Canberra's Ricky Stuart plans to rest players against Dolphins for finals preparation after minor premiership.
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart has decided to rest several players in the upcoming match against the Dolphins, following the example set by Penrith. This decision comes after the Raiders clinched their first minor premiership since 1990 with a 24-10 victory against the Wests Tigers on Saturday, allowing Stuart the flexibility to rotate his starters in preparation for the finals.
In an interview with Triple M on Sunday, Stuart stated: "I will be (resting players). We've got some banged up players and I spoke to (NRL CEO) Andrew Abdo yesterday before the (minor premiership) presentation and said I will be resting some players that need it."
He continued, "There's some players that are banged up. It's such a long season. I'll just rest the players that I feel as though absolutely need it because they're banged up, and there's a few positional players there that I believe that I need fresh and healthy for semi-final one. I will make that position as we go but I haven't got a number (of how many players will be rested)."