'He's frothing at the mouth': NRL greats excited by Raider's super boot

Fogarty's kicking has been a revelation for the Canberra Raiders this season and his mix of wicked torpedoes and floaters will play a big role in their chances against the Brisbane Broncos at Lang Park on Saturday.

Fogarty's leading the NRL for kick metres (3806m), and was second for total kicks - as well as attacking kicks - behind Shaun Johnson.

He's also second for points scored, goals and one-point field-goals in a 2024 NRL campaign where his right boot's being noticed right around the league.

But as far as Stuart's concerned, nothing's changed for Fogarty.

The Raiders coach knew what sort of kicking game he was getting when he lured the now 30-year-old to Canberra from the Gold Coast.

With Stuart turning to young gun Ethan Strange to partner Fogarty in the halves, that's opened the door for the halfback to do most of the Green Machine's kicking.

It's led to him tormenting opposition custodians on a weekly basis with his massive torpedo kicks.

He does about three sessions a week with Stuart and Raiders kicking coach Andrew Bishop, plus whatever extra he does on his own.

Fogarty's kicking caught the eye of NRL Immortal Andrew Johns and former NSW Blues coach Brad Fittler.

The pair labelled him the "form player" of the NRL when they had him on their podcast Freddy and the Eighth this week.

He's also got a fan in Queensland coach Billy Slater, putting him on the State of Origin radar.

Fogarty said that would be a dream come true, but he felt the Maroons were in safe hands with the likes of Ben Hunt, Tom Dearden and Sam Walker as back-up options for Daly Cherry-Evans.

"Having a coach like Ricky here, he's always out there on field, he's a hands-on coach," Fogarty said.

"He's frothing at the mouth when you put them up at training.

"He's always said, 'If you're never going to practice them you're never going to do it in games, so I'd rather you shank a couple here at training and get good at it'.

"Obviously it's a nice little weapon to have as well to get a little bit extra height for the boys to get down there and sometimes we get a result."

While Fogarty's kicking's finally attracted the NRL spotlight, it's nothing new to Stuart.

The Raiders coach knew what he was getting when Fogarty joined the Green Machine in 2022.

He pointed to how the Raiders faired that season when Fogarty missed the opening 11 rounds due to a knee injury.

The Raiders were ninth before fighting their way into the eight to play finals once he was fit.

"When I recruited Jamal I knew he had a good kicking game," Stuart said.

"That was the first thing I looked at when I was reviewing his football. It's not new, Jamal's kicking.

"If you remember when he missed 11 to 12 weeks [at the start of 2022] we weren't fairing very well on the competition table.

"When he came back, we made the eight. That was on the back of Jamal's presence. There's no surprise with Jamal.

"When I ask him to kick floaters and spirals I don't care if they go out on the full because they're not going to go out on the full if you don't kick them.

"But you're not going to get those ones we got last week or the week before if he's not showing the courage to kick them - because they're the hardest kicks in the game."

NRL ROUND SEVEN

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Brisbane Broncos at Lang Park, 7.35pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Chevy Stewart, 2. James Schiller, 3. Matt Timoko, 4. Sebastian Kris, 5. Xavier Savage, 6. Ethan Strange, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 8. Josh Papali'i, 9. Danny Levi, 10. Joe Tapine (c), 11. Hudson Young, 12. Ata Mariota, 13. Morgan Smithies. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Simi Sasagi, 16. Trey Mooney, 17. Pasami Saulo. Reserves: 18. Kaeo Weekes, 19. Emre Guler, 20. Zac Woolford, 21. Nick Cotric, 22. Peter Hola.

Broncos squad: 1. Reece Walsh, 2. Corey Oates, 3. Kotoni Staggs, 4. Selwyn Cobbo, 5. Jesse Arthars, 6. Ezra Mam, 7. Jock Madden, 8. Corey Jensen, 9. Billy Walters, 10. Fletcher Baker, 11. Jaiyden Hunt, 12. Jordan Riki, 13. Patrick Carrigan. Interchange: 14. Tyson Smoothy, 15. Xavier Willison, 16. Kobe Hetherington, 17. Tristan Sailor. Reserves: 18. Martin Taupau, 19. Benjamin Te Kura, 20. Jordan Pereira, 21. Blake Mozer, 22. Josiah Karapani.