After an evening to forget at the back of the field, Ricky Stuart has defended his young fullback, Chevy Stewart, after a disappointing 34-10 losing performance to the Brisbane Broncos.

Entering the match in third place on the NRL ladder, the Raiders were 28 points down heading into the half-time break before fighting back in the second half and ending the game 34-10.

Despite the tough loss, Ricky Stuart admitted he was proud of the players in his team on Saturday night, especially Chevy Stewart and the younger players in the squad.

In only his second NRL game, Stewart had an evening to forget in the first half in which he dropped a bomb that turned into a try under the sticks and was bamboozled by Kobe Hetherington.

โ€œIf Chevy Stewart wasn't a tough kid he would have crumbled tonight because a lot of kids at 18 years of age, you've got to remember that," he said on the young fullback post-match.

โ€œI know at 18 I wasn't ready to play NRL. At 18 him out there tonight how he handled that second half he showed me that he has a future in the NRL.

โ€œI don't care about the dropped bomb or the try off it. I have just got to be patient because we are transitioning to a team of youth in very important positions on the field.โ€

Stuart would go on to reveal that he had a talk with Stewart at half-time and was happy with how he responded in the second 40 minutes of the game at Suncorp Stadium.

โ€œMy message was, you will show me tonight in the next 40 minutes how much of a career you are going to have in the NRL on the way you respond,โ€ Stuart added.

โ€œI said, no one cares about the first 40, so he responded the way we needed him to. And for him too, but we know he is a good footy player so there is going to be those nights.

โ€œHe is 18. He is still year 12 age.โ€