Raiders coach Ricky Stuart was understandably short with reporters in a press conference that lasted just two minutes after his side were bundled out of the finals by the Sharks.
A season that looked so promising a fortnight ago ended on Saturday, with the Raiders becoming the first minor premier since the 2009 Dragons to be knocked out in straight sets.
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Stuart wasn’t in a chatty mood, but did concede his team were “outplayed by the better team”.
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“We were good for the first 38 minutes of the first half and started well in the second half but then the momentum changed and Cronulla were very good in the back end of the second half,” Stuart said.
In a huge blow the morning of the game, Raiders star Ethan Strange was ruled out with illness.
Stuart didn’t elaborate when asked about the late scratching.
“I’m not blaming that.,” he said.
There was a belief from some quarters leading into this game that Canberra might be flat after last weekend’s emotional rollercoaster of a loss to the Broncos.
Fox League’s Cooper Cronk said post-game that he believed the toll of the Broncos clash affected Canberra against the Sharks.
When Stuart was asked if his team had run out gas, Stuart mumbled: “I don’t know”
However, captain Joe Tapine didn’t believe that was an excuse.
“I thought the first 35 minutes we were on. A couple of bad decisions let them back in the game,” Tapine said.
“I think mentally we had to switch back on.”
If you had told Raiders fans before the season started that the Green Machine would end up in the semi-finals, the majority would’ve been rapt, given the amount of inexperience and low expectations on the team.
For that reason, Stuart is taking plenty of positives out of the campaign, despite the disappointing way it ended.
“It’s been a very positive season. They’ve come a long way,” Stuart said.
As I just said to them the better you get, the more you get hunted and we did tonight. We got beaten by a better footy team.”