By Dan

Ricky Stuart’s post game comments about Xavier Savage both hearten that he’ll stay in Canberra and surprise that he lasted at the club.

It’s been quite a year for Savage. After playing Cup for most of 2023 he’s established himself not only as a consistent first grader but commonly one of Canberra’s best. He’s their lead winger going forward, a critical part of the future of the backline. He’s running hard and proving his worth both in the nitty gritty of one percenters but also in the athletic brilliance. In a backline that he was left out of most of last year through a mixture of injury and circumstance he is now a standout performer. He’s third in metres (behind Mokes and Taps), first in line breaks, fourth in tackle breaks, fourth in try involvements. There’s still work to do – he leads the team in errors – but with this trajectory the hopes we had for him suddenly seem realistic.

It’s been wonderful to see, and when asked to identify the causes of this Coach Stuart articulated a reciprocal belief that Savage and he now had in each other. Stuart noted he’d worked with the family, with Savage’s manager, and with Xavier to establish a pathway for him.

It’s taken him a long time. But having a relationship with his home-carers that were here, his family, having his mother trust the club in regards to us making the right decisions. I know his manager trusts the club in regards to what we’re doing with him.

He then followed with the most purest of Stick explanations when it came to articulating what Savage had done as part of that deal, saying:

I was ready for him to find another club. But he made some different decisions about how he prepared, how he trained and you can see that in his physicality now….I couldn’t be more pleased for that young man

It was a typically frank assessment from the boss. Let’s call it a open compliment sandwich. A more careful approach might have been to say their relationship had sometimes been strained, and that Savage hadn’t always followed the pathway he’d set out for him. That he’d come so far and it was a joy to watch him go before Savage found a way to mesh his natural talents with the demands of the job. But instead he was blunt, as he has a reputation for. And while I assume he’s said similar words, if not stronger, to X behind closed doors, it’s still stood out as an intriguing way to start a compliment.

Stuart’s candid wording highlighted just how far Savage has come, and the work that has gone into his development. We’d never known, or even suspected that the relationship was so strained, instead routinely assuming that Stuart had been clear with Savage about the work needed and the pathway back to first grade. And perhaps he had, but it took a while for Savage to meet his coaches demands.

It also highlighted the treacherous path of talent development. While we expect the club to see the talent with the same reverence we do, when you’ve seen it all you’re harder to impress. Entitlement and ego are rarely in alignment with what the stubbornness of experience and leadership. Indeed Stuart acknowledged his own role in Savage’s imperfect development, noting gave way to the demands of the commentariat too early, and perhaps that held X back. That a player that has been seen by many as a ‘can’t miss’ prospect nearly left the club through Stuart’s management highlighted the risk the new youth movement. Looking at Stewart, Sanders, Puru, Martin or Tamale through this prism can make you nervous.

It also showed it was possible pathway to success, that it was happening with Savage, and that the Raiders are reaping the benefits. Funnily enough these comments, combined with Savage’s comments earlier in the year about wanting to stay in Canberra, make it seem more likely that they’ll find a way to sign an extension for Xavier during the offseason if not before. Savage is on the market so-to-speak, able to sign a deal for the 2026 season with other club’s from 1 November. It seems that he’s found a home with the Milk and I’d be surprised if his next deal isn’t just adding more years to the current (presumably with a top up in money).

The challenge here is trust. These players being developed have to trust that Stuart has their best interests at heart. That he knows how to get the best out of them, to turn them into first graders. In asking questions of the coach on Sunday, the journalist in the press conference revealed Savage had told them exactly that – that Stuart had found a way to get something else out of him.

It probably wasn’t as clear to X that Stuart was right at the same point twelve months ago when he was whittling away his time in NSW Cup. Savage, more recently Trey Mooney and perhaps Hohepa Puru have been frustrated by this process. Others that are less obvious would be similar. One might say Stuart has the runs on the board in making first graders but that doesn’t mean it would obvious to young players seeking stardom. They are asked to take a breath a trust the process.

And so are we. These comments, harmless as they may be, claw at an insecurity for Canberra fans. We are always on the lookout for the big bad other clubs stealing our players. That Sticky may have let a talent like Savage walk seems a luxury the Milk can ill afford. He’s done it before – see Tevita Pangai Junior – and probably been right. I would argue his capacity to assess football talent probably supersedes his coaching ability. But this is a mixture of both – not just spotting where someone is at but also showing that he can get them to where he needs. Stuart and Savage are a success story in this regard.

He got this one right but the challenge only becomes greater. Canberra are leveraged to the hilt with youth. So there’s is little else we can do but hope our trust is well placed.

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