Reflective blog post - Ricky's Raiders: What needs to happen to turn it all around?

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“Stuart has walked away from his contrat with Paramatta Eels to coach the Canberra Raiders. What type of high performance structure would you recommend to him to improve onfield results and cuture within the club”.

   
Ricky Stuart should adopt a similar culture to the one imposed by Jake White when he came to the Brumbies. A no ‘rock star’ policy. It has to happen if he wants improved on field performances and a better culture within the squad.

Jake White came in and completely turned the club around in terms of on field performance and a big part at the heart of the success and changes was this mentality of no one is a superstar. Whether it was intended or not, this policy has paid dividends. Cellar dwellers in 2011, falling at the last hurdle for a finals spot in 2012, and just missing out on the title but bringing a team of relative nobodies to the Super Rugby grand final in 2013.

From all reports I have heard and from personal experiences having been in very close proximity to Brumbies training sessions, Jake employs a very authoritarian style of coaching which is done in such a way that he dictates what he wants done, explains why and how it falls into his planning and how those being informed are essential to the plan and its success. This way of coaching appears to have been employed in all the different facets of the high performance structure at the Brumbies and it has brought about great success, both in Super 15 which directly increased the amount of Brumbies who now line up to play for the Wallabies.

Ricky Stuart needs to take a page from his cross code rival and be more authoritarian with his group. Lay down the law and his expectations to his players and staff and not put up with those who will be a detriment to the team, a path which lead to his predecessor Furner’s axing from the job. Hard work, strong work ethic and the hunger to prove they are better than what they were branded launched the Brumbies into the upper echelons of Super Rugby over the past two seasons, proving that turn arounds can come quickly.

Ricky needs to reach out to Jake White and learn a few tricks from a man who is arguably one of the best in the business, and develop a similar high performance structure to the one employed at the Brumbies. Once that is put into place he needs to make sure that the players the club is spending precious resources on want to be there and be a part of a team, no more rock stars or media whoring show ponies. Instill an attitude of playing for the love of it and for the man beside you, the success rate will improve with this change in culture.