CANBERRA coach Ricky Stuart has accused opposition NRL teams of “cheating” at the ruck in a deliberate tactic to beat the Raiders.

Stuart made the comments despite his side’s 24-16 victory over the Sydney Roosters, after what he considered to be further evidence rival teams were using a ploy to shut down the Raiders’ dynamic attack.

“Teams have worked out how to play us; you’ve got to cheat at the ruck,” Stuart said.

He was frustrated by a penalty given against the Raiders for their marker not being square.

“When we get pinged tonight for being split at marker and it just annoys me because I can get 15 of those a game,” Stuart said. “I sit there and do reviews week-in and week-out and I see all the cheating at the ruck.

“You’ve got to be scrappy at the ruck. The more you cheat at the ruck, the more you stifle our attack; it’s as simple as that.”

The Raiders are 6-6 after 12 rounds, as they adjust to the transition from hunter to hunted on the back of a breakout year in which they finished second before being eliminated in a preliminary final.

With attacking threats like hooker Josh Hodgson, the NRL’s leading try scorer Jordan Rapana and his right-edge partner Joey Leilua, opposition teams are fully aware of the danger Canberra pose.

Stuart said he hadn’t spoken to referees boss Tony Archer about their rivals’ ruck tactics.

“I try not to be one of those coaches that I have been over the years, that there are today, where you’re constantly ringing and ringing because you get nothing out of at,” he said.

But he doesn’t blame officials for not penalising the infringements given how common they are.

“It’s hard for referees because they don’t want to be giving 25, 30 penalties away a game,” Stuart said. “But if you want a constant flow of attack, you want to see a good game of football, maybe you’ve got to start coming down a bit harder on that.”

Canberra stood firm after a spirited fightback from an Origin-depleted Roosters side during the scrappy 24-16 win at GIO Stadium. Rapana was instrumental in the Raiders posting back-to-back victories, causing havoc on the right wing in the first half to pick up a try-scoring double.

Despite being without Mitchell Pearce, Boyd Cordner, Dylan Napa, Aidan Guerra and Blake Ferguson, the new-look Roosters pushed Canberra late. In contrast, the Raiders were only missing Queensland forward Josh Papalii and the man who replaced him in the second row, veteran Sia Soliola, was superb in defence and attack.

Roosters skipper Jake Friend opened the scoring after 10 minutes, making a run from dummy half and slipping through the Raiders defence.

Rapana responded three minutes later, beating Daniel Tupou before defying Kane Evans’ attempt to hold him up in the tackle with Jarrod Croker’s conversion levelling the scores.

Quick passing allowed Rapana to put the Raiders in front 10 minutes later, with centre Joey Leilua assisting his second try to demonstrate the threat posed by the Raiders’ right-edge combination.

Croker passed 1500 career points in the NRL just before the half-hour mark by getting on the end of an Aidan Sezer grubber.

A superb piece of athleticism by Joseph Manu to dive over in the corner for the first points of the second half got the Roosters back in the hunt. Michael Gordon’s brilliant conversion reduced the margin to four with 16 minutes remaining.

A Jarrod Croker penalty opened up an 18-12 lead for the home side but a brilliant run from Roosters fullback Michael Gordon set up Latrell Mitchell who crossed near the sideline to get the visitors within two points. Aidan Sezer picked up a wild pass in the final minute to score the sealing try, with Croker adding the points to give them an eight-point winning margin. Canberra’s win — their sixth of the season — lifted them back into the eight, while the Roosters remain in the top four despite the loss.