BY DAN

A week ago Ricky Stuart surprised the world (well, me) when he announced Adrian Trevilyan would be playing first grade. This week be doubled down on that, naming debutant (and potential future six of the club) Ethan Strange at centre. This is the same coach that publicly rebuked fans and media (well if you ask him probably only media) for calling for Xavier Savage’s ascension before Stuart deemed him ready. So what’s changed?

The most obvious thing is need. Strange makes the jump because Kris and Jarrod Croker’s hamstrings haven’t been up to the job recently. Kris will be out three-to-four weeks, and even if Jarrod Croker’s injury was minor, hamstrings are notoriously unreliable in healing, and easy to reinjure. Croker hardly has a body of steel, and so a new centre must be found.

We’d speculated that Harley Smith-Shields would be that option. He was tried at the position earlier in the year to less than perfect outcomes. His defence was the main issue, often caught between defenders, pushing out when the read was inside, and vice versa. It’s to be expected. Centre is arguably the hardest place to defend on the field and it’s rare that a young player will have the ability to read and understand what is being thrown at him. Evidently Stuart felt that lesson hadn’t yet been learnt.

So in addition to need and a lack of options, the play of Strange would have also been persuasive, as well as his place in Canberra’s future. Ethan has done his part there. He’s been very good in Cup footy, was man-of-the-match in the under 19’s State of Origin. In what I’ve seen (which is whatever Cup gets broadcast and the Origin game) he looks like a hard, agile runner with a good ability to ball play in the line. That’s a good set of skills to bring to first grade. Stuart is obviously pretty confident in his ability, telling the Canberra Times that he’d felt Strange was ready for a few weeks now. We’ve seen him sitting at the edge of the team-list a fair bit recently, one of the last players to fall out of the squad in the last few weeks.

But he is also part of what could be a very bright future for the Milk. Stuart sees him long-term as a six, and with an immediate need at that position for next year it seems Stuart may be also getting Strange some top-line experience before thrusting him into even more responsibility next year. His partner in that future, Adrian Trevilyan, was impressive in his minutes through the middle of the game last week, and that also may have played a role in convincing Stuart to embrace the future.

It’s a decision that’s not without risk. Tactically, the biggest test will obviously be defensively. As we noted above, centre is a difficult defensive position, one that the equally talented Harley Smith-Shields has yet to master. Melbourne will relentlessly target Strange. He’ll have Jerome Hughes and Nelson Asofa-Solomona or Elise Katoa running at him (I’ll don’t believe for a second Tom Eisenhuth, currently named at backrow, will spend much time there). That’s big bodies to bring down. There’s no hiding there. But with Jack Wighton inside you, at least you know he won’t lack of physical support.

There’s also the context of the moment. Strange is being sent in against top four opposition, on their home field, in a game the Raiders will be desperate to win (and under significant pressure to improve their lacklustre performances since the last bye). Strange can’t solve the Milk’s problems, and Stuart will hopefully provide him a role suitable to his readiness, but it’s a big, chaotic world to walk into.

This does raise questions about other members of the roster, and in particular gives a new shade to Stuart’s willingness to let Harley Smith-Shields go to Parramatta on loan for the rest of the season. If that was just about providing Smith-Shields with opportunity then he’s passed up giving him the same opportunity for Strange. James Schiller, who debuted last year, has also fallen down the depth chart, despite playing plenty of centre in Cup footy this year. Brad Morkos is named at 18 for this week, which suggests he too is rocketing up the depth chart, but before this year I would have pinned him at the next debutant centre. Maybe Sticky sees Strange, and perhaps Chevy Stewart and the incoming Ethan Sanders, as overtaking the ‘old’ next generation. Only time will tell.

Maybe Strange is just that good. We won’t know until we see him against the big boys on Sunday (and to be fair to the man, not even then will we know what he’s completely capable of). It’ll be a massive moment for him (duh) and we cannot wait to see it, and to cheer him on in person (yay footy). I hope he dominates.

Shouts to the boys from the Green Machine Podcast community for contributing to this even though they didn’t know it through the group chat that kept dinging as I was tapping this into my phone on the way home from work. Do me a favour and like the page on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, or share this on social media because love is true and heaven is a Raiders victory. Don’t hesitate to send us feedback (dan@sportress.org) or comment below if you think we are stupid. Or if we’re not.