Canberra Raiders NRL News

Fox League

THE usual suspects are out and about trying to question why Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart gets a protected species run in the national capital while the Wests Tigers are routinely barbecued every other week.

Let’s compare the pair - the Raiders and last year’s wooden spoon club.

The Wests Tigers are currently in the midst of the NRL’s longest finals drought having failed to make it past August dating all the way back to 2012.

That’s 12 seasons and counting as some of the protesters are preparing to tell club management at the Easter Monday match against Parramatta.

In contrast, Stuart piloted the Green Machine to an unlikely grand final appearance in 2019 and then backed it up in 2020 when the Raiders made it to within 80 minutes of another grand final in a prelim final.

See more...

Fox League

THE Jack Wighton contract situation has certainly made plenty of clubs get the calculators out and start number crunching.

For the record we’ve said all along it’s a two-horse race between the Canberra Raiders and the Dolphins for the services of the NSW Origin and Australian centre.

The Bulldogs pitch was an interesting one – they’ve come up with the concept of playing Wighton at lock.

Of course the Wests Tigers came flying in off the top turn buckle with an offer starting at $1.3 million per season but it’s hard to see Wighton wanting to go down the Concord road at this point of his career.

The Parramatta Eels and the New Zealand Warriors are the other two clubs who’ve come in heavily.

In reality it’ll most likely come down to a battle between the Canberra Raiders and the Dolphins.

See more...

The Canberra Times

If it's an emotional lift the Canberra Raiders need to snap out of their poor NRL form, they might well have the perfect one in the shape of returning legend Jarrod Croker.

Reeling from a 53-12 humiliation at the hands of Penrith last Friday, coach Ricky Stuart has turned to the club's 292-game veteran for his first appearance since he injured his right shoulder in round nine last year.

That was Croker's only first-grade game of 2022 and he has toiled away in NSW Cup this season before being recalled to replace struggling centre Harley Smith-Shields.

See more...