BY DAN

Elliott Whitehead was once Canberra’s problem solver. The man trusted to fix whatever was ailing the club. Need someone to clean up defensively around the half? He was the man. Need someone to fill in at halfback because yours ‘hurt’ his hamstring? Boom. Elliott to the rescue. How about someone to captain a squad that was losing leaders faster than Michael Stipe lost religion? He took over and did the job. He was Canberra’s Mr Reliable.

Zac Hosking is Canberra’s new Mr Reliable.

Hosking was brought to town as a replacement for the soon to retire Whitehead. The Milk had been on a search for a replacement for years as Whitehead’s body begun to bend under the strain of carrying the hopes and dreams and defensive structures of a city. He’d pushed across to the right from his preferred left to accommodate the departure of John Bateman and the rise of Hudson Young. What was a typical sacrifice of the man that ran his body into the ground to give the Raiders what they needed was becoming a problem that would need solving. Ricky Stuart’s security blanket was fighting a battle none of us can win.

His nominal replacement is quickly establishing himself every bit the winner of his predecessor. It’s been a common and obvious refrain over the last few days that Zac Hosking is the ‘buy of the season’. There’s no doubt his impact has been substantially enough to earn the praise, reminiscent of John Bateman’s for its immediacy and substance, if with a different tenor. Bateman brought chaos, spice and spine to the Raiders. Hosking brings something else – a calm reliability and conventionality. The lines you’d expect a very good backrower to run. The ability and willingness to be adaptive to situation and circumstance. The defensive agility you want them to have. It’s exactly what has been needed. After talking game breakers and stars at the position for years, they’ve found what works and it’s less glamourous, though not less important.

His stats are insane. In two games he’s put together two tries, four try-involvements (second in the competition and most of any backrower) a try-assist, a line break, and 7 tackle breaks (second in the team after Josh Papalii, second most among backrowers across the league). In defence he’s made 36 plus tackles per game and only 4 total misses. Last week he averaged a full 2.76 run metres above expectation per carry (shouts to the Rugby League Eye Test for this. Go read it). This is all while averaging over 100m on the ground.

Sometimes numbers lie but you can see Hosking’s impact in the tape. He’s had critical involvements out ad infinitum. From scoring the first try of the season to becoming the Raiders’ version of Jeremiah Nanai every time a kick goes skyward. His ability to be a calm connection in the backline, such as when he was a perfect conduit between Xavier Savage and Matt Timoko that became a rare ‘own-half’ break for the Milk. Moments later popping a pass in the line for Rapana to score on the last, displaying not just smart line-running but good ball skills. The cut back off his right to go up the guts for 30 plus metres on Saturday. He’s covered so much in defence that the commentators initially blamed him for not covering two spots across the ruck on the Tigers first try because Danny Levi took a mid-set breather. They just assumed he’d be everywhere.

It’s familiar stuff for Milk fans. We’ve seen a lot of this before in a younger Whitehead. Providing what was needed, when it was needed. The ultimate glue guy – Scottie Pippen without the post-career weirdness. When Hosking shifted sides and positions to cover for Seb Kris’ unfortunate Head Injury Outcome it was reminiscent of every time Smell shifted sides, roles, job descriptions mid-game, between games, between seasons, to cover a problem that there was no easier solution for. It made the old backrower the ultimate cog in the Green Machine, and it seems that while the style is slightly different in Hosking, the impact is no less substantial.

Safe to say it’s a been a good start. If there’s a question that this all brings it’s what to do with Elliott Whitehead when he returns from his calf injury, and it’s both ironic and intentional. The replacement is here and it creates a potential challenge in fitting both of these players into 17. My guess is Whitehead starts on the edge before shifting into the middle rotation after the first rotation at twenty minutes. It might happen this week – Smell’s on the plane to NZ after all. It might be a few more before we find out.

It’s just two games, but early signs are that Canberra’s problem of finding a replacement as reliable as Elliott Whitehead seems to be solved.

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