did was bring it [the return] three months forward."
First, Raper was to be first-division coach at Cronulla this year. Then, he was to be Anderson's assistant. And now he's in charge, gently changing some of the structures the ousted national coach established.
Already watered down, Anderson's flat attack should have disappeared by season's end.
"We don't come in with a big iron fist and say, 'Right, I want these changes made'," Raper said. "We just tinker with it at training . . . look at different aspects and say, 'Do it this way'.
"It's evolving, mate. I'm not coming in and saying, 'We're doing the Stuart Raper style of play now'."
The coach's tips for surprise stars of the class of '04 are Sydney Roosters signing Andrew Lomu and South Sydney import Nathan Merritt.
"I know Nigel Vagana gets a lot of publicity but I think those two have trained the house down," Raper said. "And young Keith Galloway, who came to prominence last year, will benefit from a full off-season."
For Rogers and the directors, who have had to make two dramatic decisions in three years, the details are less important than the results.
"If we are successful on the field, this will be one of our most successful seasons corporately for many a year," Rogers said.
By Steve Mascord
February 28, 2004
New Cronulla coach Stuart Raper doesn't like predictions - but his boss isn't afraid to say what is expected of him and the Sharks this year.
"After what has happened, this year is critically important," chief executive Steve Rogers said yesterday as the Sutherland Shire boys prepared for tonight's trial against Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour and Wingham in Port Macquarie.
"I'm not saying that we have to win the competition but we certainly have to be a competitive outfit and make the finals.
"I'd like to think we've got a squad there that's capable of finishing in the top four and, if you do that, who knows? I certainly want to be one of the sides who are in and around the top four, top eight, for the majority of the season."
Rogers's statements neatly encapsulate the focus on the shire this season. Chris Anderson replaced John Lang in 2002 and Lang went on to win a premiership at Penrith. Now Chris Anderson has gone, despite coaching the depleted Kangaroos to a 3-0 Ashes series win.
The decisions being made by Cronulla directors are under scrutiny and the one to install Raper has to be the right one. That means the son of Immortal John has a lot of people relying on him to be successful this year.
He just won't be drawn into pandering to those people.
"One thing I'm not saying is, 'We're going to be top four, top eight', or anything else," the new coach said yesterday on the North Coast. "It's a big thing I've been very careful to avoid. There's been so much going on in this club. We need stability in the way we play and I just don't want to make any predictions.
"I just want us to play and then show people what we can do."
Raper, a former reserve-grade coach at Cronulla, has had almost as rocky a road to this appointment as his new club. He was poached from Castleford in 2001 to head up famous Wigan and then sacked mid-season last year when he announced he was returning to Australia.
"The pressure I feel is pressure I put on myself," he said.
"I was more pissed off, basically, that Maurice [chief executive Lindsay] didn't give me the chance to finish off and the reasons why I was let go were fairly petty, I thought. But it's typical Maurice and typical Wigan. I'd already made the announcement I was going home at the end of the year and all it did was bring it [the return] three months forward."
First, Raper was to be first-division coach at Cronulla this year. Then, he was to be Anderson's assistant. And now he's in charge, gently changing some of the structures the ousted national coach established.
Already watered down, Anderson's flat attack should have disappeared by season's end.
"We don't come in with a big iron fist and say, 'Right, I want these changes made'," Raper said. "We just tinker with it at training . . . look at different aspects and say, 'Do it this way'.
"It's evolving, mate. I'm not coming in and saying, 'We're doing the Stuart Raper style of play now'."
The coach's tips for surprise stars of the class of '04 are Sydney Roosters signing Andrew Lomu and South Sydney import Nathan Merritt.
"I know Nigel Vagana gets a lot of publicity but I think those two have trained the house down," Raper said. "And young Keith Galloway, who came to prominence last year, will benefit from a full off-season."
For Rogers and the directors, who have had to make two dramatic decisions in three years, the details are less important than the results.
"If we are successful on the field, this will be one of our most successful seasons corporately for many a year," Rogers said.
