BY DAN

We’ve had more updates than Monty Burns’ car being turned into a cube, but finally our day is here. The Canberra Raiders have officially announced that Xavier Savage’s deal to stay with the Canberra Raiders is signed, sealed and delivered. A weary nation can now sleep easy – a two year extension means Savage will be with the club until the end of 2027.

We’ve been over why this is good before but here’s the short version. X is really good, and showed last year that previously perceived weaknesses were no longer the case. His ability in yardage went from problem to weapon, his defence went from patchy to powerful. All this while maintaining the things that made him great – lightening pace and preternatural footballing ability. At just 22 there’s still things to improve but the quality is already there, and the possibility of what could be is more enticing that a cold beer on a hot day.

He’s not only a good outcome for maintaining talent on the field, but also for proving that the Raiders can turn their young chargers into what we all hope them to be. Given how much the club is putting on the dice roll of youth, this is critical. The pathway for players requires patience, and pointing to X and saying ‘look he went through a lot but now he’s playing first grade/origin/in my dreams’ (ok don’t say the last bit) is a strong argument. It’s not so much a blueprint as a mudmap, but for Canberra having ‘a’ plan sometimes is a big step up.

Now this is done it does round out a bargaining cycle. Canberra don’t have any more ‘core’ players coming off contract until the end of the 2027 season (noting Owen Pattie will need an upgrade at some point, and Savelio Tamale and Noah Martin are off contract in 2026). It means the ‘tense’ retention phase is settled, at least for a bit. The next phase will be looking the 2025 and working out who to keep around. Bert Hopoate, Guler, Levi, Jordan Martin, Sasagi and Starling are all role players with varying likelihood of sticking around. If they do or don’t will unlikely be the determinant of whether the Milk reach any sort of promise land.

But this is a brick by brick operation. Canberra have a long term six. A couple of long-term outside backs and at least one quality fullback, if not two. They might have a long term nine, If their views on Owen Pattie are made real (according to the Tele they didn’t enter the Reece Robson sweepstakes because of their love for Pattie). With Ethan Sanders and/or Jamal Fogarty, and the experienced forwards, there’s the makings of a proper squad there. It’s exciting.

Xavier Savage is a critical part of that. It’s not often you say that about an outside back, but when you’re building from the ground up every bit is important. The Raiders have got it right here. If they do manage to rebuild the promise land in Canberra, X will be a big part.

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Feature image courtesy of Getty