Ricky Stuart's coaching tenure at the Canberra Raiders is set to extend past a decade after he signed a two-year extension with the NRL club.
Bringing premiership glory back to his home club is Ricky Stuart's driving motivation as he penned a two-year contract extension with Canberra.
Stuart, 55, is now contracted until the end of 2025, meaning his tenure at the helm of the Raiders will expand over a decade, having taken the reins to start the 2014 NRL season.
His future was rarely in doubt, with the club's board unanimously voting to back the extension at a meeting earlier this month.
If anyone knows about delivering success to the Raiders it's the legendary Stuart, who played in the club's three premierships in 1989, 1990 and 1994.
"I've said it from day one when I got here, I want to make this club competitive ... I want everyone to be proud of the Canberra Raiders, that's so important," Stuart told reporters.
"And the most important thing is to win a competition ... nobody understands how hard it is in regards to recruiting, luck, it plays such a vital role in regards to this competition because it's so long.
"I'm a Canberra boy ... I won't be coaching anywhere else after this.
"But when I feel and know that I'm not the right person for the job, I've said to (chief executive) Don (Furner) ... I will tell you, you won't have to tell me."
Stuart steered the side to their 2019 grand final appearance where they were cruelly denied a flag by the Sydney Roosters, but the side has taken steps backwards since and finished last year in 10th.
It's hoped the stability his extension provides could be a boost in the race to re-sign powerhouse prop Joe Tapine, who can negotiate with other clubs from November 1 for his services for the 2024 season.
Stuart, who said Furner was handling negotiations with Tapine's manager Jim Banaghan, heaped praise on the New Zealand international's ability to lead the club's upcoming generation.
"Joe's very happy, he's playing good football and Joe knows what he wants and I'll leave that with Donnie and Jimmy, they'll sort that out," he said.
"I'm more along the lines of just letting Joe do what he's doing at the moment because he's playing the football of his career.
"He's really maturing into a senior player now ... he's got the ability to captain his country and he's in our leadership group here."
