BY DAN

The pathway of the young star is rarely straightforward. For every ‘sure thing’ there’s a player that grows in fits and starts. For every peak there’s a valley. The tough bit for both team and player is knowing when to hold on.

Xavier Savage entered this year as the presumptive fullback. Not only that but the talk around the game was that he was going to be a difference maker for the club; tapping into the vast reserves of pace and other talents would be the difference between the Raiders’ attack being workmanlike and elite. Then during the first trial he suffered a heinous broken jaw. Now he’s not playing first grade, and is being named in Cup footy (and missing games despite not being listed on the injury report). Today he posted cryptically on social media. Nothing is how it was meant to be. What is going on?

Instead of being a difference maker at fullback in first grade Savage is stuck in NSW Cup. In recent games he’s been relegated to the wing while the other future of the club, Chevy Stewart, gets experience as the custodian amongst men. When Sebastian Kris was injured recently Savage was 18^th man, and Jordan Rapana instead filled in at the back. Savage has only played the one first grade this year – on the wing against the Dogs. It was not his best game but then again wing was never his best position, and who wants to catch Matt Burton’s bombs anyway?

In relegation to Cup footy Savage hasn’t demanded repatriation to first grade; more politely requested it. In what we’ve seen it’s been a familiar tale. In clear space he’s looked as incredible as always but errors and weaknesses have remained. He’s pushed passes he shouldn’t. He been found out physically and in effort areas. 115m on the ground, 2.5 tackle breaks a game is fine but noticeably behind players like Harley Smith Shields (well over 150m a game in the same period). The only stat worth noting is something we’d expect – basically finding the try line every game. From the outside one can only come to the assumption that the reason he’s not playing first grade isn’t that these areas for refinement exist, it’s that they’ve not improved from last season.

This stasis in development is a two-way street. Many (including us) have expected Savage to get more time in first grade this season. This would have helped him to develop his game with clear sight of the standard expected. More trust from Coach Stuart may have been one way to get where he needs to be and to have the confidence to find his best. But one must acknowledge that Savage hasn’t separated himself from the field in Cup footy, and has been fits and starts in his first grade opportunities. He still needs to improve on fundamental areas of the game.

As these pages have said before this isn’t something to panic about, provided that Xavier knows where he stands and is still comfortable. He’s only 21 after all, and with the club until the end of 2025. The process of fulfilling potential isn’t a straight path and it requires the development of skills that often don’t come naturally. Savage is a late recruit to rugby league (having been a sprinter through much of his youth) and some of the things other players are used to (like strategies in yardage that allow him to maximise his advantages such as getting between defenders and to his belly) are new to him. He made progress in some of these areas last year, only to seemingly fall back after his broken jaw this year. That’s pretty understandable.

My guess is that he just needs to play footy. Through that prism you can see the logic of him playing Cup. He needs time on the field, be it first grade or otherwise. Given Nic Cotric is now hanging on to the 17, that a still-budding star is on the outside looking in should worry no one. The last thing Savage needs now is to sit and watch first graders play and hope for an injury or 10 minutes at the end of the game. For him development comes with time. The good news is that he, and the Raiders, have plenty.

There is a curiosity to him being named on the wing. The argument that you can develop playing Cup footy is fine (and to be honest one i’m comfortable with) but one cannot learn to play fullback on the wing. The only deduction we can see is that the club doesn’t immediately see Savage as better than a hobbled Kris or a reluctant Rapana, and may not see him as a better long-term prospect that Chevy Stewart. If that’s the case then there’s no shame in Savage becoming a (hopefully) rich man’s Jason Saab, it’s just not we had hoped for him.

It may not be what Savage had hoped for either, and that’s where the actually problem with all this comes into sharp focus. Player development isn’t just a process of shoving young players forth in a sink or swim scenario, lauding the ones that work and discarding the ones that don’t. But similarly if expectations about role and minutes aren’t being met then clear and effective communication and player management is needed. Getting the most out of all resources is a critical part of the Raiders’ success. Whether Savage becomes the next Billy Slater or Josh Addo-Carr isn’t relevant now; that he becomes the best footy player he can be is the big thing. Canberra can’t just do what Brisbane or Parramatta or Penrith does and dip into the deep end of the talent pool.

This requires a lot of trust of Coach Stuart’s man management and planning skills. His record on these is mixed. Stuart has definitely shown he can turn talent into a first grader. Whatever his role in their development its clear that Jack Wighton, Joe Tapine, Hudson Young, Corey Horsburgh have made leaps under his tutelage. Some rave about his willingness to be honest about their stregnths and weaknesses. But there’s plenty of examples of where his ability to manage talent and egos hasn’t been successful (see for example George Williams, Tevita Pangai Jr, Josh Hodgson or John Bateman).

The key is that both Savage and Coach Stuart have clear communication about expectation and pathways to first grade and his future. That is also the major worry. It’s impossible to tell from the outside if that’s the case, and for a fanbase that’s had it’s share of bad departures recently, it’s understandable there’s an unease with the situation. I hope Savage is pissed that he’s playing Cup but only if it leads to the kind of reaction that can spur him to greater heights. For Stuart I can’t help but think he’s burned by the performance of Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad this season as well as the arrested development of Tom Starling. Both have highlighted decisions made by the Raiders hierarchy to bet on possibility rather than reality, and reinforced an already existing tendency to privilege experience over youth (to an extent though – Stuart is currently choosing a 24 year old over a 21 year old in first grade, and an 18 year old over a 21 year old in Cup).

There’s a lot of competition for back five positions at the moment. Coach Stuart elevating Albert Hopoate ahead of Nic Cotric in the depth chart suggests there’s no sacred cows here and Savage can have the spot if he earns it. No one in that unit covered themselves in glory on Friday so there may be some daylight for him to climb towards. We’ll be watching closely to see how he goes.

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