{"id":344267,"date":"2025-12-13T00:32:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T00:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/344267\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T00:32:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T00:32:08","slug":"raiders-hire-trio-of-stars-to-coaching-ranks-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/344267\/","title":{"rendered":"Raiders hire trio of stars to coaching ranks – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Canberra Raiders<\/a> have made three key signing to their club, with their contributions to be made off the field instead of on it.<\/p>\n

The club have strengthened their junior development system with the appointment of Matt Giteau, Dale Finucane<\/a> and Matt Frawley<\/a> as specialist pathways coaches for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

The three recruits, all boasting elite-level experience across rugby league and rugby union, will work part-time across the club’s Harold Matthews, SG Ball and Raiders Academy programs, focusing on advancing specialist skills in both attack and defence.<\/p>\n

Former Wallaby and Canberra junior Matt Giteau joins the club in a mentoring and skills-focused role, bringing a unique cross-code pedigree to the pathways system.<\/p>\n

Giteau said the opportunity carries personal significance given his family’s long history at the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be involved with the Raiders is very special\u2026 It’s a small and limited capacity, but I’m honoured to be here \u2014 especially with the history of my father and brother being involved as well,\u201d Giteau said in a club statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ll be more attack-focused: catch and pass, ball-handling, decision-making and skills-specific training. It’s great to connect with guys like Dale and Matt and work with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two-time premiership winner and former NSW Origin representative Dale Finucane<\/a> also joins the pathways ranks, bringing one of the most respected work ethics in modern rugby league.<\/p>\n

Finucane, who recently retired after an accomplished NRL<\/a> career with the Canterbury Bulldogs<\/a>, Melbourne Storm<\/a> and Cronulla Sharks<\/a>, said contributing to the development of young players was a natural next step.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiving relatively close to Canberra, it was a really good fit. I’ll be specialising in defensive wrestle-specific training,\u201d Finucane said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI particularly enjoy working with this age group of 16\u201320 year olds who want to get better and aspire to play NRL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo impact those guys and see their progression is really exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rounding out the trio is former Raiders half and local junior Matt Frawley<\/a>, who returns to the ACT after announcing his retirement earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Frawley described the job as a meaningful homecoming.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a full-circle moment \u2014 especially coming back to the junior reps. Coming through the grades myself, to be back as a coach is pretty crazy but I’m really happy to be here,\u201d Frawley said.<\/p>\n

Raiders Pathways & Performance Manager Tim Wykes praised the appointments, highlighting both the expertise and character of the trio.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe knowledge they have and can pass on is so impressive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not just their skills and experience; it’s the quality of person they are too.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn’t find three better gentlemen, so we’re really lucky and privileged to have them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move follows the Raiders’ senior coaching staff hosting a coaches’ forum at Raiders HQ in late November, with the club continuing to invest heavily in its development pathways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Canberra Raiders have made three key signing to their club, with their contributions to be made off…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-344267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}