BY DAN

The Canberra Raiders have offered Jordan Rapana an extra year in the NRL, according to the Canberra Times. He’s weighing it up against presumably more money and years to play in the Super League, with two years reportedly offered by Catalans and Hull FC.

All of this is unsurprising. We’ve been canvassing for months that the Raiders should, and likely would, seek to keep Rapana in town. He’s been a part of the furniture for the best part of a decade now. He’s won games for the Milk as long as he’s been here, in every which way you can think, adding ‘multiple field goals to the resume recently. To be clear he’s been one of the best wingers to play for the club.

At 34 he’s still performing at high level and winning games, expanding him game to meet the needs of the club. Sure he’s lost a clip of pace – it would be insane if a mid-30 something hadn’t. But he’s still producing and still earning his starting spot. He’s behind only Tapine and Timoko in average metres per game. He’s got the second most try assists, is first in line breaks and line break assists (all per fox sports). It’s fair to say he’s no longer the talent he was, and that age may have stripped a yard of pace. It’s also fair to say he has an error in him (second in the team behind Xavier Savage). But it’s more accurate to say he’s still a very good footballer that helps the Raiders win and there’s nothing to suggest that will change over the next twelve months.

As importantly keeping him isn’t a blocker in terms of opportunity to the next generation. James Schiller and Nic Cotric are already on the move. Without Rapana the Raiders depth chart is Xavier Savage and questions. Michael Asomua has never played first grade. Bert Hopoate is a hard worker. Salevio Tamale is a centre. Given the Raiders have used five wingers this season, expecting two with first grade experience to carry the load seems optimistic. Having Rapana for another year is a perfect transition to Asomua or Hopoate taking the reigns full-time.

Rapana also offers perfect insurance across all back five positions should the Raiders need it. The top 30 is tight at the moment, meaning the Milk can’t go out and chase elite outside backs just for the fun of it. They’re heavily loaded up on forwards, an imbalance that works better because people like Jordy (and Seb Kris) balance out the roster. Rapana not only gives them wing depth, but also allows them someone who can play fullback, and has also covered centre in the past. They likely won’t need him to play all of those positions but it helps having someone to be a baseline for them all. Being the lone experience in a young back five isn’t anything to sneeze at either.

While it makes plenty of sense for Raiders to want to keep Jordy it makes even more for him to want to leave. Canberra, rightly, are only keen to offer him an extra year and a (probable) fairly standard wage. He is 34 after all, and if it extends into a multi-year deal the risk of fall-off gets higher, and the impact on the pipeline becomes greater. As noted he’s being offered two years, and probably a shit-ton more money to go overseas. Sometimes there’s a decision to make about what’s best for your family. That can be money or staying in Canberra. Or it could be moving to the south of France. Given he’d have old mates like Smell and Nikola waiting for him to arrive only smooths the transition.

I’m also not surprised we’re hearing about it. This has come from the mouth of Donjamin Furner, who told the Times:

We’re going to give him the time that he needs because his experience would be handy, but he’s looking at more than one [year overseas] so he might take that….If he takes that, great, but if he doesn’t he stays with us and it’ll be fantastic for us.

If we were finding this out through the media rather than from the club I would suspect that Rapana was trying to squeeze an extra year out of Canberra. When it comes from Raiders HQ it makes me think Furner isn’t sure he’s got enough in the offer to keep Rapana and is floating the idea of Jordy leaving so people don’t freak if he does. An alternative reading is that Furner has people on the market he wants to grab but needs to find out if Jordy is interested in one of his remaining roster spots. This is intended to move the discussion along.

So while there’s an urgency for Canberra there likely isn’t one for Jordy, given the NRL and Super League’s mostly concurrent seasons. Jordy could wait until January and both Canberra and Catalans will still find a way to keep him. So nothing is pressing this along other Rapana’s own decision making process. I’m not certain we see a deal before the end of the season.

Jordan Rapana has been one of Canberra’s finest, and still is. While the heights he finds may not be as electric as years gone by, there’s plenty of reason for the club to keep him. He may still go, and that’s ok. But I’m glad the Raiders are trying to keep him.

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