BY DAN

As if this last week couldn’t get anymore hectic, the Canberra Raiders have gotten terrible news with the revelation that Josh Papalii would be out for the rest of the 2023 season due to injury (as first reported by Dan Walsh of the Sydney Morning Herald and confirmed by the club). It came with the frankly astounding information that Jamal Fogarty is going to play this weekend.

What a year.

This injury to Papa is to his bicep tendon, the same injury that kept Harley Smith-Shields out for the best part of four months in 2021. I hope Papalii’s isn’t as severe, but the fact he’s having surgery isn’t a good sign. That suggests rupture. I guess we’ll wait and see. My thoughts are with the great man.

For the Raiders there are ramifications in both the short and long term. For this weekend it weakens the Raiders at a position they’re already in desperate need at, with Corey Horsburgh about to attend the judiciary to basically be allowed to play again this season (though it makes that decision more understandable). For a team whose entire game plan is built off the platform that the middle forwards provide the loss of one of their best forwards for the rest of the year would be terrible. To lose two would be crippling.

It also removes a critical leader of the second unit. The Raiders have been getting railed through the middle parts of games and Papalii had been moved to second unit to provide some ballast and leadership. That’s now gone, and those players that had been struggling in the second unit will need to firstly step up to the first unit, and then reinforcements brought in. That’s hardly ideal.

Before this game we’d assumed that an extra forward would come onto the bench in place of Jarrod Croker. With Papalii out and Horsburgh likely joining him, that may not occur. Pasami Saulo and Trey Mooney are the next two in. If Croker isn’t picked then I suspect it’s more likely a back will be picked on the bench (turns out it’s a Croker and Hohepa Puru!) Given the Raiders could possibly lose around 40 percent of their middle minutes for this game, it’s going to be a massive step up for everyone involved. It’s also more weight on Joe Tapine’s shoulders. I hope Stuart doesn’t make him play the full 80, because he will.

This is a blow beyond 2023. Papa will miss out on much of the 2024 pre-season recovering, and it doesn’t take a genius to see how that will likely impact his performance in 2024. Ageing players arguably need to put more into their preparation. This means the father of a city will take longer to get going next season. This will increase the reliance on the next generation of forwards, particularly through the first half of 2024. If they’re not ready now they’ll have a preseason to prepare.

Maybe that’s the silver lining. The Raiders can’t rely on Papa (and Taps) forever. This injury should force Coach Stuart to look beyond the immediate challenges and to start building for more sustainable success. I hope that’s the case.

Fogarty’s return is also helpful, and gives them back their on-field leader, and arguably their most productive spine player over the season. It also increases the options available to Coach Stuart in fixing this mess. Maybe it’s Jack at lock as we saw in the Dragons game. Only time will tell.

But for now it’s nothing but pain, for the big guy, for us, and for the team. This football side was already struggling before this. With no Papa (and maybe no Horsburgh) it puts them at a severe disadvantage, one that is admittedly slightly ameliorated by the surprising presence of Fogarty this weekend. If it felt hopeless on Monday this is just another shade of the same.

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.