BY DAN

The Raiders’ front office have got through a lot of work recently. But there’s still plenty to do. Only there’s dwindling room in which to do it.

Before the season pretty much the entire squad was up for grabs. Of a 30 man squad 24 of them were either able to negotiate with other clubs, or out-and-out off contract, from 1 November this year. Only Tapine, Papalii, Timoko, Savage, Corey Harawira-Naera were locked up, and the Red Horse had a player option for 2025 which theoretically would allow him to stay at the club for the medium term.

Since that time there’s been a lot of decisions made about which talent to retain or release (and some, like Jack Wighton’s decision, taken out of their hands). They’ve announced deals to keep Emre Guler, Seb Kris, Albert Hopoate, Jordan Rapana, Danny Levi, Adrian Trevilyan, Tom Starling, and Chevy Stewart. An extension has also been reported for Tom Starling. They’ve ‘loaned’ Brad Schneider to the super league in much the same way Rob once lent me the book of Jurassic Park (he never got it back), and nearly did the same to Harley Smith-Shields. And they’ve brought Ethan Sanders and Sami Sasagi to the club.

Importantly it seems they’ve resolved the key retention questions with the reporting of Corey Horsburgh’s four year extension (to end 2027) at a very reasonable $2.3m (or around 550k a year). Given he can get through 70 minutes of quality middle work as both a runner and link man while being the defensive workhorse the Raiders often lack, the value is clear. This deal, combined with the already reported four year extension for Hudson Young locks away two emerging origin forwards for many years to come.

It’s worth noting that Young’s deal hasn’t been announced by the club (nor has the Horse’s but the timelines are obviously different). Before you get worried it’s worth remembering the last time Young was up for extension there was a substantial lag between reporting and announcement. Given the Tele’s somewhat bullshit reporting of wages recently has him on 700k a year (i.e the value of his new deal), perhaps the deal has been finalised and we just have yet to be told. Perhaps there’s still promises in the deal that require a clear idea of what Canberra’s squad looks like before it can be finalised. The Raiders are having enough trouble finding someone to partner Young in the backrow, so one would hope again that there’s no issue from their end. By all reports Huddo loves the Can and the Milk. And we love him too. Please never leave Hudson.

Did that sound desperate? Ok moving on.

Alongside finding a replacement for Jack (that we touched on last week) these were obviously the most important signatures for this round of negotiations. But it’s also worth noting a decision was made on the role of Jarrod Croker’ going forward’s situation, potentially the most tricky of the remaining issues. Canberra were faced with a complex question of what to do about the ageing hero of the people. Initially he’d say he’d like to stick around and play footy next year, and would have done it for the minimum.

This put Canberra in a situation where they would have to balance the benefits of Croker’s presence in the top 30 against the fact it may require them to keep an otherwise important or emerging player out. With Kris, Timoko, and potentially Strange usurping him on the depth chart, and a host of outside backs coming through at various points in the system (Morkos, Schiller, Asomua, Anderson, Smith-Shields), it always felt like there was potential for a blockage.

Croker took that decision out of the club’s hands in announcing his retirement. It’s hard not to think the club saw the writing on the wall, which is why they put so much into his 300th game recently. Maybe they knew his body wasn’t going to cooperate much longer. It wouldn’t be the first time the player was the last to know. I’m curious as to who the club sees as taking over his role as the old head/leadership role going forward (because is Jordan Rapana leading you anywhere but into a bar fight? Mind you, best bar-fight wingman ever). There’s no shortage of old dudes at the club though – it was one of the oldest rosters in the league this year.

One of these without a contract for next year that will almost certainly have one is Matt Frawley. He seems to have taken over the Sam Williams Memorial ‘dude that Sticky trusts’ position at the back end of the roster. A shepherd for the young halves and a ‘break-in-case-of-emergency’ half (and occasional hooker). This role isn’t just our vibes. In the lead up to his debut Ethan Strange spoke of Frawley’s role in mentoring the young halves in Cup. Deals to keep Williams around usually appeared when the rest of the roster was locked down, so I assume the same will happen with Frawley. With Strange and Ethan Sanders likely to have a big role at the club over the coming years it makes sense to have an old head around the joint to shepherd their development.

This, of course, requires you ignoring that Jamal Fogarty, is already an older head, with more experience than Frawley. I presume with his time tied up in first grade the thought is having these players in both squads is going to be critical with such a bevy of young halves. With the Raiders in a desperate search in deeper and darker corners for experienced and first-grade quality halves play, keeping a player that isn’t going play first grade feels like a luxurious use of a roster spot. Indeed having him as a ‘mentor’ makes sense, until one wonders if having him control the game in Cup footy actually took responsibility and opportunity away from Schneider, thus delaying his development, and contributing to the club’s loss of faith in him. One can only speculate.

The other curious off-contract situation is Clay Webb. Webb is a position of need (backrower), still young (just 20), and has been praised by Stuart in the past as a hard-worker. In 2022 he seemed a few years away from first grade and this season has seen him unable to crack the top line despite the Raiders needing edge forwards more than I’ve needed a drink to calm the nerves after each victory this year. He’s off contract and whether he’s given a contract next year will likely be determined by a balance of probabilities as to whether he can contribute to first grade next season.

These decisions may be at the margins but they are still influential. According to zerotackle.com Canberra now have 26 of their 30 top 30 roster spots already locked in for next year. That doesn’t include Frawley or Webb, or Ethan Sanders, who they almost certainly will hold a spot for in the hope they can add him before 2025. It also doesn’t include Adrian Trevilyan, who will reportedly be on a development deal but I think will be upgraded (or i’ll start a goddamn million-dan march on Raiders HQ). Hohepa Puru, unquestionably ready for a top 30 spot, is also yet to have a more substantial deal.

The quantity of work the front office has got through this year is noteworthy. But they still need solutions at five-eighth and backrow (depending on how sure you are about Sasagi filling in there, and Corey Harawira-Naera’s return to football)). There’s not a lot of options out there and the ones that are talked about (Ezra Mam, Ethan Sanders) don’t deliver relief until 2025. There’s also not much roster space in the list to throw darts against the wall and hope. The consolidation phase has taken place. How they manage the next phase has to be as intricate and precise as a well-played game of chess.

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