BY DAN

One of the many things that made the Raiders victory over the Bunnies impressive was the fact they did it with a side held together by more sticky-tape than Bruce Reid. Coach Stuart will be heading to the supermarket this week for another roll as he tries to patch together yet another team sheet. Instead of one edge, he is now having to hold together two with bit parts and questions.

The complications are sometimes unfortunate (and sometimes home-spun, in the case of Jarrod Croker). This much we know: Jarrod Croker, Elliott Whitehead and Corey Harawira-Naera won’t be playing football on Friday. Add to that Seb Kris and Hudson Young as ‘maybes’ and you get a curious set of decisions required to find the right 17 players. It’s an almost complete decimation of the Canberra’s edges. Poor Matt Timoko is in the group chat sending memes to himself right now.

Finding a solution for Harawira-Naera is easy if Young backs up from Origin. But that in itself is a herculean task. It’s a two-day turnaround from potentially getting through 80 minutes of Origin football. He’s not old (man that last name makes writing complicated) and he’s one of the fittest people on earth but it’s a lot to expect him to play 160 minutes of football in two days. It’s more likely that if he does play its in a rotational role. It wouldn’t be the first time the Raiders have done that. Quite often Josh Papalii has taken such a role post origin.

Should he have passed the Head Injury issues that kept him out of contention last week it makes sense that as the only healthy edge backrower around, Clay Webb would be in consideration. Asking Huddo to cover 80 minutes two sleeps after playing origin is one thing. Expecting to get away with running middle forwards on the edge for another full game feels like winning the lotto and immediately putting it all on red. There’s little option to name Horse on one edge. It seems hopeful to extend the left side to someone like Joe Tapine and expect it not have ramifications.

Moreso it’s probably a good decision to fortify the squad for the coming weeks. Webb may not be your first choice backrower but given the Raiders will be without Whitehead and Harawira-Naera for some time, and with Young likely playing intermittently over the next six weeks then now is the opportune time for Webb to get a start. God knows they’ll need him, or someone, beyond this week.

This is only compounded by whatever the Raiders do in support of Jarrod Croker. There’s no certain solution. Seb Kris could move forwards but he might not play. Harley Smith-Shields was there before Croker and wasn’t having the best time defensively (and that’s before you consider he has the fifth highest error rate in the competition, per the Rugby League Eye Test here) but he may be better for having his confidence rebuilt in Cup footy. Players missing out at wing could shift in, like Nic Cotric, James Schiller. Or debutant in Brad Morkos could come into first grade. Morkos has unending talent and looks ready to me, thought Stuart will no doubt note that Cotric has experience there.

There’s even a question of who gets to hang on the bench. If Young doesn’t play and Cotric comes into the starting side for Croker then do they simply add another back to the bench? Do they bring Peter Hola up to for more minutes in rest for Joe Tapine and Josh Papalii? Last week they both played big minutes. It’s something they can handle, but burning them for points in round 13 and 14 can take its toll if you have to keep doing it through the finals. Or do you want a bit of extra mobility options, given your plugging a middle on an edge, and maybe another edge with another middle? Does Hohepa Puru give you the utility of being able to cover all and sundry. It’s not a perfect way to debut, but like Webb, we’re in a situation that’s beyond offering coordinated pathways. This is all-hands-on-deck gear.

At least if Kris is out the solution at the back is clear: Jordan Rapa……no I’m kidding guys calm down. Xavier Savage has spent enough time watching. While there are good reasons that he hasn’t played first grade yet (people in front of him playing very well, the side generally going well, him needing minutes on the footy field more than he needs 15 minutes as a interchange back). But if Kris isn’t playing then it seems a good opportunity to get 80 minutes of footy with minimal interruption to the team, while also putting money in the piggy-bank of the future. If Kris’s injury is anything more than a week to week thing then it’s beyond a good idea but a rampant necessity.

It will be fascinating to see how Stuart pulls this all together. Rarely have the Raiders had to deal with such a chaotic destruction of a single area of the field. Last week they managed to overcome it because the side made a pointed effort to cover for the challenge that was facing them on that side of the field. This week they will be torn in two directions.

Better get more sticky tape.

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