BY DAN

Trey Mooney, Canberra Raider for the foreseeable future. Get it into you. Get around it. Embrace it with the love of a father who hasn’t seen his kids all day and they’re doing that thing where they smile like they’re either hiding a blunt object or a hug. He’s staying people. We got him.

Look I don’t need to tell you this is a good thing. You know it. Mooney hasn’t been perfect on the field but he’s just 22 and he looks every bit a future first grader. He’s massive, agile, powerful. He’s the kind of forward that can break a game open, and while he’s yet to get the minutes and opportunities to display that at first grade, he continually has proven he’s too damn good for Cup footy anymore (currently averages 4000 metres, 152 tackle breaks and 3 ‘mama there goes that man’ comments per game). In his most recent first grade game we started to get a glimpse of what might be possible. This guy is ready for more and whoever he plays for over the next few years is going to work out just how much more that is. Cue the Kaiser Chiefs. Mooney Mooney Mooney Mooney!

And from the reporting that’s going to be Canberra (now confirmed by the club). Which is amazing for a few reasons. First, there’s been a heap of teams keen as to get the big guy in the door, looking at him the way I look at cold pizza after a night out. There was bigger minutes, bigger lights, genuinely-no-foolin’ opportunities at fame, wealth and dreams at other clubs in Sydney and elsewhere. Canberra, while with the inside running, still had to stick the landing. It didn’t feel likely when they were basically begging in public, saying they were desperate to keep him. It didn’t feel realistic when you looked at the list of middles in Canberra, and at say the Sharks, or the Dogs, and hoped that Trey would stay because he loved the lake and the Raiders (oh Can-ber-ra is wonderful).

Beating out other teams for the signature means that Trey trusts the club. To find that role for him and a pathway to first grade. To take that giant lump of clay and go full Ghost on it. That’s not how it’s felt at times this season. We’ve endlessly fretted in these pages that keeping Trey out of first grade and waiting until this year to actively pursue him in the long term was risking his loyalty. Not out of some idea of a wandering eye but rather out of a recognition by him that his career might be better elsewhere. This is a rejection of that, and a mark of belief from Mooney that Stuart, and the club, will make the best of him.

It’s also continued proof of the club’s continued ability to identify young talent and keep it, forget what the vultures want. We’ve talked about the club’s youth recruitment and pathway system continually churning out enough players with enough upside that they can succeed. Mooney is one of many in that regard. The next step is making sure they stick around long enough to transition from hope to reality.

At this stage we don’t have details but given the Telegraph is reporting it’s a multi-year deal (now confirmed as 3 years by the Canberra Times). We know the Raiders were said to be offering a deal out to end 2027 so I think we can safely assume it’s about that long. By the end of an agreement of that length he’ll be 25 and entering his prime. Canberra will get to see him develop into who he’ll be in the long term. While they might be paying more for Mooney than most clubs for their 5th or 6th middle (also might not, who knows), they’re also making a bet about a partner for Ata Mariota (and maybe Hohepa Puru?) in the long term, and a key impact player over the short.

Canberra have done good work in tying up their future in the spine. But of course what use are the fancy boys if you don’t have the forward pack to match. The Raiders need a good forward pack, it’s right there in the victory song, and Mooney has a good chance to be part of that over the future. For a while it seemed like it wasn’t to be. Thankfully it seems he’ll be staying.

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