I understand his frustration at losing so many close games, and even little things that you think go against you make a difference in tight games.
But this is Stuart's issue press conference after press conference. He complains about those little things, and even if he is right, he is not addressing fundamental flaws in their game.
Their last two defensive sets, when the game was on the line and it mattered most, were diabolical. I'd hope he would know that there are controllable things that are fundamental to the game that his side aren't getting right, and it is costing them the close results.
I'd hope his complaining is a smokescreen, and they know what they need to work on.
But they are so consistently failing at crucial times on simple plays, I have my doubts that his attitude on display in press conferences isn't also his view of what is going wrong.
I agree. I think the reality of the Raiders’ team that causes their crumbling in tight games is the makeup of the squad.
Ricky has moulded a team that is massive - he seems to have sought out the biggest forwards he could get his hands on. Papalii, Paulo, Boyd are all giants. He also has serious size in the centres with BJ and in other positions in the backs. I could be wrong but my visual impression of the Raiders pack is that it is one of the largest in the competion.
Equally, however, those big boys don’t seem particularly well conditioned.
I think this has the consequence that they inevitably fade in tight games - by 80 minutes it just isn’t possible for those big boppers to be defending well or making good decisions. Fatigue does that to you. Not in the very limited interchange regime the game now has.
Hence they fade out near the end of tight games and you have results like today.
I also think there are a lot of very dumb players in the side - fatigued or not. BJ for example must be up there as one the dumbest players in the league. You don’t need too much brains to play league well but BJ barely cuts the mustard in that department.
Ricky blames the referees for it - and no doubt there have been some bad calls along the way - but Ricky also doesn’t seem to have realised that the game has moved on from the player selection and coaching methodology that might have worked back in the early 2000s and Ricky hasn’t kept up.
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