BY DAN

The search for the Raiders replacement for Jack Wighton will continue.

Last week we were wondering how the Milk would find a solution for their departing five-eighth. Three names kept coming up in the media and with their respective situations seeming fluid the possibility of any of Lachlan Lam, Luke Brooks or Ben Hunt coming town felt real (to varying extents). Over the subsequent period those options have again narrowed.

The Raiders themselves seemed to have cooled on whatever small embers flickered in the Luke Brooks fire. When Brooks rejected the Tigers’ offer the eyes of the league turned to the Milk because of their large endowment of cap space. They immediately, along with a host of other teams, politely declined and continued their search elsewhere.

Presumably that was in the hope on continuing to monitor the Ben Hunt situation, which became as chaotic as a children’s party at one of those plastic play centres. In the midst of all the cake and screaming all that was left if Ben Hunt saying he was going, preferably back to Queensland, and the Dragons saying he wasn’t. When Paul Gallen got on TV to basically beg for Shane Flanagan to be given another chance it had reached peak ridiculousness. On his radio show on SEN Jimmy Smith said he’d received word that Hunt’s family was happy to stay where they were in south-east Sydney. He speculated it would allow Hunt to sign with the Bulldogs. For his part Coach Stuart tried to dead-bat the issue and avoid a fine for getting involved when it’s not allowed.

Regardless, a theme began to emerge. Hunt would get his way and leaving the club for home or a Sydney contender, no matter the forlorn protestations of the Dragons. Canberra’s strategy was to potentially use chaos as a ladder, but realistically the major thing keeping them involved is Hunt’s manager’s hope the Raider Raise will make sure the Titans (or the Dogs, or maybe even the Roosters) match or up his current deal.

So Canberra’s search continues. Lachlan Lam seems to only name the Raiders are continually associated with, only there’s not been much coverage that has mentioned to actual views of the club. It’s a low risk play, akin to bringing Danny Levi on board. Perhaps his year in the Super League has turned him from handy to high-standard. He wouldn’t be the first player to benefit from game time and confidence. More likely he’s a depth addition at a position that is shallow. The best bit is he’s cheap and he’s young. That’s the kind of player that may have been overlooked and could outperform a team-friendly contract. There’s some complication in transfer deals and the fact his Dad, the coach, says he can’t come out to play, but that feels more like posturing than anything.

Regardless of how this plays out Lam by himself isn’t a plan. That leaves us with speculation and hope and a host of dead-ends. The hard bit is we simply do not know what’s going on behind closed doors. Sticky told the Canberra Times that there’s work being done but he doesn’t want to go into it. That’s fair. Players like Hunt, or Melbourne half Jonah Pezet, are contracted trough 2025 and can’t be officially approached. If the Raiders are in either chase they can hardly advertise it. English players like Jack Welsby or Lewis Dodd are worth pursuing but I can’t help but think if they were options they would be sorted by now. The deal for George Williams was ‘all but done’ the March before he came to town. One can’t help but think the club’s singed fingers in relation to English players may be driving decisions in that regard.

Even when it comes to players that are actually available there’s been no evidence of the Milk getting involved as yet. Sometimes that’s good. Josh Schuster seems to think he’s worth the same as Jack Wighton despite being as reliable as my editing. That’s a hard pass. Blake Taafe is still out there but apart from him being offered by the Rabbitohs it’s not clear there’s any interest from the Raiders. Is he a worse plan than what we currently know?

My guess – and in the absence of any further evidence it’s just that – is that the Raiders are likely trying to avoid shutting down any pathways while they pursue multiple options (hence the rumours about Lachlan Lam and not much else). Low-cost depth options allow them to provide a baseline of surety for next year while staying in the chase for multiple high-cost options that may take more time and potentially dynamite to make happen.

There’s a risk to this approach. As the proverb says if you chase two rabbits you’ll catch none. Hanging on in the hope that the Hunt situation (or another long-term hope) takes a green tinge could lead to them missing out on opportunities overseas or otherwise. They’ve seen that approach play out with the mess they’re currently in with backrower depth where the chase of Eli Katoa and David Fifita over summer came up empty. They’re currently dealing with the issues created by that lack of success on the edge. It would be far more catastrophic if a similar situation emerged in the halves. The current approach may attempt to mitigate this risk, but in a sense it could exacerbate it if no ‘high-cost’ option is secured.

To say this is a test of the the Raiders front-office is perhaps trite. Everything is at the moment, and the constant turnover of their spine in recent years has put constant pressure on the Milk to find skilled players to match with the departure of Hodgson, Wighton, Williams, Sezer and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad. Fogarty and Woolford are arguably their only success stories in that space. A failure to find an adequate replacement will only ramp up the pressure on a side that is already being held together with elastic bands and bulldog clips.

This side feels like it’s at a crossroads that could drastically change the ceiling in the coming years depending on the outcome of this chase. They’ve got big investments in Joey Taps and Josh Papalii, and have stacked emerging talents like Matt Timoko, Ata Mariota, Xavier Savage and Hohepa Puru at various points in the pipeline. Nailing this position becomes critical in piecing together these two generations. The pressure is on.

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