The Canberra Raiders have consolidated their place at the top of the NRL ladder with a runaway 40-16 victory against Parramatta, but coach Ricky Stuart has cautioned his players against playing with ‘entitlement’.
Speaking after full-time Stuart was disappointed his side failed to capitalise on two tries in the opening six minutes, finding themselves trailing the Eels 16-12 at half time.
“We were poor in the first half,” Stuart said.
“Getting off to a lead we should have taken advantage of that, I think we were a bit entitled in the last 25 minutes of the first half.”
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To the delight of a packed GIO Stadium, the Raiders turned their afternoon around in the second 40 minutes, running in five unanswered tries to send Jason Ryles and the Eels back up the Hume Highway empty handed.
“I was really happy with the way we dug deep in the second half,” Ricky Stuart said.
‘Where we’re at isn’t good enough’
The veteran Green Machine coach then acknowledged bigger challenges lay ahead, especially with so many young players in the Raiders squad.
“We’re still developing these young blokes, there are guys who’ve still only played half a season.
“Look at Ethan Strange, his communication and confidence has grown so much over the past twelve months and I just keep thinking to myself ‘where’s he going to be in another two years’?
“As a coach I want to win today, but I still have my development hat on.
“There’s a team we want to become and that’s what we’re chasing.
“If we don’t keep growing, we’re not going to have success going into the back end of the season.
“We have to keep driving ourselves—today’s level of football where we’re at isn’t good enough.”
The Raiders have now won seven from eight matches at home in 2025 and will look to make it eight from nine against the Newcastle Knights in Round 21.