Ricky Stuart signed Adam Elliott, then landed his true recruitment coup – his brother James

Stuart made himself clear, he needed a phone number.

The moment Adam Elliott signed with the Raiders, Stuart made his intentions clear. He needed that phone number. After meeting James Elliott two years earlier in Tathra, Stuart’s overwhelming priority was getting him on board. The gesture was small in effort but huge in meaning to someone living with autism.

“I’d met James and his mother [Jeanine] a few years ago when we played Canterbury down at Bega, and I knew the relationship between Adam and James. I knew how excited he was with the opportunity that Adam could be coming to Canberra,” Stuart says.

“I said to Adam when it was done, let me ring your brother and tell him the deal is done and I want to see him at the first home game. Obviously I’ve very much got a soft spot for people living with autism. I just knew how passionate [James] was about his brother and his football career and the fact that it was going to be an opportunity to move home closer to his family. It was a good chance to say, ‘Listen, the deal is done and I want to see you at the first home game.’”

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On the other end of the phone, 29-year-old James was stunned. It was the first the Elliott family knew of where Adam would be playing after being fired from Canterbury two months earlier for the last in a string of off-field misdemeanours.

Elliott had spent more than a decade at the Bulldogs since signing with the club at 14, and his family was worried his career might be over. It made for a messy time in Adam’s life, and rather than burden his family with any further worry, he left them in the dark about his plans. The call, then, came out of the blue.

“Ricky just called James and said, ‘Welcome to the family. Your brother is now a Raider, that he can’t wait to get him to the games and can’t wait to see him again’,” Adam says.

“Mum and Dad were there when Ricky called and they said the look on his face was priceless. He was ecstatic. He hung up the phone and was so excited, he started talking about memberships and how many games he can get to now that it’s only three hours from home. James is so excited, he’ll definitely be our number one fan this year.”

James has never forgotten a face and was stunned Stuart remembered him.

“They spoke about when they had caught up before and I know that that meant a lot to James,” Adam continues.

“He said, ‘Ricky remembered me, he remembered who I was’. It’s something that’s one of Ricky’s strengths, the personal relationships and connections he has with his players, but that was my first taste of it. It meant a lot to me.”

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This was a call Stuart had wanted to make for a while. Stuart’s daughter Emma was diagnosed with autism aged 11 and was his inspiration to start the Ricky Stuart Foundation – raising autism awareness, funds for people living with disability and aiming to give access to better respite and housing for young adults.

Only recently the foundation was granted up to $4 million in funding from the NSW government to develop John Fordham House, a project to house up to five young people and their support workers in independent, safe and state of the art housing in South Jerrabomberra in NSW.

“It’s only natural that if you grow up with or you have someone in your family who has a disability, you want to help out,” Stuart says.

“We’ve had a few conversations about [helping out with the foundation] but it’s hard with the bubble, it’s actually been one of the biggest frustrations of mine with Covid, other than not being able to see family,” Adam adds.

“That stuff off the field for me is almost as important as training. It’s something that for so many years now I’ve done it and it gives me so much and I haven’t been able to do it.

“Nothing is running at full capacity, it’s frustrating but it’s good to see we’re kind of coming out of Covid now because it’s so important for people with intellectual disabilities to socialise and get to know other people, it’s one of the best tools to help them to grow and move forward.”

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Getting Adam to the Raiders, then, came with two wins for Stuart – getting an NRL quality forward on the roster of course, but also putting Adam in Canberra, just three hours down the Monaro Highway to Tathra.

“When I was talking to Adam, I’d be lying if I didn’t say it wasn’t in my heart … I was thinking about James,” Stuart says.

“I know they have a very close relationship and it would be great for him having his brother only a couple of hours up the road, rather than being in Sydney.

“I didn’t know Adam outside the fact that I know him as a player. He’s from our local region too which is … from being the coach here at the club, when you’ve got a good player playing in the NRL from within your region you want to know why you missed out.”

Under Stuart’s sometimes gruff exterior is a heart of gold. He’d thought about James since meeting him at the Tathra Bowling club at the start of 2020. Their meeting was a pure coincidence, but it would come full circle with that phone call in November last year. He’s since become a valuable addition to the Raiders too, giving out racing tips to the playing group who then repay him with loyalty. James turned 29 in early March and as their newly crowned number one fan, Jack Wighton, Josh Hodgson and Nick Cotric FaceTimed him to say happy birthday.

“James is a very respectful and happy fella,” Adam says.

“He sees how hard I work to be an NRL player so I think for Ricky and the Raiders boys to take the time out to speak to him, he’s very respectful of it and appreciates it.”