Why are we such an unsuccessful club?

[Chachi]

But it's more than just that. A lot of the league magazines and papers have run big articles on our young players (Goodwin, Dobbo, Picker etc etc).

Henry is also getting nice wraps from his Origin success and (although Bay56 will disagree) I think the stand we took with Carney demonstrated the club has had enough of player misbehaviour and wants to be an organisation that demands more from its players than we have in the past.

The Raiders are shedding it's tag as a club for misfits and freeloaders. We've got rid of Frawley and the likes of Irwin with Williams and some other average players to be cut at the end of 07. We noticeably also haven't gone after every bloody c grade player on the free market looking to up their contract value. We even told Whatuira to get stuffed when he started using us as leverage and did not increase our offer to ridiculous levels.

 

[mongoose]

The major problem with this season has been our away form. If we can turn up away from home we will be a force. For some reason or another we just crumble into nothing away from home. It is disappointing that our away performances haven't improved since the start of the season. Henry needs to address this and i don't think changing our preparation will do it, it's a psychological thing.

 

[Raider Azz]

you annual overreaction to a loss post is a few days early this week, leg.

 

[Bay56]

But it's more than just that. A lot of the league magazines and papers have run big articles on our young players (Goodwin, Dobbo, Picker etc etc).

Henry is also getting nice wraps from his Origin success and (although Bay56 will disagree) I think the stand we took with Carney demonstrated the club has had enough of player misbehaviour and wants to be an organisation that demands more from its players than we have in the past.

The Raiders are shedding it's tag as a club for misfits and freeloaders. We've got rid of Frawley and the likes of Irwin with Williams and some other average players to be cut at the end of 07. We noticeably also haven't gone after every bloody c grade player on the free market looking to up their contract value. We even told Whatuira to get stuffed when he started using us as leverage and did not increase our offer to ridiculous levels.

Chachi i suppose all this will be tested next season ... I, for one, hope we are not having the same discussion.

 

[Raider_69]

im pretty confident we wont be bay, i remember a day not too long ago, you too were as confident as i was... id honeslty like to know what happened to change you're mind? Obviously we've had some bad results, but surely you expected that with the youth and lack of experience across the board

 

[Raidersrawesome]

New coach , over 1000 games lost in experience , the Carney disruption , all add up to the season we have in 2007 . 2008 with a coach with a year under his belt , the young players getting FG experience and Carney behaving should lead to a positive improvement next year.

 

[Bay56]

im pretty confident we wont be bay, i remember a day not too long ago, you too were as confident as i was... id honeslty like to know what happened to change you're mind? Obviously we've had some bad results, but surely you expected that with the youth and lack of experience across the board

Up to Rnd 11 I'd given coach and management my seal of approval ... events since have necessitated a re-evaluation and I am now not totally convinced that my seal was well founded.

As I said before I will have a better idea of Henry's abilities to take us the next step some time early next season ... I'm certainly not going to blindly follow the man.

As far as management is concerned I'd have to say I might have been fooled into thinking that things had changed for the better.

 

[Bay56]

New coach , over 1000 games lost in experience , the Carney disruption , all add up to the season we have in 2007 . 2008 with a coach with a year under his belt , the young players getting FG experience and Carney behaving should lead to a positive improvement next year.

You'd hope so mate ... I can remember similar suggestions early in Elliott's days ...

but again all this will be tested next season .... for me the signs are not good but I'll more than happily stand to be corrected.

 

[Chachi]

Have a look at the Warriors for example. 6 straight losses followed by 7 wins out of the next 8 (if memory serves). Along with the Rorters you can see what a bit of confidence and consistency can do for a club. I honestly wouldn't rate the talent available at those two clubs much higher than what we have when we're at full strength.

The warriors also have 100% of their roster available this weekend. That's amazing and it just adds to the momentum and confidence that their club is showing right now. We're not too far away from that IMO, but we REALLY need to learn how to guts out a tough win against against the odds (ala the Rooters vs Melbourne) for the boys to really start believing in themselves.

 

[ak47]

The fortunes of the Raiders is really starting to weigh heavily on my mind and I often wonder why we are such a second rate club in terms of success.

Melbourne have managed to find exceptional talents and attract existing talent to a location just as unenviable as Canberra IMO.

Teams like the Broncos, Bulldogs and Storm enjoy prolonged periods of success but we are merely making up the numbers every year. When we jag a finals spot in 7th or 8th we view that as a great year.

Teams like Parramatta and St George have their bad years but when they are successful, they are winning semi finals and are legitimately challenging for the title whereas we as a club seem to be rowing with one oar in the water, going in circles year after year, replacing coaches, letting established talent leave the club and never emerging as a premiership threat.

Why is it the players we let go are flourishing elsewhere? Guys like Robertson, Bryant, Kouparitsas, Payten, Soward, Kite and Cross are alll established first graders enjoying excellent careers post the Canberra Raiders?

There are so many questions that need answering and there never seems to be anyone to hold accountable at the club.

Its called Canberra and its in the middle of nowhere........it doesnt help...95% of our countries population live on the coast

Canberra and Penrith have the longest drives to the beach....both teams have had similar success over the past 27yrs

Melbourne just as enviable as Canberra?? - you got rocks in your head...its a city with lights, girls, and long nights...........footy players look for these things in todays world...........just read the news everyday, and you know this.

Unless you grow up in an environment LIKE CANBERRA - you wont move there in a hurry.

Canberra is perceived as a quiet little place for family orientated lifestyle........which is why we get the washed up throwback players like Smith and Adamson - as they have kids and dont want them in the city life exposed to MORE CRIME than Canberra

THE STARS in todays league are young, and want to be STARS off the field as well as on it.....

We need cap-concessions to attract players to a less viable location..........

I cannot believe you think Melbourne is as viable as Canberra.

Australia's culture is about the beach and coastline............you dont teach it......its the way of life.

The is a minority that prefer to live inland.........the 5% of our population

Not to mention……………..its bloody COLD TOO

Unless you grow up there……nobody likes it………and that is the reality of life.

Your accustomed to your growing up experience

Which is why most of our players are from regional provinicial towns (Tongue, Graham, Tom LL, Carney etc), and why we cant attract any city slickers

 

[Timbo]

I still argue Canberra is a nicer place to live-regardless of your age-than Campbelltown, Penrith or Bankstown. And those clubs have no shortage of quality players.

 

[Bay56]

Its called Canberra and its in the middle of nowhere........it doesnt help...95% of our countries population live on the coast

Canberra and Penrith have the longest drives to the beach....both teams have had similar success over the past 27yrs

Melbourne just as enviable as Canberra?? - you got rocks in your head...its a city with lights, girls, and long nights...........footy players look for these things in todays world...........just read the news everyday, and you know this.

Now dude can you please explain South Sydney who havent won a premiership in some 35 years ... and when was the last time StG/Ill won a premiership .... and geez the Gold Coast were a real hit while they were around ... and how about Cronulla !!! err when did they win a premierhsip ... err never (maybe too much time laying on the beach huh :lol

do I need to continue ??

And Canberra doesnt have long nights and girls ?? (I'll grant you not as many neon lights but who gives a sh*te)

 

[Edwahu]

We are still overcoming the period when News owned the club and we basically had nothing to spend on development. Carney etc were the first lot of juniors bought after this period.

 

[Raider_69]

Honestly, with regards to the night scene, canberra dont promote this enough and make it attractive to young blokes, before going down there and seeing it myself, i would have said its night life sucked, same with my mates

having been there i actually prefer it to sydney as there is more variety and everything is really close by. Where as in Sydney to get from one good joint to another its a bloody 10k hike up hill and you do that to go to essentially the same place, with the same music as you left

canberra is great for variety and its nightlife, they just need to make it known to people my age
BTW some of the chicks down there are ace too, but you can find a good sort at a club anywhere, especially after a 2 or 20

 

[Raidersrawesome]

I still argue Canberra is a nicer place to live-regardless of your age-than Campbelltown, Penrith or Bankstown. And those clubs have no shortage of quality players.

I live in and work around these areas , Id take Canberra any day of the week.

 

[Walt Flanigan]

South Sydney, Parramatta, St George/Illawarra, Cronulla, New Zealand, North Queensland and Gold Coast.

These are the 7 clubs in the comp that have failed to win a premiership since our last in 1994. In fact the last one of these teams to win one was Parramatta over 20 years ago. Frankly I'd be more concerned about following a team like St George who in most seasons has the team to do it but falls at the last hurdle.
The salary cap hit us hard post Super League with the forced exodus of some of the finest players in the history of the game. Mal Meninga was able to keep the side reasonably competitive while Lozza was still around but after his retirement I think management was exposed for their poor.......well.....management. Lack of forsight when buying players and putting too much faith in Brett Finch.
Elliott while most admit now was a poor choice of coach, kept the Raiders off the bottom of the table and took us to a couple of finals series.
With Elliott gone, a good crop of youngsters and some unexpected old heads showing form I think most see the light at the end of the tunnel.
While it hasn't been a successfull season this year, it's next season that will speak volumes. The young guys will be better for having this season under their belt and I seriously see us pushing for a top 4 spot next season.
We'll be back on top and hopefully management show a bit of forsight this time around and work to keep us there.

 

[Raider Azz]

South Sydney, Parramatta, St George/Illawarra, Cronulla, New Zealand, North Queensland and Gold Coast.

These are the 7 clubs in the comp that have failed to win a premiership since our last in 1994. In fact the last one of these teams to win one was Parramatta over 20 years ago. Frankly I'd be more concerned about following a team like St George who in most seasons has the team to do it but falls at the last hurdle.
The salary cap hit us hard post Super League with the forced exodus of some of the finest players in the history of the game. Mal Meninga was able to keep the side reasonably competitive while Lozza was still around but after his retirement I think management was exposed for their poor.......well.....management. Lack of forsight when buying players and putting too much faith in Brett Finch.
Elliott while most admit now was a poor choice of coach, kept the Raiders off the bottom of the table and took us to a couple of finals series.
With Elliott gone, a good crop of youngsters and some unexpected old heads showing form I think most see the light at the end of the tunnel.
While it hasn't been a successfull season this year, it's next season that will speak volumes. The young guys will be better for having this season under their belt and I seriously see us pushing for a top 4 spot next season.
We'll be back on top and hopefully management show a bit of forsight this time around and work to keep us there.

thread over.

 

[shear_joy9]

I think for once Canberra should use the salary cap properly and buy an established star of the game. A player that will bring the fans to games, and attract the media spotlight.

I'm sick of Canberra grooming promising youngsters that see this club as a stepping stone.

 

[sydraider]

I see Kite has been mentioned a few times in this thread. I questioned his release in here over Tyran Smiths purchase and was told Kite was a nuffy :lol:

My point being, all of us have opinions but none of us know jack sh*t.

give henry another season at least, it cant hurt.

 

[Raidersrawesome]

I see Kite has been mentioned a few times in this thread. I questioned his release in here over Tyran Smiths purchase and was told Kite was a nuffy :lol:

My point being, all of us have opinions but none of us know jack sh*t.

give henry another season at least, it cant hurt.

I thought I met him once

and I agree 100% Henry cant be judge on one season alone