It will be an uncomfortable Easter for some Canberra Raiders players.
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Coach Ricky Stuart has lost patience with his struggling side, telling his players they need to have a good, hard look at themselves over the long weekend after a second-half display he said wasn't up to NRL standard.
He's shown faith in his players over the opening six rounds, but that could end as they face one of the toughest road trips in the NRL - reigning premiers Penrith Sunday week.
His bench could be set for a shake-up, along with the Raiders' outside backs.
The Green Machine slumped to their third loss in a row, letting a two-try lead slip to go down 18-12 to the North Queensland Cowboys at Canberra Stadium on Thursday night.
Once again their inability to play 80 minutes was highlighted after putting in a much-improved shift in the opening half to get up 12-0 - only to concede three second-half tries, the first of which was just six minutes after half-time.
They probably should've been further ahead at the break, given their dominance, with errors and penalties in the second half not only allowing the Cowboys to get back into the game but preventing themselves from mounting a comeback of their own.
It left Stuart furious and vowing to take action next week when they return after three days off for Easter.
"I'm sick of defending playing 40-50 minutes of football," he said.
"The way we started that second half was pathetic and there's some individuals who didn't start the way they needed to to get us back on the front foot.
"I'll do all that when we get back to work. It's not on. I'm sick of it."
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Stuart has several options to call on, with the bench the most obvious place to look for improvement - given he labelled the efforts at the start of the second half "pathetic".
Emre Guler played just 21 minutes, while Adam Elliott was only given the final 17 - both could be given more time in NSW Cup to find some rhythm.
Guler's averaging just 56 run metres - down from 96m last year - while Elliott's averaging 55m.
Young Englishman Harry Rushton's averaging 113m in the NSW Cup, including a last-start 80-minute performance of 144m, one try and one try assist.
Hudson Young's been struggling with a toe injury for the past few weeks, but he's another who could be brought straight back into the side - either in the second row or as an option in the middle.
Stuart also has Peter Hola and Trey Mooney.
Raiders co-captain Jarrod Croker has been quietly building with three games in the NSW Cup after overcoming knee and back issues.
He would bring 291 NRL games of experience as one of the most reliable centres in the club's history, not to mention his leadership.
While Semi Valemei has shown some lime green shoots in recent weeks, his shift to the centres hasn't been a complete success.
Croker's return could see Matt Timoko shift to the right edge or Stuart could opt to retain Valemei.
Sebastian Kris was another option for the centres after he's finally finished his second stint of close-contact isolation.
Raiders wingers Jordan Rapana and Nic Cotric have just two tries between them this season, but given Canberra's poor completion rate of just 69 per cent that could simply be a product of the pair having nothing to finish off.
Young hooker Adrian Trevilyan's still not back from his hamstring injury so would seem an unlikely inclusion for Penrith.
"There's individuals there that have got to have a good look at themselves because it was not NRL standard," Stuart said.
"It was nowhere near the standards we want to set as a football team.
"We showed what we can do in the first 40 and we were let down by our performance in the second half.
"Blokes have got to have a good hard look at it."
Stuart was especially frustrated by the fact it happened during co-captain Elliott Whitehead's 150th NRL game.
The Raiders have made a point of honouring milestone games in the past.
Whitehead has emerged as a leader in Canberra after joining the club in 2016.
While he's only spent seven seasons in the NRL, he's got 327 games of first-grade games of experience having played for Catalans and Bradford in the English Super League before moving Down Under.
"One hundred per cent. We spoke about that before the game. That embarrasses me," Stuart said.
NRL ROUND SEVEN
April 24: Canberra Raiders v Penrith Panthers at Penrith, 4.05pm.
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