BY DAN

Donnie Furner, esteemed organisational bulwark of the people’s team, came out recently today confident of retaining Jamal Fogarty’s services for 2026.

This is wonderful news for anyone with a fondness for belly bombs and green shirts. Keeping Fogarty for any extensive period has felt a forlorn task recently. With Ethan Sanders the future, Adam Cook on the list, and everyone excited about boxes and what’s in them, it always felt that Fogarty’s time in Canberra was limited. Two decision points – one in round six, and another in round twenty – shaped as catalysing events that would see Fogarty leave before his time was up.

As so when Don Furnerleone dropped the following quote on Jimmy Smits Smiths podcast it certainly made us take notice.

Look, I’d like to say, I’m pretty sure he’ll be at our club in 2026. It’s one of those funny options, he can take it up at a certain amount of money or we can take it up at a certain amount of money….So we’ll sit down when the time is right, but I would not like to see him at another club.

Couple that with Coach Stuart’s more combative statement that he’d work with Jamal to keep him at the club, it’s good news. The Raiders do need Fogarty. Ethan Sanders is no doubt the future, and we are sublimely high on him. But there’s a tendency to forget how important learning good habits, and ways of winning are.

The examples are endless. Think the Tigers foursome (Woods, Tedesco, Brooks, Moses) – they all showed talent and potential while together but arguably all outside Woods had their best footy outside of playing together. Kids learning together is a high risk event. Better to have an adult in the room, particularly for such important roles. Think of how the Raiders succeeded with the same in the late 80s. Chris O’Sullivan, Ivan Henjak and Craig Bellamy were critical experience around the emerging playmakers of Ricardo Stuart and Laurence Daley. As Furner himself said

I’d like to think he will be extending because we need his leadership. We’ve got young halves and a young spine. So we’ll just get a couple of weeks out of the road and then sit down.

It reinforced Stuart’s comments last week of Fogarty being all up for mentorship. This has been an obvious position of the club, but it always felt more hopeful than likely. One of those things they were trying to speak into existence.

It also stood in stark contrast to Fogarty’s career goals. He’s no fool, and understands the business. He’s been pushed out for rookies before. Getting a proper long term deal in what will likely be his last major contract always seemed more likely than picking up an extra year with the Raiders. At some point over the next two years Canberra will likely transition to Ethan Sanders, and Jamal will need a new job. The circumstances have always made him leaving on a promise of more elsewhere, likely.

So it is fair to say the statement above by Furner above is surprising. Right now there’s plenty of demand for Fog around the league, as noted by his manager. Teams will come knocking. Which is why we don’t currently share the optimism of both Stuart and Furner. But who are we to judge? It’s unusual for them both to be so publicly confident about a deal being done. Given that, we can’t help but think that perhaps our concerns about the structure of the situation are overblown.

We’re not writing anything in pen yet. If Fogarty sticks around in Canberra without any change to his deal (i.e. staying on his current money through 2026) then frankly he’s doing the Raiders a favour. I would love him for it, but I also wouldn’t blame him if he left for greener pastures. Given how Donnie is talking, that might be only a hypothetical problem.

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