Canberra Raiders' second-half dos and don'ts

Leading Australian sports psychologist Jeff Bond said second-half fade-outs could be complex, but they were fixable and he backed Raiders coach Ricky Stuart to do exactly that.

The Raiders have struggled after half-time this season - especially during their run of five straight losses - and they've only won two second halves all season.

Bond said there were normally three reasons for struggling after the break: the half-time routine wasn't working, it was a psychological issue or the players were training too hard.

Stuart's adamant it's not the latter and the fact the Green Machine were still creating chances at the end of games would suggest energy levels were still there.

Bond said it was hard to know exactly what the problem was given he wasn't part of the inner sanctum, but he said it was important all the players and coaches bought into coming up with a solution and then stuck to it.

"It happens when teams start losing regularly and they start expecting it to happen, but they desperately don't want it to happen," he said.

"In their mind they're saying don't slack off after half-time, don't lose intensity, don't lose momentum and as you know if you've got little kids - the more you say don't the more likely it is to actually happen.

"If you give yourselves don'ts you increase the probability of what you don't want to happen to actually happen.

"Other teams start to learn that too. They think it doesn't matter if the Raiders have got their nose in front at half-time, we'll run over them in the second half. And they expect to run over them and they do.

"So they're giving themselves all the 'do' statements whereas the Raiders are probably giving themselves all the 'don't' statements ... it's a self-fulfilling prophecy to some extent sometimes."

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He said it was also possible they were relaxing ever-so-slightly, with their subconscious confident they had the game won.

Bond said they needed to execute the fundamentals and stick to the KISS principal - Keep It Simple, Stupid.

The Raiders have struggled to hold onto the ball in second halves, with their completion rate plummeting from 78 per cent in the opening 40 minutes to 61 per cent after the break during their run of losses.

Similarly missed tackles have climbed as their opponents have had more of the ball - going up from 11.6 on average in the first half to 17.4 in the second.

"Collectively they've all got to own whatever solutions they try and it might be that the first solution they try doesn't work, but you've got to keep at it," Bond said.

"The players have got to get back to basics in terms of what they do executing their plays. That's what they've got to do.

"I'd be really positive they can turn this around, but it's going to take a very good collective effort - and the old KISS principal, Keep It Simple.

"Focus on the fundamentals, execute your fundamentals, get a win under your belt and then all of it can be in the past."

NRL ROUND 10

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Canterbury Bulldogs at Lang Park, 3pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Caleb Aekins, 2. Bailey Simonsson, 3. Sebastian Kris, 4. Curtis Scott, 5. Semi Valemei, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. George Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Tom Starling, 10. Emre Guler, 11. Corey Harawira-Naera, 12. Elliott Whitehead (c), 13. Hudson Young. Interchange: 14. Josh Hodgson, 15. Dunamis Lui, 16. Corey Horsburgh, 17. Ryan James. Reserves: 18. Sam Williams, 19. Matt Timoko, 20. Siliva Havili, 21. Harry Rushton.

Bulldogs squad: 1. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Will Hopoate, 4. Nick Meaney, 5. Tuipulotu Katoa, 6. Brandon Wakeham, 7. Jake Averillo, 8. Dylan Napa, 9. Sione Katoa, 10. Luke Thompson, 11. Adam Elliott, 12. Chris Smith, 13. Renouf Atoni. Interchange: 14. Bradley Deitz, 15. Corey Waddell, 16. Ava Seumanufagai, 17. Matt Doorey. Reserves: 19. Kyle Flanagan, 20. Joe Stimson, 21. Aaron Schoupp, 23. Ofahiki Ogden.