BY DAN

The Canberra Raiders named their squad to go to Vegas today. It’s not very interesting – basically the entire top 30. So not much to take away from the membership. Importantly however, Owen Pattie is named. Does that mean he’ll play?

Travelling squads are fun. They’re bigger and better by necessity. The usual 19 man squad won’t work. If someone pulls a hammy on game day eve the flight won’t make it. So most people get a flight. For the Raiders the only people in the top 30 that won’t be there are Bert Hopoate and Corey Harawira-Naera for obvious reasons, and Myles Martin, Jordan Martin and Vena Patuki-Case. The last three are presumably because Canberra have named eight or nine people that can cover the middle rotation and someone needs to miss out to make 30 names 25.

So membership on the list isn’t really an indicator of much. Shit Jed Stuart is part of the squad. But this is doubly the case for Pattie. There are three hookers in the top 30. Canberra play two of them in any one game. If someone gets injured… you get the drift. Regardless of our collective footy-boner for Pattie, even if he wasn’t a part of the plans for round one he’d probably still get a plane ticket and $10 in per diem chips (gamble responsibly).

The ‘will he?’ and ‘should he?’ play are separate questions. From the outside we don’t have all the information the club does, but it certainly seems he’s ready. He’s got the craft at nine the Raiders have desperately missed, and would add width to an attack bereft of it. He’d include a kicking game that would make Jamal Fogarty’s life easier. The only question is whether he’s physically ready for the defensive load, but bringing him into the game off the bench would reduce that to battling second-string forwards, rather than, James Fisher-Harris hurtling at, and hurting, him.

Will he though? The past few days have been a dizzying array of hoping and interpreting fish entrails in the hope they give us hints. Pattie was seen in club social media content wearing 14. He was upgraded to the top 30 as part of his contract extension. He played off the bench in the first round of the pre-season, a perfect middle forty for a player that would, if wearing 14, likely play that role in Vegas.

That of course has to be weighed against several things. Pattie could have played NRL in round one from the supplemental list. So the upgrade, while a statement of long-term intent, doesn’t really alter his current circumstances. Him wearing a jersey in social media is the gronkiest of amateur investigator gear. Players wear weird numbers all the time in that content. Maybe Pattie chose 14. Maybe it was chosen for him. Maybe the social media guy pulled it out because he thought it might be his role in the team. Is Ben Pollack picking the team? Maybe. He seems like a handsome and intelligent fella (I have never met or spoken to Ben for the record).

It also has to be weighed against this statement from Stick when talking about Pattie.

It’s all about the big picture for us. Our vision now, identifying that young talent, is really important to us. What’s even more important now is players such as Owen trust the development and the coaching they’re getting.

That’s a statement that screams ‘enjoy NSW Cup, Owen’. Be patient. Get ready. This trip is about being with the boys and learning the trade. So for all the good signs, it still feels touch and go.

This ultimately is a test of Stuart’s willingness to embrace uncertainty. He is very aware of the abilities and limitations of his current hooking rotation. He has eyes after all. In the past youth hasn’t been an obstacle where the physical was ready (see Nic Cotric and Ethan Strange). But when he was unsure about that aspect, any other otherworldly talent hasn’t been enough to tip him into optimism (see Xavier Savage).

Stuart will usually play it safe in these circumstances, particularly when the pay off for Pattie is so far down the line. So let’s hold our hearts rather than our breaths.

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