Ricky Stuart has lashed out at the media in a heated, fiery press conference regarding the decision to rest skipper Jarrod Croker on Friday night against the Tigers.
Frustrated by media critics during the week, Stuart could not contain his frustration when asked whether his side missed their captain against the Tigers.
Stuart made the decision last week to rest Croker this round so that the skipper can play his 300th NRL game in front of the Canberra home fans next week.
"When did we miss him, mate? You reckon Jarrod would have stopped those three (tries)?" Stuart said.
"I was going to cop it from every one of you [the media] in here tonight if we had've got beaten. But I was prepared to take the risk. That's leadership, not these other muppets, who pretend they know.
"These muppets who have been bagging me, they're all the guys who will read the textbooks and talk about courageous leadership, man management, and they'll go out and talk at corporate functions, but they can't execute it.
"They're not the people I want in my football team. They're not the people I want in the trenches with me. There wasn't a player tonight that didn't want Jarrod to have his 300th game at home.
"I was open and honest, which I was probably wrong to be open and honest. I may as well just lie."
Continuing his tirade around the decision to rest Croker, Stuart took aim at the individuals that bagged his selection of the Raiders veteran centre.
"It really shitted me off that these so-called experts who've never man-managed, never been leaders in making tough decisions - and that was a big risk tonight, and I knew I was going to cop it from every one of you in here tonight if we got beaten," he said.
"But I was prepared to take a risk. That's leadership. Not these other muppets who pretend they know."
Becoming only the second player in Raiders history to reach 300 games, Stuart spoke on the significance of next week on home soil.
The last Raider to rack up 300 games was forward Jason Croker, who bought it up in 2006 against the Brisbane Broncos - away from home.
"This will be one of the biggest events we've had for a player in Canberra," Stuart said.
"We get nothing. The Raiders get nothing. We're battlers.
"We're happy to be proud of it, but we'll have a great event this week, and Jarrod Croker deserves everything that he gets next weekend."