Dejected Canberra Raiders veteran Sia Soliola says the playing group has let Ricky Stuart down as they stare down the barrel of missing the finals for the fifth time in six years.
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Canberra are fighting to save their season but Soliola says the thing that aches more is the prospect of letting down the most passionate Raider he knows.
The Raiders have made the finals just once during Stuart's five-year tenure but Soliola says the playing group has to shoulder the blame for falling short this time after letting countless leads slip earlier in the season.
Now they have little choice but to try to make amends as they prepare for a clash with the Penrith Panthers at Panthers Stadium on Sunday.
Stuart is still the same old passionate Raider and Soliola says the rugby league hall of famer has changed his process of "approaching the group" to better manage his squad having signed on until the end of 2020.
"It’s not just him, [we've let down] the whole community. If you look at the scope of how our season has gone, a lot of things that didn’t really go our way were the things we could have controlled," Soliola said.
"He’s definitely changed, I guess you have to when you’re going to different spaces. For himself, he has been awesome, he’s been great.
"He’s still the same old Ricky, the real passionate thing. We will always see that side of Ricky and that’s always a great thing for us as a playing group.
"He has had to adopt different styles wherever he has gone but he has always kept those same core values in terms of what it means to be a professional rugby league player.
"For myself he has always been a great mentor and I always turn to him for a lot of advice, even being a little bit older now, in terms of management, how to manage the boys a little bit in terms of how they’re feeling."
Soliola assumes he will come into calculations to play in the centres in Canberra's must-win clash against the Panthers - he jokes he is "ready to play anywhere, except in the halves".
Canberra's finals destiny is out of their own hands given they have to win all of their remaining games and hope the eighth-placed New Zealand Warriors win no more than two.
Even then they have to contend with the ninth-placed Wests Tigers, who have to lose at least twice to give Canberra a sniff.
Soliola says the back-end of the season is not a chance for Canberra to build towards next year - rather an opportunity to show what they are capable of with the squad at hand.
But a few wins over top eight sides - none of whom Canberra have beaten this season - may just fuel the fire for a Raiders resurgence in 2019.
"Next year is still a while away, but it is probably a good opportunity to see what we can really do as a playing group in terms of what we can achieve, especially for the guys that are leaving," Soliola said.
"We’re just focusing on Penrith. What we can control is getting a win this week. It’s going to be tough against Penrith and it’s a thing we just have to knuckle down and do what we can.
"We’re always ready for the challenge. After last week it was pretty tough as you could imagine but the boys are always ready to rock and roll.
"It’s who we are as Raiders and that’s our job, we have to get up and do our job."
NRL ROUND 21
Sunday: Penrith Panthers v Canberra Raiders at Panthers Stadium, 4.10pm. TV: Live on Nine and Fox League.
