BY DAN

At this time of the year there’s a section of the media that’s keen to talk lineups for round one in the next season. Forget that players quite often move right up to the new year (Zac Hosking even moved in January!). Forget the first game is more than four months away. Forget injuries happen. Pre-seasons happen. Make a guess, have a vibe, and put it down. It feels premature.

It is, however, illuminating. Not in the way that the good people at Fox Sports an their ill think it is. Nothing ever is. Give these dudes a torch and they’d use it as a paperweight. You can view the teams here if you’re desperate. It’s a pretty defensible team. But what you’ll see is that Canberra’s recruit from the Super League, Matty Nicholson, isn’t there. And it’s not just there. I’ve not seen him included on any list of potential starters for next year. He sometimes makes lists of pickups for next season, but he’s just as likely to be forgotten.

Before you get worried the Raider have invested their hard earned in someone who won’t make the grade, it’s important to consider the context of this exclusion. A good chunk of this is the curious mixture of disrespect and ignorance that many of us bring to the Super League. It’s not the best competition in the world (literally) and happens on the wrong side of the world at often impolite times of night (at least when it comes to AEST).

It also matters that the signature was garnered midway through the season, like many Raiders’ pickups for 2025. When you have the attention span that can’t wait until calendar changes before you start guessing about the next season, you can see how they might forgot a recruit from July.

His form may contribute. He didn’t make the English national team for the upcoming tests with Samoa, beaten out for the national squad by John Bateman and Ben Currie, the same players that shared the backrow with at Warrington (as well as Wigan’s Junior Nsemba). England coach Shaun Wane was adamant he should stay in the Super League. Just like he was adamant Morgan Smithies should, before Smithies successful transition changed Wane’s tune to always knowing he was going to make it. Hs lack of selection is a yardstick for those not watching, regardless of the context. Not good enough for England (despite already have played for them). Stamp the card. Write the article.

Wane’s inconsistent and self-serving views aside, leaving Nicholson out speaks to form, thought it didn’t seem that his NRL-ready mix of defensive acumen, effort and agility was wanting in my “vaguely watching super league while I scroll twitter and drink whisky” occasional late-night Wire watching. And let’s be frank; much of the Sydney media finds it hard to watch a Raiders game, let alone tuning in to Super League games in the wee hours of the morning. So it’s a stretch to think they’ve made an assessment based on that.

You might suggest they got this information from Canberra’s coaching staff. But if that’s the case there would be some other news involved. For example a journalist wouldn’t cultivate a relationship with Ricky Stuart (or Don Furner, or Mick Crawley, etc etc) to just ask them fan-base fantasy questions like “four months ahead of the first game and without seeing him this pre-season, do you think Matty Nicholson is in your starting 17?” Knowledge of Nicholson would come as part of a broader conversation about recruitment, planning and all that. There’s be other news, and frankly for this exercise it’s unnecessary to do more than roll out the dartboard and starting hurling.

Whatever the combination of factors here it seems that those assessments of the Raiders 2025 are missing a trick. Nicholson already offers the exact mixture of hard running, agility and defensive work rate that makes a good NRL backrower. His ball skills aren’t Elliott Whitehead level, but there something to build on. Don’t get me wrong there are areas for improvement. I suspect he might need to add a bit of meat to his bones – he can occasionally get beaten in contact on both sides of the ball. He’ll need to make athletic improvements to be a success in the NRL, which is possibly why the ‘experts’ are leaving him out of considerations. But he’s just 21 and likely still growing, learning, and becoming the player he’ll come for the Milk.

I guess in defence of Fox there’s every chance he’s not in the 17 come round one. Maybe he’s a project – in and out of the first grad and Cup with a view to a hearty future. But he didn’t come all this way, and Canberra didn’t pay a ‘substantial’ transfer fee, to watch other people play first grade. They’ve identified a talent they want to nurture. And circumstance will make sure it happens. The Raiders have needed all their backrowers at every point in recent years. Simi Sasagi, Corey Horsburgh, Corey Harawira-Naera and Elliott Whitehead all played more games at backrow than planned. It’s beyond likely that Nicholson will get a shot.

What he does with it, well, time will tell. As we said we think he has the mix of skills to make in the NRL. Evidently others are either not sure, or not paying attention.

Like the page on Facebook, follow me,  Rob, or Viv on Twitter, or share this on social media and I’ll you the best and the worst of me. Don’t hesitate to send us feedback (dan@sportress.org) or comment below if you think we are stupid. Or if we’re not.