Raiders coach Ricky Stuart believes his players have broken the back of a shortened but brutal preseason, designed to ready the squad for minor rule adjustments in the 2021 season.
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Stuart engaged the services of NRL referee Phil Henderson earlier this week to oversee an internal scrimmage match at training, under which all of the league's new rules were put to the test.
The most significant changes this season will significantly increase the pace of the game. Ten-metre infringements will now immediately cause the referee to wave six again, while a play the ball and not a scrum will be utilised should the ball or a player go into touch.
Stuart was part of a rules committee formed at the end of last season and tasked with improving the game as a spectacle for fans.
"Strategically we've been looking at a number of ways to play the game with those rules," Stuart said.
"It will take two or three weeks to get used to it from playing the real thing outside scrimmage. They're good changes, I think the game will evolve and be even a better product.
"We're like every other club working very hard but I feel we're working smart too. It's a tough part of the year for all players because this last 10 or 12 weeks, this is the block where we've got to put a lot of work in physically and a lot of miles into their legs.
"I'm really happy with how our players have responded, they've broken its back put it that way. We're just about at the back end of it now."
MORE CANBERRA SPORT
The Raiders play the Sydney Roosters on February 27 at Seiffert Oval in Queanbeyan in their only trial match of this preseason. It's a rematch of last year's semi-final at the Sydney Cricket Ground which the Raiders won, ending the Roosters' 2018 and 2019 title defence.
Canberra's coach hosted a lunch in Canberra on Thursday for the Ricky Stuart Foundation, which has announced it will build a third home in the ACT to assist adults with a disability to live independently.
The Foundation has already built Ricky Stuart House for children, and Emma Ruby House for teenagers with autism and other disabilities, and Stuart paid tribute to the charity's ongoing supporters.
"There's no way in the world we could be looking at or even talking about a third build if it wasn't for those people," Stuart said.
"Their contribution and support of the foundation gives us the opportunity to have these projects built and successfully developed. The generosity and the support of our local community individually and as groups brings Canberra together."
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
