BY DAN

What do you do when Origin comes hunting for your best?

One of the curses of actually having good players is that they get called up for Origin duty. That has happened to Hudson Young, and should have happened to Corey Horsburgh. This is wonderful for the players and the spectacle of State of Origin. For the clubs left behind it presents a challenge. How do you backfill excellence?

For Canberra this challenge is magnified by the recent injury to Matty Nicholson. We noted recently that is was handy that the Raiders had a ready made replacement for the Englishman in Zac Hosking. That’s taken a little away from Canberra’s middle rotation – though Coach Stuart tried to ameliorate that through moving Simi Sasagi to that edge, and Hosking to the middle, during the second half against the Titans.

But backfilling Huddo is a whole other thing. He’s one of Canberra’s elite players and he’s only gotten better this year. In the past his gift had been his workrate on both sides of the ball, and his unique ability to create when no one expected it. To be clear he still does that. Each week it’s 35 tackles, 18 odd runs, 150 plus metres (153 on average to be precise). He still manages to do creative things like lay a grubber for a try, to the extent that my chief criticism of Ethan Strange on Sunday was that he trusts Hudson too much late in sets.

It used to be that Hudson was a unique mix of effort and maverick. But this year we’ve seen more and more his ability to hit a line and make it sing. Against the Dogs is was in a set play. On other days it’s just been hard living and hard lines off the shoulder of Strange or Fogarty. In the past we wondered where that skill was. We needn’t have worried. If he gets decent time on the field in Origin, maybe the Blues’ halves will pass him the ball too.

Replacing him will be a challenge. It seems so long ago that we were lauding the Raiders actually having depth at backrow for the first time in years. Well that depth is getting tested now. Their first and second choices aren’t available, and their third (who was originally their second) is so good at something else that it feels almost a waste to not have him do that too. Is there a way to make it all work?

Our hope is that Noah Martin comes into the 17. This is hardly a revelatory stance. Anyone with two eyes and a TV screen would expect that. But that’s doesn’t mean the possibility isn’t exciting. He’s a barnstorming runner, agile, with a body carved from the cliffs of Eden and as big as the whales you can spot there. He’s been on the radar with the club for years, getting bigger, better, and closer to the top line. Is he ready? Hopefully we get to find out.

He was the 18th man last week, with the club probably doing a bit of forward thinking in getting him around the first grade squad in order to get him used to the game day experience of the big time. Stuart had already suggested in the lead up to round one that Martin would play first grade at some point this year. He’s in as good form as anyone in the Cup team right now. Now is as good a time as any to get the young giant in.

The only other option would be the get 80 minutes out of Simi Sasagi, which feels a stretch given he’s only once played more than 25 minutes in a game this season. It would also remove Stick of a favoured option for utility, able to shift to almost any position outside of the spine. As per last week, Sasagi came on to allow Hosking to shift to the middle.

Without another edge backrower option, Stick would have to put Ata Mariota or Corey Horsburgh out there. Blood a future backrower or force a middle to play out of position?

It’s really the only approach I can see. Horse or Mariota on the edge feels like such an anathema to what has made this team great this year. Sasagi out there for 80 seems unfair, and removes the flexibility in the roster that Stuart loves. Time for some pace and mace baby. Let the big guy loose on the left edge. That’s also where he plays next to Cup footy. Put him next to settled defenders like Ethan Strange and Seb Kris rather than asking him to cover for the mess that is currently the Fog/Moko combination. It won’t be an easy match – an away trip to Auckland to face the inform Warriors. But you gotta start somewhere.

The most likely outcome is the coach seeks to protect the new guy by naming Sasagi as starter and Martin on the bench before changing his mind late in the week. At least publicly.

Hudson Young is off to play Origin, so what do you do? Let your next generational talent get his first shot at the big time. I hope it happens. I cannot wait.

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