BY DAN

It’s seem to have been casually dropped in a recent Canberra Times article that Adrian Trevilyan will be leaving the club.

To avoid confusion, the article states:

With Woolford leaving – along with rake Adrian Trevilyan – the Raiders’ dummy-half stocks for next season will be Danny Levi and Tom Starling, with youngsters Owen Pattie and Shaun Packer as cover.

This is a surprise. Coach Stuart’s recent comments about Trevilyan were clear about his future in the game.

It’s sad. Adrian is a young boy who’s had three horrific injuries over the last three or four years. He’s very talented football player. He’s a guy who will play NRL. I just had a conversation with him this morning and I said “Mate these situations are very hard for a young player”. But he will still play NRL…Adrian Trevilyan will be a hooker in the NRL one day

While no guarantee of keeping him on, it was at least clear from this that Stuart saw value in his. Given the Raiders hooker situation is fluid, I had assumed they would be keeping him on. Canberra signed him to a one-year deal as a supplemental player last year. We had assumed he would be up for a similar deal this off-season, with a view to getting his body right before he a larger commitment was made.

But alas the Times is suggesting otherwise. While we’d normally consider the possibility it was akin to Fox League prematurely retiring Josh Papalii last off-season, the focus of this article was a conversation between the paper and list manager Joel Carbone. It’s reasonable to think that while Carbone wasn’t quoted on Trevilyan specifically, the information of Adrian’s departure came from him. I don’t know if he’s leaving for another NRL team, or a different pathway. Only time will tell. Selfishly I simply hope that this interpretation is incorrect.

For those of you who have been around these parts you’ll know we think this is a disappointing outcome. We’ve long been believers in Trevilyan’s talent. His long-passing game from the grass is quality. His decision making at the ruck is cunning. He provides excellent service, and he can move and shake around the ruck with the best of them. His defence was still developing, but that always felt more driven by experience and physical development that tenacity or technique.

We weren’t alone in our love for him. The late football genius and recruitment manager Peter Mulholland recognised the talent. Josh Hodgson made similar noises. In addition to the above statement from Stuart, the club has had him in the top 30 in the past. They clearly see the value in him. But injury after injury has come for Adrian, and the club has prioritised other resources. That may be driven by Trevilyan leaving, or the reverse. Zac Woolford is out too, and the club has made clear the pipeline of Owen Pattie, Shaun Packer and Xavier Cacciotti, and perhaps the pursuit of Danny Walker, is its focus. There’s plenty of change of change at the position. Adrian is just part of the story.

While we assume the report is correct we remain hopeful that Trevilyan will stay in the club’s orbit, if not on the roster. There’s too much talent there for the club to not try and get the most out of him. For Adrian if it means pursuing pathways elsewhere then we wish him nothing but the best. As Ricky said, he’ll be a regular at the NRL level on day. We only wish it was with the Raiders.

Do us a solid and like our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter (or Threads!), or share this on social media, or i’ll call you a weak-gutted dog. Don’t hesitate to send us feedback (dan@sportress.org) or comment below if you think we are stupid. Or if we’re not.