Canberra’s Jamal Fogarty is willing to shoulder the blame for the Raiders’ poor record of spiraling out of games and has even encouraged coach Ricky Stuart to be more critical of his performances in the halves.

The Raiders have won seven of the last 10 games but their three losses have come by a combined 91 points, with the seven victories just a combined 33.

They’ve responded to each of the three home-game shellackings with victories, but it’s left Raiders fans pondering why their team keeps capitulating in Canberra.

Fogarty says look no further than him, admitting his game management as a halfback remains a work-in-progress.

“We’ve seen patches where what (I’ve done) personally has been good and then obviously other times games have gotten away from us, and as the half I take that pretty personally,” he said.

“That’s the biggest area for me to grow in, especially when the game’s on the line and we’re going tit for tat with other teams, we’ve kind of fallen off and that’s probably back to my game management, whether that’s the choice of kicking or giving the boys direction.

“That’s something I really want to take to the next level over the next couple of weeks, and something I’m going to be working on really hard with the coaching staff.

“Defensively as well, that’s something I’d like to pride myself on, when I’m tackling well and doing all the other things really well, they kind of go hand in hand.”

Fogarty has compiled an 18-10 win-loss record in his 28 games since joining the Raiders at the start of last season and feels he can take further steps forward learning from coach Stuart, one of the game’s great halfbacks through his playing career.

“To be honest, ‘Stick’ (Stuart) lets me be me,” Fogarty said.

“We have conversations on the side and he will toss up a couple ideas and we’ll more sort of put our heads together, but he doesn’t say ‘I think you should do this, I think you should do that’.

“He’s been really good for myself, and that’s one area our relationship could probably be a little bit better, if he’s just a little bit more critical of my game and that would benefit the team moving forward.”

Canberra travel to face the Sydney Roosters on Sunday, coming off a lengthy 16-day break between matches.

“Feeling fresh physically will be the most important thing … (but) our job is to go out there and to perform at our best, represent the Raiders and our club in the right way,” Fogarty said.

By Alex Mitchell in Canberra