It has got to be frustrating to be a Canberra Raiders fan.
Over the last few years the club has produced an incredible number of high quality junior players, and depth is not a problem at all at the club. In fact, few teams in the NRL have the type of depth in the halves that the Raiders have built, and when you look at their first grade squad overall, this is a talented bunch of players.
I really like the look of the Raiders, I have for a number of years now.
Even when you take into account that Terry Campese has been MIA for a number of years now and that Josh Dugan is a semi interested part timer….the Raiders still manage to run a decent team out onto thet field who, on their day, can kick anyone arse!
So why aren’t the Canberra Raiders more successful?
In my opinion it all comes back to the coach. The coaches job is to get the best out of his players and that simply doesn’t happen at the Raiders.
Yes at times they look unstoppable, but even last season there were times when the Raiders had simply given up and looked like the worst team in the competition. These extreme form reversals should not be happening, and at the end of the day with all the talent the Raiders have, you have to start looking at the coach and wondering what he is doing wrong.
Over the course of the off season we have seen David Furner look to link up with coaches from other sports in what is normally called a fact finding mission. I tend to think these little get togethers are a load of rubbish.
How the fuck does attending an AFL training session help you coach a Rugby League team? You are not learning your trade, you are coaching at the highest level. If you need to pick up pointers on where to place markers on the field for a training session then you are not up to coaching an NRL club. The Raiders have seen all and sundry come through the club over the off season under the guise of looking to pick up new ideas and strategies. I tend to think its a worrying sign.
David Furner needs to be concentrating on how to coach Rugby League, not looking at what other sports do.
With all the talent the Raiders have, they simply can not afford another season of failure. It is not good enough to have an average season and they fire up in August any more. This team needs to actually make some progress in 2013 otherwise Furner simply has to go.
Looking at the alternatives out there….you have to wonder if we might see Tim Sheens return to the nations capital if Furner gets the flick. This is a very good squad to work with and no doubt the Raiders would have a number of coaches that would be interesting in working with this lineup. Raiders fans deserve a top class coach too, after all, this is a fan base that had to suffer through a Matthew Elliott era too.
I hope the Raiders do well in 2013. The weird thing is, they could finish anywhere between the top five and the wooden spoon. That is just the extremes they have in them. It shouldn’t be like that though. David Furner needs to make it work in 2013 or his coaching career is all but over.
