Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has demanded his team "man up and take accountability" and avoid another insipid display for a third straight game in front of club legends against Wests Tigers on Saturday.
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About 60 former players, including triple premiership captain Mal Meninga and Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy, will be at Canberra Stadium for the reunion.
He has fired off some home truths to certain players this week and kept them on their toes by naming a seven-man bench on Tuesday including Jarrad Kennedy, Mitch Barnett and uncapped rookie Clay Priest.
"I need individuals to man up, and I need individuals to take accountability and responsibility - we all do for our performances," Stuart said.
"I was very embarrassed about our last two games and the last thing I want on our reunion is our past players coming out and seeing another performance like that.
"It's not about our training, our training and preparation is always of high quality. Sometimes it's just a human thing, some [sessions] may be down on others but it's doesn't give any excuse for a poor performance come game day, especially at home.
"We've got to toughen up."
Raiders hooker Josh Hodgson echoed his coach's words, and backed his embattled team to dig itself out of the rut.
Hodgson said the losses had been hard to take, but his young side would be better for having experienced the devastating lows during the past fortnight.
"Tough times make tough teams, if it was all smiles all the time you'd be a pretty weak man once you arrived at a tough time," he said.
Hodgson demonstrated his toughness when he played through a burst blood vessel in his right thumb in last weekend's loss to the Cronulla Sharks.
The Dally M Medal leader prides himself on being a leader at the club. He said it was important to remind the youngsters at the Raiders they were playing NRL for a reason.
"We've got a lot of young kids in this team and when you've got young kids their head can drop and they start doubting themselves and what they can do.
"But I think it's important that the coaches and the senior blokes step up and make everybody know that just because we've lost two games we're not a crap team.
"You're still fantastic players and we'll turn this around."
The Raiders were dominated in the middle by the Eels and Sharks and their defensive line has been in disarray as a result.
"Individuals know they have to be better, we as a group know where we have to be better, we've worked hard and spoken thoroughly about it," Stuart said.
"We need it Saturday, we can't be waiting a week or two."
Hodgson suspected the Tigers would fancy their chances of returning to Sydney with a win after their extra-time defeat against Melbourne last Sunday.
"They've lost a few, and will probably think they were unlucky to have lost against Melbourne too," Hodgson said.
"So they'll probably come here high on confidence thinking they are going to come here and get a win based on our performances as well."
SATURDAY
Canberra Raiders v Wests Tigers at Canberra Stadium, 5.30pm. TV: Live on Fox Sports. Tickets available at the gate or online at ticketek.com.au.
