BY DAN

Three long weeks into free agency and we finally got some confirmation of who the Raiders might be chasing. Leo Thompson is the mark, with the Canberra Times revealing they had formally reached out to his manager.

Is…is that it?

We already knew that. We knew it in September, before Leo was officially on the market. As noted then, and in the recent Canberra Times piece, the Raiders are just one interested party in a host of them. Two of which seem to have unending wells of cash to spritz around like the kids are eating corn (Marge, the rains are here). With plenty of money leaving recently we’d lean towards the Knights being well placed to keep him. But after all this time this is still the only publicly confirmed source of intent for the Milk.

Leo is an answer but not the answer for the Raiders. He doesn’t address a need or a weakness. He’s adding to a pile that is already big at the club. And for that he’s a good player that Canberra will be buying at the top of the market for. If they do win this chase it’s not pointless – you can never have too many good middles. He’s very good, and the timing of his arrival would would be perfect for when Josh Papalii potentially retires (but also maybe he doesn’t). But there are better ways to spend the clubs money. So colour me unexcited. Give me something more Canberra. Like the children yearn for the mines, I yearn for an interesting free agency acquisition.

It is interesting that even if they do get Leo, they still have a spot in their top 30 to fill. If Leo isn’t going to be one of them then they’ll still have two spots to fill. I know it’s difficult maths but try to keep up. That means the Raiders are presumably in the market for something other than Leo. And while we’ve speculated for some time that might result in Owen Pattie getting an early upgrade, that feels like an absolute last resort. Pattie is with the club for next year, can play first grade from the supplemental list. Why give him the juice now?

It feels silly to even write it but Canberra need a 9. Where’s the value add in saying it? They’ve been deep in that market like a long-arm Kangaroo, and come up with nothing but spiders. Luckily they’ve got Tommy Starling, increasingly one of my favourite players because of the sheer resilience of his character, his willingness to physically battle players twice his size and win. That he can happily lay 50 tackles a game and barely flinch is stunning. The Raiders need that kind of defence in the middle. But even Tom would (and does) recognise there are areas of his game that need improvement. Unless something drastic happens they need help.

Are they getting it? Call me crazy but I’ve always had this vibe that Canberra’s deals don’t generally follow the traditional path of announce interest, make offer, success! Generally the rumour is that a deal is being done, and then we find out it totally was done. When it’s a public choppers-and-cameras police chase scenario the Raiders rarely fair well. So this almost feels like a facade; to prove that they’re looking for names we know (like Thomas Jefferson Johnson) even though there’s other names to be considered.

Ok that’s a bit flat-earthy. The waiting game does feel like it’s getting old but there may be a point to it. If they’re going under the radar, maybe they’re just waiting for someone to fall into their laps. Keeping a space for a player with a grudge and a need to get out might be the best way to get someone they want. The people being pushed out of their clubs so far (Foxx, Hunt, Papenhuyzen) haven’t been in positions of need (Hunt can play hooker but would be insane to agree to do so every week at age 35 when he can get a milli to play a relatively less strenuous position). Maybe Canberra can wait and get Jayden Brailey. Maybe they know they can wait and *still* get Corey Paix. Maybe they can get Danny Wal….

Alright maybe we’re getting no one. Maybe this year there is no Santa coming to fill our lime green stocking.

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