THE Raiders have fined David Shillington for breaching the club's media policy in an interview with this website about new coach Ricky Stuart and sacked star Blake Ferguson.

Shillingon told News Corp that Canberra players lobbied for Andrew Dunemann to be retained as coach ahead of Ricky Stuart (read full story below). He also took an indirect swipe at the club over the handling of the Blake Ferguson and Josh Dugan sagas (read full story here).

"Comments made today across several media outlets by David Shillington, were in breach of the clubs media policy that clearly states ‘Players may speak on issues relating only to their own performance and that of the team. They should not comment on issues outside of their immediate responsibilities as a player without prior approval from senior management’," said Raiders CEO Don Furner in a statement.



“David is an experienced senior player at this club and should have known better, he has been spoken to previously about errant comments he has made to the media and the negative impact they can have.



“The club always places great importance on the integrity of our brand and image and David’s comments were not endorsed by the Raiders organisation.



“I have spoken to David today and he acknowledged that some of his comments were not appropriate and he was sorry.”

***

FULL STORY THAT CAUGHT THE IRE OF CANBERRA OFFICIALS

By Josh Massoud

CANBERRA'S senior players unsuccessfully pushed for Andrew Dunemann to be appointed head coach, former skipper David Shillington has revealed.

The Test prop claimed players spoke in favour of interim coach Dunemann, who took over for the final three matches after Dave Furner's sacking, when they were consulted about the best man for the job earlier this month.

The call came from club great Mal Meninga, who was part of a four man subcommittee that was formed to appoint Furner’s replacement.

Ricky Stuart was eventually poached from the Eels on a three-year deal, and Shillington believes the former NSW Origin and Test coach is the ideal candidate to mend Canberra’s fractured playing group.

However, Dunemann was the players’ first choice because of his strong relationship with the club's bank of young talent.

"Mal Meninga rang a few of us and asked us who we thought would be best for the job," Shillington said.

"We were all pushing for Andrew Dunemann because of his relationship with the young talent.

"Obviously we didn’t get it and Mal spoke to us about other coaches like Neil Henry and Ricky Stuart.

"(Ricky) might be just what the doctor ordered in terms of getting the team together and creating a strong environment.

"That's one of the things I told Mal about Ricky."

Shillington made his NRL debut under Stuart at the Roosters in 2005, but club sources maintain the pair had a cool relationship during their time at Bondi Junction.

Shillington denied any current issues with his former coach.

"I think it was mentioned that I was not happy to be coached by him," Shillington said.

"Things have changed since then. I've probably grown up as a player to handle pressure and criticism and apparently he’s matured as a coach to change his ways a bit too.

"Hopefully it will go well next year."