Ricky Stuart's reign approaches a decade in charge of the Canberra Raiders

Not only that, Stuart's helped re-connect the Green Machine with the ACT community and the Raiders' storied past.

Stuart's going into his 10^th season in charge, since taking over ahead of the 2014 season - returning to the club he starred at as a player and helped to its only three premierships.

He's one of the greatest halfbacks of all-time and the Raiders team he was part of during the late 1980s and early 90s was one of the greatest as well - winning back-to-back grand finals in 1989-90, before backing it up with another in 1994.

Stuart, Mal Meninga, Glenn Lazarus, Laurie Daley, Steve Walters, Gary Belcher, Brett Mullins. It's a who's who of rugby league.

But it's been lean pickings ever since for the Green Machine with the club yet to taste the ultimate success again.

There's been tough times along the way, with the club slipping to second last on the ladder as Stuart embarked on his rebuild.

Both 2017 and '18 were let downs after the highs of the previous year, when they razzle dazzled their way to the preliminary final.

Not to mention controversies, with his "weak-gutted dog" comment directed at Penrith half Jaeman Salmon creating such big headlines not only did Stuart become the first NRL coach suspended for what he said in a press conference - but it's also become part of the Australian vernacular, with punters coining the phrase in pubs around the country.

A look back at Stuart's time in charge, however, showed the club's the closest it's ever been to getting back to those glory days.

Since Tim Sheens led the Raiders to that trifecta of triumphs, Mal Meninga, Matthew Elliott, Neil Henry, David Furner and now Stuart have all tried to return the Green Machine to the pinnacle of rugby league.

While Stuart hasn't gotten there yet, he's consistently gotten them closer than they've ever been since his days as a player.

During those nine seasons, the Raiders have made the finals four times and made their first grand final since 1994 - when they went within a controversial six-again call of winning it in 2019.

They've also made another two preliminary finals, with 2016 the first time the Green Machine had made the penultimate weekend of the season since 1995.

Not only that, but 2019-20 was the first time Canberra made back-to-back finals series since 2004.

In terms of winning percentage, Stuart's also in the top four for Raiders coaches - and that's included Wayne Bennett's one season in Canberra as co-coach with Don Furner snr.

From his 222 games in charge, he's won 51.4 per cent of them - with only Sheens (67.6), Bennett (60.7) and Meninga (54.2) boasting better records while leading the men in lime green.

They're also the only four with a winning record.

Raiders chairman Dennis Richardson said Stuart's tenure had been a success.

"Oh yes. He took over the team in 2014," he said.

"There was always going to be a rebuild - '14 was looking at what we had, where we were, '15 was build.

"He was very shrewd in who he brought out from the UK, such as Josh Hodgson and Elliott Whitehead etcetera.

"Twenty-sixteen of course we got into the preliminary final, '17 and '18 we finished 10th and then '19 made the run to the grand final.

"Twenty a preliminary final, '21 was a forgettable year and last year - after a slow start - I thought the performance overall last year was very, very good."

Stuart's always said to be successful you need representative players.

Josh Papali'i was basically the only one he had when he took over the Raiders.

He tried to land a big name - James Tedesco, Mick Ennis, Kevin Proctor - but they all turned up their nose at Canberra.

So Stuart, along with late recruitment guru Peter Mulholland, looked further afield. A lot further. All the way to Old Blighty in fact.

First came Josh Hodgson in 2015. Then Elliott Whitehead the following year. And John Bateman, George Williams and Ryan Sutton followed suit.

While the departures of Bateman (Wigan) and Williams (Warrington) left something of a bad taste in the mouth of the English experiment, as a whole it's been one of the foundation stones of the Raiders' return to premiership contention.

Both Hodgson and Whitehead have captained the club and were crucial cogs in their charge to the 2019 grand final. As was Bateman.

Williams helped them to the 2020 prelim before homesickness saw him depart.

Unfortunately, the rest of the NRL has now realised they play rugby league in England - making it a harder place to recruit from.

All that being said, clearly Stuart's job remains unfinished.

He's still searching for that elusive premiership for his beloved Green Machine - having won one when he led the Sydney Roosters to glory in 2002.

Stuart's contracted until the end of 2025, giving him at least three more seasons to hunt down the premiership he desperately wants for his players.

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