Why Ricky Stuart had every right to publicly blast Corey Horsburgh

Ricky Stuart was well within his rights to give Corey Horsburgh both barrels at Sunday’s press conference.

Forget the nonsense about the Canberra coach “gaslighting” his forward – who had been sin-binned for striking Dane Gagai in the closing stages of Canberra’s 30-24 loss to Newcastle, which ended their slim finals hopes – as claimed by Corey Parker on SEN radio. Forget the rubbish about how Stuart should have kept his thoughts to himself, or that any reprimand should have taken place behind closed doors.

For what it’s worth, Stuart did blast Horsburgh in the sheds straight after full-time. Horsburgh did not appreciate it, and hit back.

Stuart did his best to compose himself before fronting the media, but the notoriously volatile coach had not calmed down.

Which is why he described the sight of Horsburgh smacking Knights centre Gagai on the side of the head, with seven minutes to go and the Raiders trailing by just two points, as a “f—ing brain explosion”.

The contact was innocuous, but perennial hothead Horsburgh was marched, and had to complete the walk of shame straight past his fuming coach. The moment did not cost Canberra the game, but it certainly did not help.

“We should have gone 26-all and there was a brain explosion. It was a f—ing brain explosion, and we lost the opportunity,” Stuart said. “There was one last week or the week before with Alex Twal. Everyone knows you’re not allowed to do that.

“We lost the start of the season because we were self-entitled and undisciplined, and we lost the opportunity to continue trying to make the semis [today].”

The Raiders won the minor premiership last year. This season, in the early weeks of August, they are already out of the finals race.

Horsburgh is 28. He has had ample time to get his act together. This wasn’t a one-off incident like the one involving Wests Tigers lock Twal a few weeks earlier.

In 2020, an emotional Horsburgh was the one giving Parramatta fans the one-finger salute after losing his cool with several Eels players and hobbling off at CommBank Stadium with a Lisfranc injury.

Horsburgh spoke openly at the time about how Stuart wanted him to see a counsellor to address his anger issues. There were even blow-ups at training.

“I wear my heart on my sleeve,” Horsburgh said at the time. “I’ve been good at controlling [my emotions] lately. That was my first bad outburst since playing in the NRL. I hope it’s my last, but I couldn’t promise anything. You’ll probably see me again blowing up.”

That was six years ago.

Stuart is passionate, and he loves “Big Red” because he is very similar. It was around this time last year Stuart even made Horsburgh captain for one game against the Dolphins.

Horsburgh revealed on that occasion: “If we have a blow-up, we have a rule that we need to talk to each other that day, or I need to go and see him.”

But there was no late-night powwow on Sunday between player and coach.

Stuart had every right to let the assembled media know Horsburgh had run out of chances. If Horsburgh was not paying attention, maybe he would have got the message when his agent, family and friends began ringing him about Stuart’s smackdown late on Sunday and early Monday.

We will find out on Tuesday if Horsburgh is named to play against Cronulla on the weekend. But in all honesty, Horsburgh and Stuart need a spell from each other.

Horsburgh still has a year to run on his deal at the Raiders, which is worth about $600,000 a season, but he has already been linked to a move back to Queensland, while even the Perth Bears have been touted as a landing spot, especially if the Junior Paulo negotiations break down.

In England’s Super League, Castleford’s Australian coach, Ryan Carr, was stood down for “personal reasons” last week, but reports suggested a few players had not appreciated being publicly lambasted by him after a loss. Carr did not even name names. Imagine Castleford trying to deal with Stuart’s post-match outburst?

Who knows if Horsburgh will be back. Stuart is clearly sick and tired of having Horsburgh’s.

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