BY DAN

Buried at the bottom of the Canberra Times article that revealed the signatures of Ata Mariota and Hohepa Puru was an important little nugget of information: that the Raiders were seeking to extend Trey Mooney.

At face value it seems a move business-as-usual as a used car salesman trying to sell you on an extended warranty. Mooney is a talented forward the Raiders targeted years ago, brought to town, and he’s now hitting first grade. Of course they want to keep him. Of course they want to unleash this massive man mountain on an unsuspecting league.

Only it hasn’t always felt that way. It’s been a weird ride for Mooney to this point. He came to the club a heralded recruit – the Raiders yet again picking the pocket of a big Sydney club with plenty of talent but no opportunities. He was earmarked as a star of the future and like the naive little flowers we are, we assumed that this meant there would be a linear trajectory from there to first grade stardom.

Only that hasn’t happened. Before the 2022 season a player interview bit done by the club asked who was going to make their debut that year (i’d find you the link but man I scrolled through three years of video on the website and ended up just watching old highlights). Nearly every player said Trey Mooney. It reflected the esteem his teammates held him in, and the expectations that sat on his astounding shoulders.

Mooney did debut that season, but only played one stint of twenty minutes, before going back to Cup Footy. While playing reggies he spent plenty of time playing as an edge forward, a position Raiders recruitment man and then NSW Cup coach Joel Carbone admitted wasn’t his best position. On the edge he wasn’t agile enough, fast enough in making the intricate defensive decisions required. It wasn’t clear what the plan was – did the club think he was an edge forward or not? Was this a manufacturing exercise? What was the long term plan here?

When he did finally settle in the middle of the field he immediately looked more comfortable. In 2023 it’s where he exclusively played, and he cranked out 150 plus metres a game in reserve grade. He was so dominant, so physically overwhelming, so stunningly bigger and more brutal than everyone else that opposition coaches were reflexively asking to see his birth certificate. Even then though he barely got on the field in the top line, getting four games, with two of them coming as late season suspensions and injuries made his elevation a necessity rather than a reward.

The reasons for this aren’t immediately obvious (to a lesser football mind like your humble correspondent). He looked a powerful carry, and his physical skills translated to the top line. He was disciplined enough, and with more time in the top line could have started to unleash more adventurous play more common in his NSW Cup outings. If I was hyper critical his defence at times has proven less dominant that his body should allow, but one could say that about a few Canberra middles (I see you Emre). Generally though his ongoing improvement has made the fact he’s been so far down the depth chart had to fathom.

But as we’ve been at pains to point out, we know less about football than Ricky Stuart spits out when he’s putting on a press conference masterclass. This ongoing ambivalence to Trey, combined with some curious social media activity from the big guy after the signature of Morgan Smithies was confirmed, was enough to make us worried another talent was on his way out the door. Or at least not being given the priority it should have deserved.

So until the approach of 1 November we”d been intrigued as to what would happen with him and the club. But the revelation that the Raiders have been negotiating with him (and James Schiller and Pasami Saulo) is welcome. It’s good to see he’s still a priority for the club. One might wonder if that puts him before or after Mariota and Puru, both who got deals done earlier this week, but that risks wading into the pace and complexity of individual negotiations. Canberra are keen, that’s the important thing.

Let’s hope they get a deal done. Mooney may not be the apple of the coaching staff’s eye that he is of ours, but whatever has kept him from first grade can’t hold him back forever. His time is coming. It should happen at Canberra.

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