BY DAN

It’s been a hell of a season for Seb Kris.

Mere months after establishing himself as a first choice centre he was shifted to fullback, a completely different but equally (and arguably more) complex role. Forced to learn on the job it took him some weeks to inject himself into the attack effectively, and he never really got his kick positioning perfect.

Then when things started going pear-shaped for the team, he got injured, dragged himself back early and tried to do his best in a bad situation. Eventually Coach Stuart decided maybe he was best deployed at his actual position. He immediately set about tearing the Tigers’ edge apart before doing the same to his hamstring. He returned from *that* injury early too, at least earlier than any sensible player would from an injury with substantial re-injury risk. Even then he was shunted to the wing, but a cog in the crazy train that George Stephenson Ricky Stuart was engineering.

That he’s been so successful despite his constantly shifting roles is impressive. This was meant to be the year of consolidation, the year he proved last year wasn’t a fluke. He achieved that, mostly by doing a host of other things with surprising efficiency. If only he’d been given more than a cup of coffee where he should – and will – play most of his career.

An admittedly dastardly tackle later and he’s been spared further testing for the year. After all he’s been through he deserves an early mark. Five games is full value for the offence, but it’s hard to argue with it. He did lift. He did push. The player did land on their head/neck region. One may want to raise concerns about consistency or appropriateness but it’s hard to argue with the outcome. Here’s hoping Arthur Andersen can get involved and make sure the Kiwi games and pre-season count for suspension so he doesn’t miss much of next year.

Of course now it puts the Raiders in an even bigger hole than they were already busily digging up from. Stuart trusted Kris to do anything asked of him. That was probably a bridge too far in terms of the non-centre positions he was filling, but if you were naming a preferred Canberra team going forward there’s no doubt he’d be in almost any lineup chosen with winning in mind.

So now presumably Canberra will choose between Albert Hopoate or James Schiller for this weekend. I’m an unashamed fan of Hopoate, but it’s hard to argue his form recently has been anything but terrible. His strength – his willingness to take an unending number of dirty carries in yardage simply hasn’t been the otherworldly level it would need to be to justify the errors that have been a feature of the rest of his footy. Schiller for his part has looked more powerful than I remember in recent Cup outings. He’s behind ‘Bert in the depth chart though. It will be interesting to see which way Sticky goes.

Another winger is available, someone you may never have heard of. Goes by the name of Xavier Savage. His main thing is he’s quick, but he’s also spent most of this year watching first grade. He’s got plenty to work on, as the hot mic apparently caught on the weekend, but it’s surprising that he’s proven his body capable in recent weeks and hasn’t even cracked a 21-man roster.

I’d be surprised if he got a run this weekend. It seems comical (and unfair) to keep him out for so long only to reintroduce him when times are dire. But Stuart has done that a bit lately, first with Strange and Trevilyan, then with Puru and Mooney. If it wasn’t too late to randomly start blooding those players at five minutes to midnight, I guess it’s not too late for Savage either. He is super fast after all. Needs less time (Hmm bit of a stretch).

Look, for now let’s just be grateful that Kris has time to rest, get his body right, and stop being shifted around to any position but the one he should be playing. And if it means that it gets another young player an opportunity to prove themselves, to get some finals footy experience, then maybe there’s some good in a bad situation.

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.