“Hardest week I’ve had”: Ricky’s reaction to Jed’s debut

Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said that this week has been the hardest of his coaching life.

It was a momentous week for the Stuart household as Ricky’s son Jed would make his NRL debut on Friday night in the Raiders 16-12 win against the Wests Tigers.

This would mean that Jed and Ricky would become the fourth father-son duo to have both played for the Raiders.

Starting on the wing, Jed would have an immediate impact within the opening minutes of the match.

His first involvement in the game would be saving a 40/20 within the first seven minutes of the game as he was able to keep the ball in play.

After that important save, Stuart would make his presence felt on the left-hand side as he scored a try in the corner with the help of a Sebastian Kris flick pass to set him up.

While it was a close finish with the Tigers managing to reduce the Raiders’ halftime margin of 16 to just four points with half an hour to go, Canberra would hold on to victory.

Ricky would embrace his son on the field in one of the many feel-good moments that the Raiders have had on their incredible season.

Speaking post-game, Stuart said that this week had been the hardest of his 23-year coaching career.

“This week has been the hardest week I’ve had since I’ve coached,” Stuart acknowledged post-game.

“From a father’s point of view, I don’t want him to come out and be man of the match; I want him to hold his own, that’s all I wanted. And he did that.”

Stuart also emphasised the importance of having the players' support in the decision to include him in the squad.

“The senior players are a massive support to me,” Stuart said.

“When I talked to the Club 82 boys led by Joe (Tapine), they wanted nothing else but to put Jed in there and that gave me confidence to select him.

“There’s no way I would have thrown Jed in there if I didn’t have the support of my players.

“Personally, I knew he was ready. But I still needed to make sure that I had confidence from the boys.”