'I want to change their lives': Stuart's pledge after signing massive deal

Stuart has signed a four-year contract extension and will stay at the club until at least the end of 2029 after agreeing to terms on Wednesday.

He is already the longest serving coach in Raiders history and his new deal will see him lead the club for 16 seasons by the time it expires at the end of the decade.

The three-time premiership-winning halfback is desperate for his players to taste the same success he enjoyed and believes the Raiders a building a core group to end a 30-year drought.

"There's not a coach out there that doesn't want to win a premiership," an emotional Stuart said. "They just don't all say it because it puts too much pressure on them.

"I'm happy to put pressure on myself. I want to win the competition and I want to win at this club."

Asked if he was confident the group he was building was capable of reaching the pinnacle, Stuart said: "I can genuinely tell you that I've just walked out of the meeting with the players, a preview meeting for our game [on Friday].

"I touched on the '94 reunion theme and my ultimate goal is to change every one of my players' lives that I coach in regards to one day hoping we can win a grand final.

"Because it changes your life. You're a premiership-winning player ... Honestly, it's so hard to explain the feeling. I'll witness it this week when I get to see all my mates again.

"I would love to be able to do that for the players year. It is my ultimate goal."

Stuart returned to the Raiders at the end of 2013 and has been the club's head coach since the 2014 season.

He embarked on a rebuild process in the early season, which saw the club hit close to rock bottom before finishing second and making a preliminary final in 2016. The Raiders have made the finals in four of the past five seasons, including earning a spot in the grand final for the first time since 1994.

Injuries and exits at the end of last year have forced Stuart to this season blood the youngest group in his decade at the club, turning to the likes of Chevy Stewart and Ethan Strange to play key positions.

"The club has given me every opportunity to do it. Building a roster to be competitive is one thing, building a roster to be competitive and make the top four is another," Stuart said.

"It's [recruiting] a very, very difficult component of the job. I've got no doubt about our development, we've proven that we can develop players into Origin players and Test players.

"Recruiting marquee players is difficult, and it's something we will get right and we'll get the right person."

The Raiders opted not to bid for David Fifita when he hit the open market in recent weeks, despite being interested in recruiting the back-rower last season.

Their decision proved prudent after Fifita made a stunning about face on a move to the Sydney Roosters just before Stuart's re-signing press conference.

The Raiders are among several clubs who find it difficult to get big names to take a leap of faith, but they did recruit Jamal Fogarty three years ago and landed Zac Hosking for this season.

The Raiders are also investing more in youth to develop them through the system, highlighted by the likes of Strange, Stewart and Matt Timoko while Ethan Sanders is poised to join the club next year.

"It's overplayed too much in regards to marquee players at the Raiders, we'll get the right person," Stuart said.

"You got to understand that every marquee player we have tried to recruit has stayed at his home club. I don't see that as a loss. You can see what has happened with David Fifita this morning.

"The one thing I am very confident about is that when you bring a young player into the community, bring them into the systems here, they don't leave.

"So we've changed tack in regards to our recruitment strategy. We've looked at younger players and bringing them in earlier.

"Our club is going gangbusters. I've got to keep competing and challenging us to compete as a football team."

News of Stuart's deal emerged before a Magic Round showdown with the Bulldogs in Brisbane on Saturday night.

The match will double as a reunion for the 1994 premiership-winning Raiders, who beat the Bulldogs 36-12 in Mal Meninga's final game before retirement.

Stuart has invited past players to a team dinner on Thursday night and the new and old will mingle after the match, which will open a sellout Magic Round weekend.

But Stuart is wary of getting caught in the nostalgia as the Bulldogs look to launch their own resurgence after years struggling near the bottom of the ladder.

The Bulldogs have won two of their past three games, as well as pushing the Panthers, the Storm and the Roosters to the limit in matches this season under coach Cameron Ciraldo.

"They've got some very high quality and high profile players playing very well now. Cameron is a good young coach doing a good job and they're going to be very difficult," Stuart said.

"But when we're at our best, we're a tough football team to play against. That's our job."

There were fears the Raiders were tumbling backwards when they suffered heavy defeats at the hands of Brisbane and Cronulla on top of a growing injury list.

But they rallied to beat Manly two weeks ago and now have Elliott Whitehead and Jordan Rapana back from in the side to add experience to youth.

"Resilience and mental toughness - a lot of people read text books. To actually have it, you've got to be in the scenario and these boys have been in the scene," Stuart said.

"These young players got so much out of that game against Manly, it shows me what type of resilience they've got. They're not just reading it out of a text book, they're executing it."