Torrid reports of a fractured playing group amid accusations of bad-blood behind closed doors have dogged the Raiders' campaign, with only three wins from the past 12 weeks of footy to show. <\/p>\n
But fronting media after the statement victory, Stuart took a blowtorch to his Raiders' detractors, dispelling any lingering conjecture around the club's situation.<\/p>\n
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"You hear a lot of comment about our situation at the moment, that we're fractured as a group, we've got issues in the camp… we haven't," Stuart said.\n<\/p>\n
"When you're in a very volatile, competitive industry, there is always going to be headbutts. I've never coached a football team or been coached as a player at a football team where there hasn't been a few headbutts throughout the year.\n<\/p>\n
\n"But we're all men and we get on with it. It is a lot different inside our club than what the comment is outside.\n<\/p>\n
\n"I know we've been accused of players not putting in, lack of effort. That couldn't be any further from the truth.\n<\/p>\n
\n"You look at last week's game and we were really embarrassed. There was effort there but we were poor, we played poor, we defended very poorly, and we didn't have any attack. But it wasn't through lack of effort, it was through not enough players playing their best football on the same day.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stuart conceded he had experienced some tough face-to-faces this season with key players, but explained they were all with the intention of getting the best out of his men. <\/p>\n
"There has been some headutts with a couple of players this year with myself, but that's me trying to create an edge, that's me trying to get that player to play his best football," he said.<\/p>\n
\n"That's not me personally attacking a player.\n<\/p>\n
\n"The one thing I try so hard to do is to build a relationship with my player. That's what I think I'm good at, and I won't change that.\n<\/p>\n
\n"Some days you might have a headbutt with your best mate, but you've got to be big enough to move on. You sit down, discuss it, and move forward it.\n<\/p>\n
\n"It's a tough sport. It's a tough job playing and coaching in the NRL. You've got to be able handle self-analysis, you've got to be able to handle criticism as a coach and as a player, and you move forward as a group."<\/p>\n
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