You can tell by the smile: it's on. The trademark Ricky Stuart ambush.
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The relaxed Canberra Raiders coach said they'd already been written off, but the Green Machine still "deserved to dream".
Then he doubled down by saying their elimination final against the Newcastle Knights at a sold-out Newcastle Stadium on Sunday was the easiest semi-final he's ever had to prepare for because there weren't any expectations on his side.
That's saying something given he's enjoyed seven wins from his eight first-round finals clashes during his decorated coaching career.
But they're coming up against a red-hot Knights side that's won their past nine games.
Newcastle have also welcomed back talisman Kalyn Ponga (shoulder) and halfback Jackson Hastings (ankle), with the former having missed just one game while the latter had been out for the past three.
Raiders fullback Jordan Rapana had already said all the pressure was on the Knights and Stuart's backed that up.
![Raiders coach Ricky Stuart says this is the easiest semi-final he's ever prepared for. Picture by Karleen Minney Raiders coach Ricky Stuart says this is the easiest semi-final he's ever prepared for. Picture by Karleen Minney](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/reqbnGrLXyZFax2TwSi3Na/96a7301e-dd4f-4e39-bb35-e6fbbccc91bb.jpg/r0_346_5568_3489_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
But that doesn't mean the Raiders will be taking it easy when they get off the chartered jet The Canberra Times revealed they were using to launch an air raid on Newcastle.
Especially given the Green Machine brings in far more finals experience as a team, having played in four of the past five finals series.
In contrast, the Knights have only played two finals games in the past 10 seasons - and lost them both.
And you can tell from the smile on Stuart's face that, while everyone else has written them off, they're planning a Newcastle ambush in a bid to advance to the second week of finals to face the New Zealand Warriors.
"We'll just go and do our best. I feel like apologising because we're in the semis, but we're allowed to dream too," he said on Saturday.
"As the boys have been all year, they're working very hard. They deserve their spot in the eight. We'll just go up there and do our best and see what happens.
"We've been scrapping and scragging all year. They certainly deserve the position they are in right now in regards to making the semi-finals and now it's up to us.
"We're not expected to win, there's no expectation on us. It's probably one of the easiest semi-finals I've ever had in regards to [being] a coach because it's the first time going into a game we've just been written off for a number of weeks.
"For us, no expectation, go up there and have a crack and if you win you win and if you don't you don't."
If recent weeks were anything to go by the biggest thing standing in the Raiders' way - aside from a Ponga who seemed to love terrorising them - was keeping 13 players on the park.
They've been reduced to 12 men for both of their past two losses at crucial times in the game, with both Rapana's sin-binning against Brisbane and then Sebastian Kris's send-off against Cronulla proving decisive factors.
The Raiders trailed the Broncos 20-18 when Rapana had a 10-minute sit-down, while they were trailing the Sharks by just four points when Kris was sent off with 20 minutes remaining.
Stuart said while you couldn't mitigate for those spur-of-the-moment incidents he did admit discipline would be crucial in their bid to beat Newcastle.
"It does. Discipline's very important for a number of areas in the game," he said.
"It's important for us to make sure we are strong discipline-wise, but they didn't pre-meditate to do that."
Stuart said the experience his young group of forwards would get out of the finals would be massive going forward.
He's got Hohepa Puru playing just his second NRL game, Trey Mooney playing his fifth and Ata Mariota his 17th.
Puru was especially impressive in his debut last week, with his energy at lock noticeable from the opening minutes.
"This semi-final's going to be great experience for those boys," Stuart said.
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"I'm not placing any pressure on them. We're not expected to go up there and win so there's no good putting any extra pressure on the boys.
"I just want them to go and get some experience now, learn what it's like to play in a semi-final in front of a big crowd."
Stuart admitted it was a tough decision of who replaced the suspended Kris, who has been rubbed out for the rest of the year for his spear tackle on Sharks winger Sione Katoa.
James Schiller was named on the wing, while Albert Hopoate has been named on the extended bench.
Hopoate has been a mainstay on the Raiders left wing for most of the season, but a rib injury forced him off at half-time against Canterbury in round 25 and he hasn't featured since.
He was 18th man for the loss to the Sharks last weekend, but Stuart opted to bring Schiller up because of his form in NSW Cup.
"He's been good the last two weeks in Cup and it's unfortunate for Hoppa," Stuart said.
"It was a difficult decision for me, but there was reasons for it and that's the way I decided to go."
NRL ELIMINATION FINAL
Sunday: Canberra Raiders v Newcastle Knights at Newcastle, 4.05pm.
Raiders squad: 1. Jordan Rapana, 2. James Schiller, 3. Jack Wighton, 4. Matt Timoko, 5. Nick Cotric, 6. Matt Frawley, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 8. Ata Mariota, 9. Zac Woolford, 10. Joe Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead (c), 13. Hohepa Puru. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Pasami Saulo, 17. Trey Mooney. Reserves: 18. Jarrod Croker (c), 19. Albert Hopoate, 20. Danny Levi, 21. Ethan Strange, 22. Xavier Savage.
Knights squad: 1. Kalyn Ponga (c), 2. Dominic Young, 3. Dane Gagai, 4. Bradman Best, 5. Greg Marzhew, 6. Tyson Gamble, 7. Jackson Hastings, 8. Jacob Saifiti, 9. Phoenix Crossland, 10. Leo Thompson, 11. Tyson Frizell (c), 12. Lachlan Fitzgibbon, 13. Adam Elliott. Interchange: 14. Kurt Mann, 15. Daniel Saifiti, 16. Jack Hetherington, 17. Mat Croker. Reserves: 18. Adam Clune, 19. Lachlan Miller, 20. Dylan Lucas, 21. Enari Tuala, 22. Brodie Jones.
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