THE Canberra Raiders have gone into battle for struggling bush rugby league by offering to raise the remainder of the money needed to shift their Round 4 NRL clash with Manly to Dubbo.

The Daily Telegraph revealed on Tuesday that Group 11 in NSW’s central west had raised $165,000 to entice the Sea Eagles to shift their April 4 home game to Dubbo in what would be a major boost for rugby league in the area.

But that sum wasn’t enough to secure Dubbo a game, which has prompted Raiders coach Ricky Stuart to challenge the NRL and Manly to prove they are fair dinkum about supporting bush footy.

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media_camera Canberra coach Ricky Stuart at Raiders Headquarters.

And if money is the real issue stopping Manly taking their round five game against Canberra to Dubbo, then the Raiders have vowed to come up with the extra cash needed to make this game happen.

In the wake of Tuesday’s revelations, Manly sent an email to Group 11 boss Ross McDermott telling him that they were yet to make a final decision on a venue.

This was despite the Sea Eagles earlier admitting Dubbo was out of the running and that the game was now likely to be played in Gosford.

Delegates from Dubbo were initially told last August it would take $175,000 to buy the game.

After reading Tuesday’s report, Stuart said he couldn’t believe the contempt being shown to footy fans out west.

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“We should be embarrassed,” Stuart said.

“We continually talk about what we have to fix but we never do it.

“We talk about player burnout. We talk every year about taking more games to the bush.

“Here we go again.

“I spoke to (Raiders boss) Don Furner about this today and he was totally supportive.

“If money is the issue here, then we will raise the extra revenue because it is what we should do.

“I see it as the responsibility of all the clubs and the NRL to keep promoting the game in country areas.

“These kids out there would rarely get the chance to go to an NRL game, if ever, and here we can take a game to them and we are saying ‘too hard’.

“If we can help make it happen then we will.

“We will also take our players out three or four days early and do coaching clinics for the kids and whatever else we can.”

media_camera The Raiders at the NRL Auckland Nines.

After working hard for five months to raise their $165,000, the people of Dubbo are holding hope the game can still be resurrected.

“I got an email back from Manly (on Tuesday) and they said they will make a decision shortly,” McDermott said.

“Then I got a phone call from Ricky and I think it really is a fantastic gesture from the Canberra club.

“It’s just a pity the NRL hierarchy haven’t got the same passion and vision.

“Bringing a game out here would do so much good.”

McDermott said the $70,000 potentially raised would go a long way for the nine clubs in Group 11.

“The people will come from all around western NSW and it will lift the interest of rugby league,” McDermott said.