BY DAN

Amongst the tumult of Sunday’s victory over the Tigers, the Raiders had a moment that might be front of mind as they search for a solution to the announcement that Seb Kris will miss 3-4 weeks with a hamstring injury.

The Raiders were on the attack in the 10th minute. A shift right finally had a bit of space and they had more players than their opposition. The Wests winger jammed in on Matt Timoko who tapped the ball on. Timoko skill fully tapped the ball on and if Cotric had continued moving with the play he would have had a simple catch and run to the line.

Unfortunately for those handsome milkmen, Nic had stopped. Presumably because he thought Timoko would just take the tackle, or because he’d catch and flick, or any other reason that you can think of. The point is he stood still and the ball drifted harmlessly through the air where he would have been if he’d simply continued on his line.

It spoke to a problem the Raiders risked with their shifting of backline players last week. A lack of cohesion, of recent experience playing together. Change and cohesiveness are not easy bedfellows. It’s a problem they’ll have to get used to, given the announcement that Seb Kris will be out the next 3-4 weeks with a hamstring injury. I’m no doctor but it’s rare that a player self-diagnoses, as Seb did on the weekend, limping off the field. When they do it’s never a good sign. Hamstrings being fickle and highly reinjurable (not a word) it seems possible it may even be the last time we see Kris until a possible finals appearance.

This puts the Raiders in a really interesting position. Kris was covering for Jarrod Croker, who had his own hamstring injury to deal with. This was given as 1-2 weeks, which lent credence to the theory that this was a polite way to leave Croker out of the first choice 17. An older player with a bung hamstring is not a one week affair, so on one level one hopes he’s not risked. It will be interesting to see if he is rushed back.

The other option that has been used at left centre this year is Harley Smith-Shields. He’s continued to have strong outings in Cup footy this year despite not having the best of it in first grade. The Raiders had tried to lend him to Parramatta for the back-end of this season (he’s contracted to the Milk for 2024), presumably in order to get more top-line experience. Well they now have a clear opportunity to do so without shipping him off.

When we go beyond the normal 17 we can see Brad Morkos, who’s impressed in his opportunities in Cup footy, playing on his less favoured side. A more left field solution would be to shift players even further. With Kris off the field Jack Wighton shifted to left centre in defence. It’s a position he’s played for the club, in Origin, and will be playing for the Bunnies next season. To do that you’d need to bring in a half, which would mean either Matt Frawley or Ethan Strange could come into the position. Anyone who knows Sticky knows he’d trust Frawley to fill in at that position. Given Strange would be playing on the left instead of his usual right, it would be a tough spot to put the kid in, but he was in the 21 last week. Maybe it’s a sign. Now that would be exciting, if a challenge of experience.

But more than just dealing with inexperience, the Raiders would have to have a re-jigged backline for the second time in a few weeks. For a team that is trying to find a modicum of normalcy in literally anything it does it’s another challenge, another obstacle and another catalyst for chaos.

So, business as usual then.

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