Stuart Raper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Stuart Raper | |
| Date of birth | January 5, 1965 | |
| Professional clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (points) |
| 1984-1986 1989 |
Cronulla Western Suburbs |
3 (0) 5 (0) |
| Professional clubs coached | ||
| 1994 1995-1996 1997-2000 2001-2003 2004-2006 |
Cronulla (Jersey Flegg) Cronulla (First Division) Castleford Wigan Cronulla |
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* Professional club appearances and points |
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Stuart Raper, is a former Australian NRL rugby league coach and former NRL player, born January 5, 1965.
He is widely known for both his father being Rugby League legend Johnny Raper and also being the only Cronulla Sharks coach to win the President's Cup (under-21s) for the club in 1994.
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[edit] Playing career
Rapers first class career is to say brief at best. He originally signed on to play with the Cronulla Sharks in the early 1980's and made his first grade debut at the age of 18 against the Illawarra Steelers in round 25 of the 1983 season. Though after a promising start to his first grade career he was never able to live up to his famous fathers shadow while at the Sharks and after only eight first grade games with them in three years, decided it was best to move on in an attempt to further his career.
In 1989 Raper signed for the Western Suburbs Magpies on a one year deal with the club. His opportunities though were yet again limited and after only a mere five appearances for the season his contract was not renewed and his first grade career came to an end.
[edit] Coaching Career
[edit] Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (reserve grade)
After a brief playing career with both the Cronulla Sharks and the Western Suburbs Magpies Raper signed on to his first coaching role in 1994 with the Under 21's Sharks side. Here Raper inherited an extremely talented side (featuring Adam Dykes, Geoff Bell & David Peachey) and with them excelled as he took the team to the clubs first President's Cup in his debut season as coach.
Following his immediate success with the Under 21 side he was duly appointed as the new coach of the Sharks reserve grade side for the 1995 season. More success followed for Raper (as he inherited much the same side from his Under 21 coaching days) as after two seasons he was successful in coaching his side to the reserve grade title in 1996.
[edit] Castleford Tigers
After a successful 1996 season at home with Cronulla, Raper was offered the head coaching role at English Super League club the Castleford Tigers. At the start of the 1997 season Castleford were seen by many as a team simply making up the numbers and few held hopes for their survival to avoid being relegated. Throughout the season they continually struggled large parts and in the end only just managed to avoid being relegated, eventually finishing tenth.
With a new season in 1998 many pundits predicted the Tigers would be one of the sides to face the drop down to National League One by the end of the season. With the odds stacked against Raper and his position continually under pressure after a poor first season he defyed many odds by keeping his Castleford side near the top of the table for the majority of the season in which they eventually finished sixth.
The 1999 season further pushed Rapers credentials as a coach on the up as he yet again went against the odds and kept the Tigers out of the relegation race again and into a mid-table fight often showing up teams rated more highly. By the end of the season the Tigers with the help of Raper had bettered their previous position and finished fifth.
2000 heralded Rapers last season with the Castleford Tigers and his performance somewhat mirrored their previous season as he yet again took his side to a finishing place of fifth and into the finals for a consecutive season.
[edit] Wigan Warriors
At the end of the another successful season in 2000 with his Castleford side Raper was offered the head coaching role at Super League giants the Wigan Warriors for the 2001 season.
His first season in charge at his new club proved to be a fruitful one for Raper as the Warriors finished second on the end of season table and made it all the way to the 2001 Grand Final; although they ended up losing to the Bradford Bulls in a somewhat poor performance for the clubs usually high standards.
He remained with Wigan for a further two seasons in 2002 and 2003 where they finished a respectable third in both seasons though were never able to progress to the Final and obtain a Super League title in either. Raper did however enjoy his first piece of English rugby league silverware in 2002 when he took his Wigan Warriors side to victory in the Challenge Cup.
[edit] Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (first grade)
During the 2004 season Raper was called home to the Sharks and originally found himself as an assistant coach to then head coach Chris Anderson. Though before the seasons end he was called on to take the reins of their first grade squad.
At the start of his tenure at the Sharks, the former Cronulla pupil was given the task of rebuilding the club after they failed to make the NRL playoffs in 2003 for the first time in four seasons.
While Raper's first season record after taking over from Anderson was modest, he and his coaching team dealt with several obstacles in 2004 and showed some classy football against the top sides.
2005 started very well for cronulla and Raper, However by the end of the season the sharks had limped ghome into 7th place in the finals. This for slump coincided with playmaker Brett Kimmorley's poor performance in state of origin one of that season, and further poor performances after his axing from the representative side. The sharks lost to St George Illawarra in the first round of teh semi finals and were eliminated.
2006 was to be Stuart Rapers final season at the club. Raper came under heavy criticism for the way he coached the side, mostly for his persistance with the Adam Dykes/Brett Kimmorley halves pairing, which many deemed to be unsuccesful. Raper was also criticised for not having a structured game plan as well as other questionable player selections. The season ended with a 10 game losing streak, including losses to a heavily depleeted Brisbane Broncos side, as well as a second half copitulation at home against Penrith, where Rapers team let in 20 points in 16 minutes to lose a seemingly un loseable game.
Ricky Stuart was appointed as Rapers replacement for 2007
[edit] External links
| Preceded by: John Joyner |
Coach Castleford Tigers 1997-2000 |
Succeeded by: Graham Steadman |
| Preceded by: Frank Endacott |
Coach Wigan Warriors 2001-2003 |
Succeeded by: Mike Gregory |
| Preceded by: Chris Anderson 2002-2003 |
Coach Cronulla Sharks 2004-2006 |
Succeeded by: TBA |
