An encouraging finish to 2018 has done nothing to improve the mood of Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart.
Reflecting on a second successive 10th-place finish in the NRL, Stuart was struggling for positives despite closing out the season with upset wins over the Roosters and Rabbitohs, followed by Friday's fighting 20-16 loss to the Warriors.
Unlocking some of their best form in the closing weeks only left Stuart more frustrated at what might have been.
Rubbing salt in the wounds is that the Raiders have again proved to be an attacking powerhouse.
They are set to finish second in the competition's points-for column (563), bettered only by South Sydney's 582.
Last year their 558-point tally was the third best.
"I'm still disappointed in the year to be quite honest," Stuart said.
"These last three games, we've executed and fixed areas of our game but it's been too late.
"All year we've been in 90-95 per cent of the games but we've probably let ourselves down with choices and execution - that we've got right over the last three or so weeks."
Opening the campaign with four straight losses proved telling.
Eight of their matches resulted in a loss by less than six points, leaving them in a season-long game of catchup.
Stuart was pleased his team more than held his own at a sold-out Mt Smart Stadium against a Warriors side playing to honour 300-game great Simon Mannering.
They nearly stole victory in the frenetic dying minutes.
"I thought we'd win. We just needed to get a bit more ball down their end of the footy field," he said.
"It just didn't go our way ...but it's not in the jumper, it's not in these players to give up."
Stuart congratulated departing trio Shannon Boyd (Titans), Junior Paulo (Eels) and Blake Austin (Warrington) for fine contributions.
He said they helped lay a foundation he hopes can springboard the team into a better start to 2019.
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