Canberra Raiders NRL News

Corey Parker and Ricky Stuart embody rugby league's best heel-face dynamic, sparking locker room motivation and criticism.

The Canberra Times

Corey Parker and Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart might be the best heel and face combo in rugby league history.

For those unaware, in wrestling terms the "heel" refers to the bad guy, and the "face" is the hero character, but which category Parker and Stuart fall into might depend on who you talk to though.

Parker became bulletin board material in the Raiders locker room last year when a column he wrote ranked the Green Machine outside the top eight, he criticised their "modestly-talented" playing group, and took a shot at Canberra as a place no-one would want to live, which made recruitment of NRL stars tougher.

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NRL's Magic Round ends with Melbourne Storm facing Canberra Raiders in an exciting clash.

League Unlimited

The NRL's sixth Magic Round comes to a close on Sunday night with an unexpected heavyweight clash pitting the second-placed Melbourne Storm against the third-placed Canberra Raiders.

Facing off on neutral ground as part of the league's annual pilgrimage to Suncorp Stadium, both teams have impressed with just two losses apiece over the opening eight rounds.  

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Joseph Tapine joined Canberra in 2016, needing to manage expectations and improve his physical training.

ABC

When Joseph Tapine arrived at Canberra from Newcastle in 2016 as a tall and skinny second rower with plenty of ability and even more to prove, there were two things he needed to learn to carry.

One was the prodigious expectations that came with his clear physical gifts. The then-21-year-old Kiwi was rangy, skilful and aggressive. He brought some hype with him from the Knights and it can take time to get a saddle on all that talent.

The second is a lot more literal - for much of his first seven seasons in the NRL, the last five of which came with the Raiders, Tapine didn't really lift weights.

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