BY DAN

The biggest discussion point facing the Canberra Raiders over the coming weeks is the role of Jamal Fogarty with the club.

According to Coach Stuart, Fogarty’s role is clear, to him and to Stuart.

He’s actually come out and said that he wants to mentor Ethan Sanders, both Ethans. From a senior player, who’s obviously got some talented young blokes around him, that’s a courageous call.

Stick on Fox’s NRL coverage

In his public statements Fogarty has, in a sense, backed this. He’s been clear about working with Sanders throughout the off-season, and how impressed he is with the young player. Sanders too has been clear about his desire to learn from the more experienced half. Fogarty has continuously indicated his preference is to remain in Canberra as long as they’ll have him. But this cake-and-eat it too has a limited shelf life. The two parties exist with polar opposite trajectories.

The Raiders are pointed towards the horizon, focused on what might be in the coming years. To get to their destination they need to build, prepare, and develop their young halves. Jamal, on the other hand, has a career to continue. In an industry where you only have a limited amount of time to make money, you need to get that cash while you can. When you’re a player that started making that money late, you have little time to waste.

These competing trajectories seem to have an inevitable and saddening outcome. Jamal Fogarty will leave the Raiders at some point. Maybe at the end of this season, maybe after next. As Ethan Sanders has said, he’s not here to play backups. Similarly one can assume Jamal Fogarty is not keen to sit around and watch his earning capacity dwindle. Everyone is being pulled in different directions.

If we know how this will end, the how and when will be the interesting bit. We’ve got two decision points coming. The first is round six, by which the club has to decide whether to pay the halfback what he’s currently earning for 2026. If they decline that option, then Fogarty has until round twenty to decide to take less to stay contracted for 2026 with the club.

It’s plainly obvious that there would be much demand for Jamal’s services. It’s probably easier to come up with a list of teams that wouldn’t want him on their roster than the reverse. As his manager recently told Fox Sports:

Jamal would love to stay with the Raiders. However, rugby league is ultimately a business, and things don’t always go the way we hope. Quality halfbacks are rare in the game, and experience is what sets the best apart. If the club chooses not to activate his option, I have no doubt Jamal will attract significant interest from elsewhere.

This is more a statement of fact than intent. If Canberra chooses not to pick up his option in round six, it’s likely Fogarty would be able to earn the same money at another club. He’s still a great footballer, still the Raiders best option at seven, and would be able to contribute to any team in need of a stabilising presence and the experience of someone who has seen every level of the sport.

Such a situation is laden with landmines in every direction. Keep Fogarty around and you risk alienating Ethan Sanders. Push him out and you better be sure that Sanders is the real deal. Managing this process will require relationship managing as intricate and precise as a well played game of chess.

Stick’s reputation for that is mixed to say the least, particularly when it comes to halfbacks. You can go back to his pre-Raiders days (ask Brett Kimmorley how he feels about Stick), but even in just the last few years the Milk have had multiple halfbacks leave the club on questionable terms. Managing player transition isn’t easy, but that doesn’t mean it has to be antagonistic.

Stick’s initial forays into public commentary on the matter have given an insight into how he intends to manage the situation. As he told Fox NRL before Thursday’s game:

Jamal and I will be doing all the discussion. It won’t be anything about what his manager is saying in the media. It’ll just be what Jamal and I decide upon doing. Jamal knows we’ve got a great relationship. I love his family and he’s a big part of this team.

From Stick’s perspective this may just a statement of fact, or an expression of quiet frustration at the public comments from Jamal’s manager we referred to above. But it also seems intent on trying to pitch Fogarty in isolation from his circumstances. The discussion between Stick and Jamal of course has to take into account what might be available to Fogarty elsewhere. But it would be easier to sell Fogarty on a future (whatever that might look like) with the Raiders if the ‘pull’ factors of his career needs, and other team’s needs, weren’t part of the negotiation.

This is mostly just hopeful thinking from Stuart. Fog is no fool and understands the situation he’s in. He was in it when the Titans were bringing Toby Sexton through. He won’t hang around on a hope and a prayer and some ill-fitted concept of loyalty. Mentoring young players to take your job sounds fun, but playing and earning your most probably sounds better.

To paraphrase noted rugby league fan Marlo Stanfield, no matter how much Coach Stuart wants it to be one way, it’s the other way. He can hope that he can pitch Fogarty on mentorship, loyalty, or some other promise of a future. But Fogarty, and his manager, understand what the situation is. Canberra have chosen a future, and Fogarty will have to choose his. No matter how this ends, it will end.

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