Ricky Stuart has been fiercely loyal in almost 20 years of coaching, so he's putting faith in an unchanged side to help him celebrate an NRL milestone this weekend
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Stuart has named the same 17-man squad for the Canberra Raiders' clash with the Wests Tigers on Saturday night, choosing to give the players a shot at redemption in what will be his 400th NRL game.
Only one change has been made to the extended bench with forward Ryan Sutton named at No.20, for what could potentially be his first game of the season.
The English forward replaces Kai O'Donnell after an extended stint on the sidelines with a calf injury. He hasn't played since last year's final round loss to the New Zealand Warriors.
The Raiders will be looking to bounce back from Sunday's disappointing 34-18 loss to Newcastle, which Stuart dubbed as the Green Machine's worst defensive display in two years.
Former Australian representative Brett Kimmorley backed Stuart's post-game comments and expects the Raiders to come out firing on their return to Campbelltown Stadium.
"They were off. Ricky Stuart probably had the rights to give his team a blast and say, 'hang on, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We've had a couple of good wins and people are talking about us, but you got caught off by the Knights'," Kimmorley told NRL.com.
"I thought on the edge defensively they were poor. Whether Rapana comes back to start this week, I'm not sure. They were a bit off... I expect Ricky to have them back up this week."
MORE RAIDERS NEWS
Raiders co-captain Jarrod Croker will go face-to-face with Joey Leilua for the first time since his pre-season move to Wests, with the pair both named at No.3 for their respective sides.
Michael Maguire has made five changes in response to the Tigers' last-minute loss to the Titans, with veteran Benji Marshall, Robert Jennings, Luke Garner, Oliver Clark and Billy Walters ommitted from the 17.
Josh Reynolds has been recalled to partner Wests star Luke Brooks in the halves, while Zane Musgrove starts at prop and Chris Lawrence in the second-row.
NRL ROUND FIVE
Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Wests Tigers at Campbelltown Stadium, 7.35pm. Live on Fox League.
Raiders team: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 2. Bailey Simonsson 3. Jarrod Croker (C) 4. Curtis Scott 5. Nick Cotric 6. Jack Wighton 7. George Williams 8. Josh Papalii 9. Josh Hodgson (C) 10. Dunamis Lui 11. Joe Tapine 12. Elliott Whitehead 13. Corey Horsburgh 14. Siliva Havili 15. Emre Guler 16. Sia Soliola 17. Jordan Rapana 18. Tom Starling 19. Matt Frawley 20. Ryan Sutton 21. Michael Oldfield
Wests Tigers team: 1. Adam Doueihi 2. David Nofoaluma 3. Joey Leilua 4. Moses Mbye 5. Tommy Talau 6. Josh Reynolds 7. Luke Brooks 8. Josh Aloiai 9. Harry Grant 10. Zane Musgrove 11. Luciano Leilua 12. Chris Lawrence 13. Alex Twal 14. Thomas Mikaele 15. Russell Packer 16. Michael Chee-Kam 17. Alex Seyfarth 18. Benji Marshall 19. Luke Garner 20. Billy Walters 21. Corey Thompson