AFTER winning a premiership at the Roosters, mixed results at the Sharks, series losses with NSW and Australia before things unravelled at Parramatta, coach Ricky Stuart will be desperate to prove that he can lead the Raiders to success.

It is for that reason I believe he will be good for the Raiders. As a player, he was the most competitive I have met; after losses he can be a prickly character to deal with, but he was also one of the most passionate.

As the Raiders went through the process of selecting a replacement for David Furner, I admit I wasn’t sure Stuart was the right fit for the club given his recent coaching record. Initially, I thought Neil Henry or even Warrington coach Tony Smith may have been better options.

But I have changed my mind after talking to Stuart; it’s obvious his desire to prove himself as a coach is burning and that, surely, is a major positive for the club. I also get the sense he wants to repay the faith shown in him by the Raiders, and they obviously have a strong belief in his ability.

If the players buy into his passion for the Raiders, the club is halfway to succeeding. The players need to focus on football and totally commit to playing for the Raiders.

There must be no “get out” clauses in contracts. As the only inland team in the NRL, the Raiders have been forced to pay over the odds for players in a bid to get them to Canberra. We must send a message: we are not that desperate to attract players who don’t want to be here and have no passion for the Raiders.

The club’s history needs to be embedded in the mindset, players should know of the great players of past years, when the club started, how it was founded. Only then will they realise what a privilege it is to play for the Raiders.

I HAD a call this week imploring me not to label the next generation of Canberra sportspeople as “sports stars” coming on to the world stage.

The caller’s concern was that the more we build up sportspeople, the more they believe they are more important than anybody else and this can lead to poor behaviour, a point worth keeping in mind as the next generation makes its mark.

Canberra’s Michael Matthews has just won two stages in a grand tour for the first time in the Tour of Spain against some of the top cyclists in the world. Tom Rojic remains the next big thing in Australian football as he plies his trade in Scotland and Nick Kyrgios has made the Australian Davis Cup team as a teenager.

All three are remarkable sportspeople, all three are humble and well-mannered, which is a tribute to their upbringing; the hope is that they stay that way. The media, as much as anybody else, has a responsibility to keep them grounded.