BY DAN

The cold light of day is a time for sober reflection. The heat of the moment has dissipated and now the antiseptic qualities of sunshine can heal. The Canberra Raiders chances of making the finals are all but over. Barring a miracle that would make the Bethlehem big dog jealous, the Raiders will be spending September wondering what could have been, ruing harder than Ruan Sims.

But that doesn’t mean the next month needs to be a waste. Canberra have been a team with half an eye on the future this season, in knowledge they were building for a promise for the day after tomorrow rather than delivering today. So how do they put that into practice over the next month?

One way thing they definitely need to do is play Ethan Strange at six

Ricky Stuart has this thing where he loves halfbacks who play footy the way he tells them to. It’s why Sam Williams had such a long tenure. It’s why Matt Frawley inexplicably became starting five-eighth last season. It’s why Stuart is spending all this time having an emotional affair with Adam Cook. Cook started ahead of Strange in the Bulldogs loss. Then he was on the bench at 14 in the next game, and when he came on pushed Strange out to centre. Canberra suffered in the immediate (40-12 with this lineup). But they’ll also suffer in the long term if this repeats again next week.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Cook is a very good halfback. But he’s exactly that. He’s not a six, he’s a seven, and the skills he offers are the exactly the same as they get from the guy wearing that jersey. Fogary’s form has dipped with Cook’s presence, and if doing the ‘right’ thing gives Stick such a horn then he should bite the bullet and pick Cook ahead of Fogarty.

He can’t, obviously. The team would riot, the pundits would too. We’ve spent 12 weeks listless (with and without Cook) waiting for Fogarty to come back and take us under his wing. Then he comes back and suddenly he’s on some jobshare bullshit. It’s impossible to prove causality, but Cook playing alongside him has correlated with some of the most unimpressive play of Fogarty’s time in Canberra, and is reminiscent of when he was wrestling with Jack Wighton for control of the team. We all knew then the team was better when Jamal had control. Now we’re doing this dance again.

While undermining your lead half is funner than we realised, doubling down and undermining your build for the future is pure and unadulterated Ricky Stuart. If the Canberra Raiders win a premiership in the near future, it’s going to be because Ethan Strange is a very good, if not elite, six. They’re certainly paying him elite six money. He projects as a perfect foil as a running five-eighth outside Fogarty (or Sanders, or Cook for that matter), has proven this season he can play both sides of the ruck, at first and second receiver. He’s shown he’s got elite feet, a stunning defensive game. He is ready now. He just needs reps.

These reps are important. The thing he has to develop is decision making. That’s the next step; understanding the game, strategising, and being able to sum up all the collected wisdom in the split seconds afforded by the pace of NRL footy. He’s had moments of that this year, and more where he’s been imperfect. That’s ok. He’s fucking 19. But the more info he collects, the more opportunties he has to try and process it and make a decision, the better he’ll be. He can’t do that at centre, and he can’t do it in cup. The decisions are either different or at a different pace.

This isn’t the 1990s. Playing centre as a way to transition to five-eighth isn’t it. Then the six was at best the third guy to touch the ball on any ruck. Now sixes get their own side to run, they often get the ball at first receiver (as one would want Strange to). Centres, particularly in Canberra, only get the ball when the halves deign it relevant. Standing in the cold won’t help Strange improve his decision making.

And in Stuart’s defence he’s mostly recognised this. But in recent weeks late 2023 has seeped back into his soul and spare halves have found their way into a squad that didn’t need them. Strange was ‘rested’ one week, then forced wide out of necessity. Would Cook have been used as a lead half when he came on regardless? Likely, but we’ll never know. At least until next Saturday.

In 2024 Stuart has unique political capital to spend on development. Getting Strange reps at six is about spending that capital on something that could deliver in the future. Wasting without their being a clear immediate need or benefit is insane. Either pick Cook at 7, pick a proper utility (hello Hep Puru) or pick an actual back on the bench to cover HIAs. But don’t force Ethan Strange to be underutilised, the not get a chance to learn the position he hopefully will win a grand final for the club at, all because you have a weird halves-based dom fetish.

Canberra’s immediate season is looking pretty cooked right now. But we have something in Strange, and it needs to be nurtured. Stuart has been granted the capital by the people of the capital to build. He should do just that. There’s plenty that can be gained in the next four weeks to pay off in the future.

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