Ricky John "Sticky" Stuart (born 7 January 1967) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of Canberra in the National Rugby League (NRL) and a former rugby league footballer who played as a halfback in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
He also replaced Craig Bellamy as head coach of the New South Wales State of Origin team following a fifth consecutive failure in the 2010 series. Stuart had previously been coach of the Australian national side, and has coached NRL clubs the Sydney Roosters (taking them to three consecutive grand finals from 2002 to 2004), Cronulla-Sutherland and Parramatta.
A former international representative rugby league and rugby union player – a dual-code international – Stuart also played State of Origin for New South Wales in the first Gould era. At club level, Stuart was the half-back of the "Green Machine", the Canberra Raiders team who were coached by Tim Sheens and won three premierships in 1989, 1990 and 1994, besides being runners-up in 1991. As a player Stuart was noted for his ability to throw long, spiralling passes to both the left and right sides of the field.
As a coach Ricky has won one premiership.
Early life and rugby union career
Ricky Stuart was born in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia. He originally played rugby league as a child, but took up rugby union while attending St Edmund's College, Canberra.
Stuart was selected for the ACT Schoolboys in 1984, and attracted press attention the following season for a dominant display for his school in the Waratah Shield final. He would play for the Australian Schoolboys in 1985, when he was acclaimed as the best prospect in schoolboy rugby union since Michael O'Connor and David Campese.
Stuart's union career was with the Queanbeyan Whites before being selected for the 1987 Australia rugby union tour of Argentina. Stuart played for the Wallabies in three tour matches but no Test matches, in both the Fly-half and Scrum-half positions.
Always interested in converting to rugby league, Stuart was initially chased by Balmain, who had a weakness in the halves at the time. He also received offers from reigning premiers Manly and the newly formed Newcastle club. However, his residence in Queanbeyan meant that he preferred playing with Canberra, and after initially signing to play for Manly RUFC, the Raiders would double Balmain's offer in order to get him.
With Chris O'Sullivan and Ivan Henjak holding down the Raiders' first grade inside back positions, Stuart began his senior league career in reserve grade. Although he would lift a previously weak Raider reserve grade team, Stuart would remain in reserve grade until the regular halves became injured at the end of June.
Establishing Himself as a Star
Once promoted to first grade, Stuart immediately stamped himself as a player of genuine class, and by the end of 1988 was earmarked for representative honours. He soon became a key factor behind the club's most successful period in the late 1980s and 1990s, playing halfback inside a backline including legendary talents Laurie Daley, Mal Meninga and Gary Belcher. After the 1989 Grand Final victory, Stuart and the Raiders travelled to England for the 1989 World Club Challenge which was lost to Widnes.
Although he had ambitions to play in representative rugby league as early as 1989, Stuart was never picked that season. However, he was already regarded as a strong candidate for the Kangaroo tour when the 1990 season opened. With New South Wales seeking new blood after two successive Origin cleansweep losses in 1988 and 1989, he was earmarked for a New South Wales halfback berth from very early in the season. Stuart would not disappoint: New South Wales won the series 2–1 and he was named man-of-the-match in the second game of the 1990 State of Origin series. He then won the Clive Churchill Medal in the Raiders' 1990 grand final victory over Penrith, and had become a certainty to tour with the Kangaroos.
Stuart debuted in the first test of the 1990 Kangaroo tour against Great Britain in London in October 1990, playing five-eighth outside Allan Langer. This appearance saw him become Australia's 38th dual code rugby international, following Michael O'Connor and preceding Scott Gourley. He replaced Langer at halfback in last two Tests, with Australia winning both.
Established in league's elite, Stuart would suffer throughout the 1991 season from a painful groin injury, despite having an operation after returning home from the Kangaroo Tour. He managed despite this handicap to play 24 of 26 club games for the Raiders, and all three Origin games for the Blues. However, Queensland won a very close series 2–1 and Stuart lost his Test jersey to Langer who was fitter and in better form at all levels. By the time of the finals, Stuart's kicking game was crippled by his groin trouble, and he was replaced by Scott Gale during the Raiders' grand final loss to Penrith.
During the 1991 season, the Raiders were plagued by massive debts and salary cap breaches, largely due to the cost of their move to Bruce Stadium and building a second leagues club. It was initially thought Stuart might sign with English club Wakefield Trinity. Although – unlike the Raiders’ other stars – Stuart received no recorded offer from any other English or NSWRL club during the peak of the club's financial crisis in the following three months, Stuart would not re-sign until after Meninga, Daley, Clyde and Walters had done so.
October surgery aimed to repair Stuart's chronic groin problems, but in 1992, Stuart would suffer a posterior cruciate ligament tear that required another surgery, and consequently missed his first domestic representative games since debuting at that level. He recovered to help New South Wales to Origin success – winning his second Man of the Match award in the deciding encounter – and would be named Canberra's 1992 Player of the Year, although the off-field problems from 1991 saw the club finish in the bottom five in all three grades. With Langer having his best season ever, Stuart could not regain his Test jumper, but at the beginning of the 1993 season Stuart was seen as fully fit.
A recurrence of his groin problems saw Stuart miss the opening Winfield Cup game, which the Raiders lost to a 12-man St. George. However, upon returning Stuart played in his finest form yet, leading the Raiders to a sequence of thirteen wins and a draw in fifteen games from Rounds 7 to 21, besides helping New South Wales to another Origin triumph with a third Man of the Match in the first game. A likely Canberra premiership triumph was quashed when Stuart broke his leg – ironically during a record 68–0 win against Parramatta – in the penultimate round, with the result that Canberra were easily beaten by Canterbury, St. George and Brisbane, falling from first to fourth in the process. Stuart nonetheless won the 1993 Dally M Medal for the Winfield Cup's Player of the Year, and won the Rothmans Medal with a vote total then beaten only by Mick Cronin in 1978. Stuart worked intensively to recover over the ensuing summer, and was fit for the start of the 1994 season. He then reproduced his 1993 form, leading the Raiders to an emphatic 36–12 Grand Final triumph over Canterbury and New South Wales to a fourth Origin triumph in five seasons. Although there had long been intense debate as to whether Stuart should replace Allan Langer as Test number seven, Stuart did not regain his Test place even after his third consecutive Origin win. However, on the 1994 Kangaroo Tour Stuart did take over from Langer after the Kangaroos lost the First Test and led Australia to three Test victories.