Ricky Stuart is back where it all started.
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On Monday, the new Canberra coach sat in the team dressing room - adorned with posters of past greats, including himself - and reflected on his mission to restore the Green Machine to its former glory.
His appointment, only secured after exercising a get-out clause in his contract with Parramatta after just one season, has divided opinion among Raiders fans and the greater rugby league community.
But on Monday at least, when he met Raiders players at the club's headquarters at Bruce for the first time over a lunch of chicken schnitzels and beef casserole, there was a sense the prodigal son was back where he belonged.
''Being home is exciting,'' Stuart said. ''It's great to be involved in the club that I had so much success at.
''The Canberra Raiders have always been a big part of my grounding and it's nice to return.''
Stuart held a group meeting with the majority of the playing roster, giving a brief outline of his plans to take the club back to the glory days he featured so heavily in.
The champion halfback was a part of those stellar Raiders sides of the late 1980s and early 1990s, collecting premiership medallions in 1989, 1990 and 1994.
However, he has had mixed fortunes as a coach.
From the high of winning the competition with the Sydney Roosters in his debut season in 2002, representative roles with NSW and the Kangaroos to back-to-back wooden spoons in his past two jobs with Cronulla and the Eels. Stuart was frank when asked if he left the Eels in better shape than when he started.
''You've seen a lot of opinion over the last three or four days,'' Stuart said. ''I'm happy to cop the barrage of criticism, because I want to coach this great club and return to Canberra.''