Canberra’s NRL season looks poised on a knife-edge, but their returning captain insists the Raiders are still in the frame for a premiership.
After back-to-back horror losses – including a 40-0 humbling against Cronulla last time out – Canberra’s promising start to the campaign is a distant memory as they head to Manly on Friday.
They sit 10th with four wins from eight games.
Already missing four of his best players to injury, pivotal halfback Jamal Fogarty among them, coach Ricky Stuart has opted for experience for the trip to Sydney’s northern beaches, with Chevy Stewart, James Schiller and Simi Sasagi all out of the 17.
That trio – with just 37 games between them – will be replaced by Nick Cotric, Albert Hopoate and captain Elliott Whitehead, combined veterans of 368 matches.
Bench forward Emre Guler will replace the injured Pasami Saulo.
Whitehead hoped the hardened edge could help right the team’s course.
“We’ve got some brilliant young kids in the club and the future’s bright,” he said.
“But at the moment we want to win games to win a premiership this year.
“Last week wasn’t up to the standards we set, and we’ve got a chance to fix that quickly on Friday.
“We’ll all bring a little bit of energy in different ways throughout the game – we’ve lacked that over the last couple of weeks.
“I’m not saying it’s going to be down to us four when we win the game – it’s going to take a full team effort to go up to Manly and get the win.”
Stuart’s biggest decision was pivoting away from 18-year-old fullback Stewart, after the third-gamer was quiet against the Sharks.
With Hopoate taking the reins at No.1, Whitehead said Stewart should view his exclusion not as an axing but as a chance to recover from his opening three games at the top level.
“He’s only a young kid, he’s done a few big weeks in NRL and he hasn’t done much wrong,” Whitehead said.
“(Stuart) thought going up to Manly is going to be a big hostile game again, and to throw (Stewart) in there four weeks in a row is probably not the right thing to do at the moment for him.
“He’s going to be a big part of the future for this club … you don’t want to bash him too early at 18.”
Whitehead has been out since round three with a calf injury.
He said he had been ready to play in last weekend’s Cronulla clash, before staff held him back for the Manly game doubting his ability to back up on a five-day break.
By Alex Mitchell in Canberra
