Interim-Dragons coach Ryan Carr got some praise from Raiders coach Ricky Stuart moments after his Canberra side secured a 36-26 victory over St George Illawarra at WIN Stadium on Friday night.
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Stuart's backing for "good young coach" Carr came just hours after reports surfaced that incoming Dragons coach Shane Flanagan was close to appointing Dean Young as his assistant coach for 2024.
When asked about this in the post-match media conference, Carr admitted he'd also spoken to Flanagan but his concerns remained on coaching the current group of players.
"I spoke with Flanno about different things but it's my job right now to lead this team right now, and if I take one eye of that then I'm not doing the right thing for the team," Carr said.
"Without being disrespectful to it I don't want to focus too much on next year. My job right now is to make sure we focus on the right now.
"I'm not writing anything off and looking to next year, because I wouldn't be doing the team justice and that's not my job, my job is to work hard for this team right now, and that's what I'm going to continue to do."
The coach added he was loving coaching the current group of players.
"I love coaching these boys. You can see tonight there would have been multiple reasons and excuses for them just to roll over and give up, but they're working really hard, they're training really hard, they care, they're buying in which you can tell.
"The result tonight wasn't through a lack of buy-in or disrespect to the team or the jersey, it was the opposite, it was just execution and stuff, and that's probably where we've let ourselves down the last three weeks in a row, it's more execution than anything else of getting our job done, it's not through disrespect of the plan or working hard for the team.
"We just got to keep working hard on our execution."
Earlier, Raiders coach Stuart said he was very happy to leave Wollongong with two competition points.
"We knew they were going to be tough after what they copped last week, so I knew we were going to be playing against a team that was going to have a renewal of motivation, and they were," he said.
"They've got some good players in their football team, and they've got players there that should be playing a lot better than what they are.
"I know Ryan Carr well, he is a good young coach, and they need to be aiming up a bit more for him."
I know Ryan Carr well, he is a good young coach, and they need to be aiming up a bit more for him..
- Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart
The Dragons have won two and lost six since Carr was appointed interim-coach after the departure of Anthony Griffin.
Speaking after his team's latest loss to Canberra, Carr said winning was the goal for the rest of the season.
"Winning is a goal. Winning is an ingrained habit and we need to make it an ingrained habit in this club, and we need to make sure we keep learning how to win, and how and why we did it.
"Once we get that I feel this group can really explode off the back of that confidence and that belief.
"Trying hard is not good enough, winning is what we play for, it's a results-driven business. Whilst we are happy with the effort, we're not happy with the outcome and we got to continue to work harder on that."
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
