BY DAN

The rumoured deal to bring Zac Hosking to Canberra has been confirmed with the club announcing that he would be signing on a three-year deal, effective immediately.

Hosking’s provides a solution that Canberra have been searching for like it’s the One Piece. The list of names that have been in this position is long and of varying status. They’ve taken shots at stars (Fifita, Koloamatangi), highly rated second-tier players (Luce Leilua, Helium Luki, Eli Katoa), emerging players (Teig Wilton). They’ve finally settled on ‘solid journeyman with a tiny bit of upside’. It may not be the gold-plated solution of others but is certainly better than no solution.

Hosking will provide exactly what the Raiders need on the right edge: solid two-gap defence, hard-running lines, and generally high work rate. As we’ve noted his defensive record was exemplary in 2023 (91 per cent tackle efficiency, elite for a backrower), admittedly as part of a very good system. His ability to work well off halfbacks engaging the line is something the Raiders were made painfully aware of in their encounters last season.

He may not be the star they were searching for but that’s ok. You don’t need stand out performers at every position. The salary cap makes it necessary that some players are just not net-negatives. Fill a gap, keep the ship afloat and make it possible for other players to get that sunshine. We see these players in all team sports. Seen but not heard. Capable but not spectacular. To paraphrase the romantic comedies of my youth he may not make us smile, but at least he won’t make us cry.

The deal is for three years, and as we noted last week this means the Raiders simultaneously have a ‘high-floor’ solution for the medium term (and maybe even long, but let’s not get too carried away). His flexibility and low-cost means he can fit into the club, fill a gap and recruitment manager Joel Carbone can still be on the lookout out for bigger names. The surplus resources are out there if they can get them. They’ve already made noise about the Cows, but they’re not the only place they can be looking.

We’ve made an assumption here that they’re not paying a lot for him. I would assume the money is more than he was on at the Panthers or the Broncos, but that’s the deal. You’re buying a finished product developed in arguably two of the best systems in the competition. This is why Hosking took a short-term unders deal at Penrith rather than more security elsewhere. But its still unlikely the cost is much more than an average NRL deal. If the Raiders get consistent first-grade production out of an average deal the consumer value is still in surplus.

It also means the emerging project of ‘buying agility’ continues apace, with Hosking (backrow/centre) joining Hohepa Puru (lock/hooker/five-eighth), Simi Sasagi (backrow/centre/lock) and Kaeo Weekes (fullback/five-eighth) as key recruitments in the last 18 months. I tend to interpret this as a rebalancing of the pack away from a focus on size (Papa, Taps, Guler, Mooney, Mariota) and a recognition that they hadn’t been able to produce players that filled the gaps in the roster. That’s what recruiting is for, and i’m glad that for the most part they’ve been able to meet their needs on the market. Who knew they could do that?

This is a good deal for the club. It ends a collective nightmare, and allows for transition away from Elliott Whitehead as his career winds down. It did seem desperate for a moment there. Now we can see our hunch that Sticky might have been negotiating in his comments was accurate (well, that bit of the article). They still have a spare space in their top 30, but I suspect that won’t be filled before round six (for Ethan Sanders related reasons). They’ve filled a glaring hole in their roster, provided depth at a key position.

Now they’re finally ready for 2024.

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