By NICHOLAS NAKOS
AFTER falling two points short of their first grand final berth in over 20 years, the Canberra Raiders were tipped by many pundits to be featuring deep into the 2017 NRL Finals Series.
The Green Machine boasts a formidable spine, minimal disruption during State of Origin and a coach and favourite son in his third season with the club. It seemed the Raiders were ready to make a tilt at the 2017 premiership and give their loyal fans reason to cheer after a miserable last two decades.
The 2016 iteration of the Canberra Raiders led the NRL in points scored (736), tries scored (125), line breaks (136) and try assists (90).
In 2017, that very same Canberra attack has failed to fire. Across the board, the Raiders attacking style which elevated them to such lofty heights in 2016 is now all but a memory.
The most glaring statistical anomalies include the Raiders scoring only 68 tries through 18 games, at an average of 3.7  per game. In 2016, the Raiders scored 4.6 tries per game and played finals. They won’t be playing finals this season.
Canberra is 12th in the NRL for line breaks, with only the bottom four sides on the competition ladder faring worse.
Line breaks and offloads are the key to attacking rugby league. With Canberra being in the bottom half of the league for offloads over the last two seasons, their game heavily relies on line breaks. Breaking lines hasn’t been the Raiders’ forte in 2017.
Raiders hierarchy seemingly believed they had the ingredients to progress further than last season’s preliminary final. A promising 2016 has not flowed onto an improvement in 2017. A sharp regression has occurred and it may come down to recruiting and potential reached.
The Raiders recruitment – or lack thereof – was intriguing during the off-season. The most prominent example was Paul Vaughan joining St George Illawarra, with the front-rower playing representative level football since his move to Wollongong.
Canberra rested on their laurels coming into season 2017, picking up journeyman Dave Taylor and blooding youngster Nick Cotric on the wing at the expense of Edrick Lee.
Blake Austin and Joseph Leilua are two players who had career best seasons in 2016. How much more could those players truly improve in 2017?
Leilua is running 26 fewer metres per game and making half as many offloads as he was last season.
For Austin, his line break numbers have shrivelled to a paltry 0.2 per game, or one in five games. More disturbing for the five eighth is the fact that his error rate has doubled in 2017.
Ricky Stuart’s outburst after Canberra’s 20-14 loss to the Melbourne Storm on Saturday night was an indication that he and the Raiders are a frustrated football club.
Stuart had the audacity to criticise the game’s refereeing, an easy target for any coach after a loss.
His side has received the third most penalties this season (127), so it’s hard to agree with the Canberra coach on his most recent assertion that his side is frequently getting the ‘rough end of the stick’.
Stuart is a favourite son of the Raiders hierarchy and won’t feel as though his position as head coach is in jeopardy after an underwhelming season.
Canberra’s recruitment over the next 12 months will have an enormous say on Stuart’s future with the Raiders. Their current roster has reached their potential and if fans expect improvement, a roster shake-up is necessary.
