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Sydney Morning Herald
31-05-2025
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
Ricky Stuart was a great player. He might be remembered as an even better coach
The gist of it was querying whether Canberra had overspent by signing a young forward from Newcastle who had made just one starting appearance in the NRL. My argument was that recruiting unproven rookies on big dollars was risky business, and to reinforce the point I referred to a couple of players Stuart had signed at Cronulla, who for whatever reason had not measured up. I wasn't intending to belittle Stuart, but on reflection I understood why he interpreted it that way. He felt I was having a crack at him, and perhaps more pertinently at the young player they had signed – a kid by the name of Joseph Tapine. Suffice to say, nine years down the track, I got that one wrong. Whatever Tapine has cost the Raiders, he has repaid them tenfold. The champion forward has proven to be one of their best signings. I decided the only option was to man up and admit my mistake. I could have texted or emailed Stuart, but I figured the offence I had caused him was in a public forum, so the only fair outcome was to do something I'd never done before – I wrote a column to apologise. He texted a few days later. All was forgiven, and we laugh about it now. I recount the anecdote to give you an insight into the Ricky Stuart I've come to know. He's a man of principle, and he doesn't tolerate fools. He's fiercely loyal, and he expects the same in return. He wears his heart on his sleeve, especially after a loss. And he has a remarkable eye for a footballer, which largely explains why the Raiders are second on the NRL ladder at the halfway point in their season. A quick scan of Canberra's roster reveals the most experienced player they have recruited has been Jamal Fogarty, who had played 39 top-grade games before he was willingly released by Gold Coast, despite having two years to run on his contract. The rest would appear, on paper at least, an eclectic crew of rookies, discards, Pommies and Kiwis, mixed in with local talent. Yet somehow Stuart has this unfashionable Green Machine humming like a Rolls Royce. It's not that the Raiders don't court established stars. But if a recruitment target thinks the national capital is too cold and boring, then they can go and play somewhere else. Canberra would rather invest in youngsters they can develop. As Raiders CEO Don Furner put it: 'The only big name we've ever signed is Mal Meninga [in 1986]. 'You go through all our history, nobody knew who Gary Belcher was, or Gary Coyne, or the Walters brothers when we signed them. Nobody knew who Ruben Wiki was when we signed him from New Zealand.' The same can be said of their latter-day counterparts, such as Kaeo Weekes, Ethan Strange, Matt Timoko, Savelio Tamale, Xavier Savage, Tom Starling, Matty Nicholson … indeed almost every player in their squad. Furner said Canberra rely on a 'Moneyball' approach, a good scouting network, and Stuart's ability to take a rough diamond and turn him into a polished gem. The result is a tough, unified, unrelenting and rapidly improving team, built and rebuilt in Stuart's own image. And that brings me, in roundabout fashion, to a question I've been pondering all season: is it now time to acknowledge that Stuart has become a better coach than he was a player? One of rugby league's most widely accepted adages is that great players don't necessarily make great coaches. The likes of Wally Lewis, Mal Meninga, Brad Fittler, Terry Lamb and Wayne Pearce all struggled with the week-to-week grind of running a club. The late Bob Fulton was a notable exception, winning premierships as a player and coach. There's no doubt Stuart was one of the champion halfbacks of his era. He played in four grand finals with the Raiders, winning three. He steered NSW to four State of Origin series triumphs and, despite the presence of Allan Langer, he wore the green and gold in nine Tests. He would have undoubtedly played more rep football, if not for the Super League war that fractured the game. At the peak of his powers, between 1989 and 1994, there was no more dominant force. As former Newtown, Canterbury, Balmain, Western Suburbs and Newcastle coach Warren Ryan put it: 'Ricky commanded the whole footy field, with those long spirals [passes] … he put something on everyone, from fullback to front row. If there was an opportunity beckoning a mile away, Ricky would spot it and, bang, he'd put the ball there.' Ryan changed the game with his feared up-and-in 'umbrella' defensive system. Stuart's skill allowed Canberra to overcome it and beat Balmain in the 1989 grand final. After a second knee reconstruction in 2000 forced his retirement as a player, within two years Stuart was a head coach in the NRL, handed the reins of Sydney Roosters at the age of 35. He struck premiership gold in his debut season, and could easily have guided the Roosters to a hat-trick of titles. They suffered grand final heartache in 2003 and 2004, losing narrowly to Penrith and Canterbury respectively, but during those seasons Stuart's team won 59 of the 82 games they contested. At the time, they were as formidable as Penrith and Melbourne have been in recent years. In quick succession, Stuart was coaching NSW and then Australia. He left the Roosters after five seasons and joined Cronulla for a four-year stint, guiding them to a preliminary final in 2008. Then followed a season at Parramatta, who were wooden-spooners when he arrived and wooden-spooners when he left a year later. That unhappy tenure was cut short so that Stuart could return home to Canberra, where he has spent the past 12 seasons, in the process becoming only the fifth coach in rugby league history to pass the 500-game milestone. He's the perfect fit, but it hasn't been an easy gig. Stuart has never coached a Canberra team as strong as the one he played in. Nor do the Raiders have the financial clout he once enjoyed at the Roosters. Yet he took his home-town team agonisingly close to premiership glory in 2019, and this season is shaping as his best opportunity to go all the way. The 58-year-old has zero interest in personal accolades. For starters, he knows that every week in the NRL is fraught with danger, and he doesn't want to tempt fate. And he insists that any success the Raiders enjoy is because of collective effort, not just from his players, but also the staff. 'We can't be getting ahead of ourselves, because there's still a long way to go,' Stuart said. 'If you lose two or three games in a row, the narrative changes and nobody is interested in you. So that's why I think it's important to stay very humble.' But he is clearly proud of what his team have delivered this season, declaring after last week's gutsy win in Auckland: 'I've got a tough team there, mate. Never once I doubted their toughness or resilience. I know what's deep under the jumper.' The people who know Stuart well, such as his original coach Tim Sheens, are more inclined to give credit where it's due. 'He's as good a coach as anyone that's coaching at the moment, that's for sure,' Sheens said. 'He was obviously a very intelligent player, and you often see that those guys who play in the spine move into coaching. They understand the game, because they run it. And Ricky was certainly one of those players. 'He would call the plays, play by play almost. If the boys got off track, he'd be into them on the field. He was basically coaching as a player.' Ryan, who still calls Stuart from time to time to talk footy, said: 'I can't imagine anybody other than Ricky doing that job. 'He is Canberra. He's the heart and soul of the whole thing. How could anybody else possibly coach them? He embodies what Canberra is all about. And the players and people in the national capital who follow league obviously recognise that.' Loading As for whether Stuart was a better player or coach, Ryan says he has proven himself in both roles. 'He's a terrific coach, and he was a terrific player,' Ryan said. 'How you compare the two, I don't know. When you're a player, you're the beneficiary, or the victim, of your own performance. But when you're a coach, you've got to factor in that you're the beneficiary or the victim of a lot of other people's performances, as well. Different beasts altogether. Different beasts.' On that point, Stuart agrees. 'I never lose sight of the fact that the success a coach has hinges on the talent of the players he coaches,' he said. During my time in Canberra, I once visited Stuart's former home in stately Red Hill, in among the embassies and mansions, literally next door to his teammate Bradley Clyde. The treasure trove of mementoes in his snooker room were a reminder of what a player he was: framed Test, Origin and grand final jerseys, as well as the Dally M, Rothmans and Clive Churchill medals. One of the few honours that has eluded him, during a rugby league career spanning close to four decades, is the Dally M coach-of-the-year award. At this point in proceedings, he appears at short odds to rectify that anomaly later this year. Not that he has given it a second thought. He's looking no further down the track than Sunday's clash at Allianz Stadium against the Roosters, the club he piloted to a premiership while still on his L-plates. 'That stuff really doesn't interest me,' he said. 'That's not why I coach. If you want longevity, and to have some success in the game, you can't coach for you. It's about what's best for the club, for each individual and for the team.' It would take a braver man than me to query that logic.
The Age
31-05-2025
- Sport
- The Age
Ricky Stuart was a great player. He might be remembered as an even better coach
The gist of it was querying whether Canberra had overspent by signing a young forward from Newcastle who had made just one starting appearance in the NRL. My argument was that recruiting unproven rookies on big dollars was risky business, and to reinforce the point I referred to a couple of players Stuart had signed at Cronulla, who for whatever reason had not measured up. I wasn't intending to belittle Stuart, but on reflection I understood why he interpreted it that way. He felt I was having a crack at him, and perhaps more pertinently at the young player they had signed – a kid by the name of Joseph Tapine. Suffice to say, nine years down the track, I got that one wrong. Whatever Tapine has cost the Raiders, he has repaid them tenfold. The champion forward has proven to be one of their best signings. I decided the only option was to man up and admit my mistake. I could have texted or emailed Stuart, but I figured the offence I had caused him was in a public forum, so the only fair outcome was to do something I'd never done before – I wrote a column to apologise. He texted a few days later. All was forgiven, and we laugh about it now. I recount the anecdote to give you an insight into the Ricky Stuart I've come to know. He's a man of principle, and he doesn't tolerate fools. He's fiercely loyal, and he expects the same in return. He wears his heart on his sleeve, especially after a loss. And he has a remarkable eye for a footballer, which largely explains why the Raiders are second on the NRL ladder at the halfway point in their season. A quick scan of Canberra's roster reveals the most experienced player they have recruited has been Jamal Fogarty, who had played 39 top-grade games before he was willingly released by Gold Coast, despite having two years to run on his contract. The rest would appear, on paper at least, an eclectic crew of rookies, discards, Pommies and Kiwis, mixed in with local talent. Yet somehow Stuart has this unfashionable Green Machine humming like a Rolls Royce. It's not that the Raiders don't court established stars. But if a recruitment target thinks the national capital is too cold and boring, then they can go and play somewhere else. Canberra would rather invest in youngsters they can develop. As Raiders CEO Don Furner put it: 'The only big name we've ever signed is Mal Meninga [in 1986]. 'You go through all our history, nobody knew who Gary Belcher was, or Gary Coyne, or the Walters brothers when we signed them. Nobody knew who Ruben Wiki was when we signed him from New Zealand.' The same can be said of their latter-day counterparts, such as Kaeo Weekes, Ethan Strange, Matt Timoko, Savelio Tamale, Xavier Savage, Tom Starling, Matty Nicholson … indeed almost every player in their squad. Furner said Canberra rely on a 'Moneyball' approach, a good scouting network, and Stuart's ability to take a rough diamond and turn him into a polished gem. The result is a tough, unified, unrelenting and rapidly improving team, built and rebuilt in Stuart's own image. And that brings me, in roundabout fashion, to a question I've been pondering all season: is it now time to acknowledge that Stuart has become a better coach than he was a player? One of rugby league's most widely accepted adages is that great players don't necessarily make great coaches. The likes of Wally Lewis, Mal Meninga, Brad Fittler, Terry Lamb and Wayne Pearce all struggled with the week-to-week grind of running a club. The late Bob Fulton was a notable exception, winning premierships as a player and coach. There's no doubt Stuart was one of the champion halfbacks of his era. He played in four grand finals with the Raiders, winning three. He steered NSW to four State of Origin series triumphs and, despite the presence of Allan Langer, he wore the green and gold in nine Tests. He would have undoubtedly played more rep football, if not for the Super League war that fractured the game. At the peak of his powers, between 1989 and 1994, there was no more dominant force. As former Newtown, Canterbury, Balmain, Western Suburbs and Newcastle coach Warren Ryan put it: 'Ricky commanded the whole footy field, with those long spirals [passes] … he put something on everyone, from fullback to front row. If there was an opportunity beckoning a mile away, Ricky would spot it and, bang, he'd put the ball there.' Ryan changed the game with his feared up-and-in 'umbrella' defensive system. Stuart's skill allowed Canberra to overcome it and beat Balmain in the 1989 grand final. After a second knee reconstruction in 2000 forced his retirement as a player, within two years Stuart was a head coach in the NRL, handed the reins of Sydney Roosters at the age of 35. He struck premiership gold in his debut season, and could easily have guided the Roosters to a hat-trick of titles. They suffered grand final heartache in 2003 and 2004, losing narrowly to Penrith and Canterbury respectively, but during those seasons Stuart's team won 59 of the 82 games they contested. At the time, they were as formidable as Penrith and Melbourne have been in recent years. In quick succession, Stuart was coaching NSW and then Australia. He left the Roosters after five seasons and joined Cronulla for a four-year stint, guiding them to a preliminary final in 2008. Then followed a season at Parramatta, who were wooden-spooners when he arrived and wooden-spooners when he left a year later. That unhappy tenure was cut short so that Stuart could return home to Canberra, where he has spent the past 12 seasons, in the process becoming only the fifth coach in rugby league history to pass the 500-game milestone. He's the perfect fit, but it hasn't been an easy gig. Stuart has never coached a Canberra team as strong as the one he played in. Nor do the Raiders have the financial clout he once enjoyed at the Roosters. Yet he took his home-town team agonisingly close to premiership glory in 2019, and this season is shaping as his best opportunity to go all the way. The 58-year-old has zero interest in personal accolades. For starters, he knows that every week in the NRL is fraught with danger, and he doesn't want to tempt fate. And he insists that any success the Raiders enjoy is because of collective effort, not just from his players, but also the staff. 'We can't be getting ahead of ourselves, because there's still a long way to go,' Stuart said. 'If you lose two or three games in a row, the narrative changes and nobody is interested in you. So that's why I think it's important to stay very humble.' But he is clearly proud of what his team have delivered this season, declaring after last week's gutsy win in Auckland: 'I've got a tough team there, mate. Never once I doubted their toughness or resilience. I know what's deep under the jumper.' The people who know Stuart well, such as his original coach Tim Sheens, are more inclined to give credit where it's due. 'He's as good a coach as anyone that's coaching at the moment, that's for sure,' Sheens said. 'He was obviously a very intelligent player, and you often see that those guys who play in the spine move into coaching. They understand the game, because they run it. And Ricky was certainly one of those players. 'He would call the plays, play by play almost. If the boys got off track, he'd be into them on the field. He was basically coaching as a player.' Ryan, who still calls Stuart from time to time to talk footy, said: 'I can't imagine anybody other than Ricky doing that job. 'He is Canberra. He's the heart and soul of the whole thing. How could anybody else possibly coach them? He embodies what Canberra is all about. And the players and people in the national capital who follow league obviously recognise that.' Loading As for whether Stuart was a better player or coach, Ryan says he has proven himself in both roles. 'He's a terrific coach, and he was a terrific player,' Ryan said. 'How you compare the two, I don't know. When you're a player, you're the beneficiary, or the victim, of your own performance. But when you're a coach, you've got to factor in that you're the beneficiary or the victim of a lot of other people's performances, as well. Different beasts altogether. Different beasts.' On that point, Stuart agrees. 'I never lose sight of the fact that the success a coach has hinges on the talent of the players he coaches,' he said. During my time in Canberra, I once visited Stuart's former home in stately Red Hill, in among the embassies and mansions, literally next door to his teammate Bradley Clyde. The treasure trove of mementoes in his snooker room were a reminder of what a player he was: framed Test, Origin and grand final jerseys, as well as the Dally M, Rothmans and Clive Churchill medals. One of the few honours that has eluded him, during a rugby league career spanning close to four decades, is the Dally M coach-of-the-year award. At this point in proceedings, he appears at short odds to rectify that anomaly later this year. Not that he has given it a second thought. He's looking no further down the track than Sunday's clash at Allianz Stadium against the Roosters, the club he piloted to a premiership while still on his L-plates. 'That stuff really doesn't interest me,' he said. 'That's not why I coach. If you want longevity, and to have some success in the game, you can't coach for you. It's about what's best for the club, for each individual and for the team.' It would take a braver man than me to query that logic.
1News
06-05-2025
- Sport
- 1News
NRL: Sharks centre Iro wants to be known by new name
The Cronulla player formerly known as Kayal Iro has explained his decision to change his first name midway through the NRL season. Iro made a tryscoring return from a hamstring injury in the Sharks' Magic Round win over Parramatta last Friday sporting a new name on Cronulla's team list. The 25-year-old has now requested he be referred to as 'KL Iro'. The centre is named after his father Kevin Leslie Iro, who enjoyed a decorated career in England and represented New Zealand with distinction. The left centre's official documents will still read "Kayal", but the Sharks flyer said he made the switch to 'KL' to avoid any doubt as to how his name should be pronounced. "Mum didn't want it to be a two-letter name when I was a kid," Iro said. "She's the one that changed it to 'Kayal', I think it was just foreign back then to have a two-letter name. "But my dad always wanted it to be 'KL' and I like it that way too because it's easier to pronounce and there's no confusion. "When I first moved to Australia, my dad wanted me to change it, but I've always been a shy guy. I was too scared to step on anyone's toes. "I guess I've built a bit of a relationship with these fellas now, so I asked the question and got it done pretty quick." Iro said the same applied to his surname, which was often mispronounced by commentators when his father and uncle Tony were playing. "Even my dad and uncle when they were playing, the Pommies would pronounce it 'aye-ro', rather than 'ear-ro'," Iro added. "He didn't care, he loved it but it's pretty cool to hear a commentator saying our family name." Iro was born in England while his father was playing for Leeds but spent most of his childhood growing up in the Cook Islands. While he hinted he would be open to facing the Kangaroos in the end-of-season Ashes series, he has other ambitions on his horizon. "I wouldn't say no but my first thing is getting the Cook Islands qualified for the World Cup next year," he said. "After my career, I want to move back there, relax, and live off the land." Iro and the sixth-placed Sharks (5-4) will face one of the most daunting challenges of their season to date when they travel to take on Manly (4-4) at Brookvale Oval on Sunday. "They've got a strong right edge and also [Tom] Trbojevic at the back," Iro said. "[Trboejvic] is a strike weapon in attack and things happen around him we've got to be aware of him."
West Australian
06-05-2025
- Sport
- West Australian
‘I was too scared to step on anyone's toes': KL Iro explains why he decided to change his name
Sharks star KL Iro has opened up on last week's decision to change his first name from Kayal, with the strike centre hoping it clears up any confusion about how to pronounce his name. Fans would have noticed last Tuesday that his name had changed on the Cronulla team sheet, with the 25-year-old wanting to recognise his father's initials, with Kevin Leslie Iro dominating wherever he played. The name change was something KL had always considered, with some commentators struggling to pronounce both his given name and surname. 'It was more for the pronunciation because it's actually how my name's pronounced,' the Cook Islands representative said. 'When I was a kid my dad used to always write anything that was mine 'KL'. 'I think he was just stubborn because my mum wouldn't want it to be a two-letter name when I was a kid. 'She's the one that changed it to Kayal. I think it was just foreign back then to have a two-letter name. But my dad always wanted it to be 'KL' and I like it that way too because it's easier to pronounce and there's no confusion. 'When I first moved to Australia, my dad always wanted me to change it, but I've always been a shy guy. I was too scared to step on anyone's toes. 'I guess I've built a bit of a relationship with these fellas now, so I asked the question and got it done pretty quickly. 'It's pretty cool for our family actually because even my dad and uncle when they were playing, the Pommies would pronounce it 'aye-ro', rather than 'ear-ro'. He obviously didn't care, he loved it.' Iro is just happy to be back on the field after he missed a month with a hamstring injury that put the brakes on a very promising start to the season. He made a strong return at Magic Round and extended his try-scoring streak to five matches to start the season, with Iro set to come up against Manly's powerful right edge on Sunday. 'I missed it,' he said. 'I felt I was ready to go two weeks ago but they were nervous to get me out there too quickly and possibly do it again. I'm happy to be back because I missed it.'
Perth Now
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Perth Now
Sharks star clarifies Magic Round mystery
Sharks star KL Iro has opened up on last week's decision to change his first name from Kayal, with the strike centre hoping it clears up any confusion about how to pronounce his name. Fans would have noticed last Tuesday that his name had changed on the Cronulla team sheet, with the 25-year-old wanting to recognise his father's initials, with Kevin Leslie Iro dominating wherever he played. The name change was something KL had always considered, with some commentators struggling to pronounce both his given name and surname. KL Iro received his first jersey from his father. NRL Images. Credit: The Daily Telegraph 'It was more for the pronunciation because it's actually how my name's pronounced,' the Cook Islands representative said. 'When I was a kid my dad used to always write anything that was mine 'KL'. 'I think he was just stubborn because my mum wouldn't want it to be a two-letter name when I was a kid. 'She's the one that changed it to Kayal. I think it was just foreign back then to have a two-letter name. But my dad always wanted it to be 'KL' and I like it that way too because it's easier to pronounce and there's no confusion. 'When I first moved to Australia, my dad always wanted me to change it, but I've always been a shy guy. I was too scared to step on anyone's toes. 'I guess I've built a bit of a relationship with these fellas now, so I asked the question and got it done pretty quickly. 'It's pretty cool for our family actually because even my dad and uncle when they were playing, the Pommies would pronounce it 'aye-ro', rather than 'ear-ro'. He obviously didn't care, he loved it.' Iro is just happy to be back on the field after he missed a month with a hamstring injury that put the brakes on a very promising start to the season. He made a strong return at Magic Round and extended his try-scoring streak to five matches to start the season, with Iro set to come up against Manly's powerful right edge on Sunday. 'I missed it,' he said. 'I felt I was ready to go two weeks ago but they were nervous to get me out there too quickly and possibly do it again. I'm happy to be back because I missed it.'
