Stuart will coach against the Eels on Saturday night for the first time since his controversial departure last season, a decision which drew condemnation from Parramatta supporters after he walked out only one year into a three-year deal.
In his 12 months in charge, Stuart put a broom through the Eels, his tenure becoming infamous for the day when he informed 12 players they were no longer wanted by calling them into a room where their names were placed on an overhead projector in front of their teammates.
Since his departure, the club has gone from strength to strength under Brad Arthur. So much so, a victory over the Raiders would increase the Eels’ hopes of playing finals football.
Seward insisted, however, that playing against Stuart would be no source of motivation for the players.
“We have moved on,” Seward said.
“We’re probably just worried about ourselves and getting a win and getting in the eight. We have a real philosophy at our club now, we’re worrying about ourselves.
“It’s about us getting better as a footy club. We don’t care about any other club to be honest, whether it’s Canberra or whoever.
“Ricky coached us. That’s fine, he moved on. We’re happy where we are now. It’s a pretty big game for us. I think this way — we probably don’t even think about.
“Since Ricky left there is a lot of new people here. To be honest we probably don't even think about it. In a way it is irrelevant to us.
“Been, gone, next, move on.”
The game shapes as a big one for veteran Ben Smith, one of the 12 players given their marching orders by Stuart. Smith eventually stayed and will be named in the side today to travel to Darwin. While he may seek some personal revenge, Arthur has no plans to speak to any of the players who were there on Stuart's watch.
“I won’t speak to them because then it puts it in the back of their minds,” Arthur said.
Arthur’s sole focus, like the rest of the club, is on securing a third consecutive win and pushing for a place in the top eight.
“He is doing a terrific job,” Seward said of Arthur.
“We’re certainly a lot happier where we are this time this year than the same time last year. It’s just nice that we’re discussing playing final footy.
“Last year we couldn’t get out of last. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing and who the coach of the other team is, we just have to go out there and get the two points.
“Hopefully everything falls into place. To me, we have to win this week. We still have to win a couple of more as well, regardless of who it is, it is irrelevant.
“We have moved on.”
That said, the Eels have missed an opportunity to attract a big crowd to Parramatta Stadium by taking the game on the road — the decision to play the Raiders in Darwin was made last year, before Stuart’s departure.
“I think there would be plenty of our members and fans who would have liked the game to be at Parramatta,” Seward said.
“But we submitted out request back in September before Ricky had even left.’’
