BY DAN

The future proofing of the Canberra Raiders continues with the extension of Noah Martin until the end of 2028 (announced by the club today).

It makes him part of the cohort that are designed to be the foundation of the next golden era of Canberra rugby league. He joins Owen Pattie, Ethan Strange, Joe Tapine and Matt Timoko as the only players with such length to their contracts.

That’s quite an endorsement of the young rhino, especially given he’s only played 20 odd minutes of first grade. But even in that time it revealed that the bet on him is an easy one. He’s already big enough to handle a brutal physical battle in the middle with aplomb. That means he’s useful to the club no matter what. It’s not often you find a 20 year old who is big enough and good enough to be effective as an NRL middle.

And if you’ve been watching Cup you know his more natural home is on the edge, at least in where he’s played the majority of his football. He’s remarkably agile for a player of his weight and power. It’s reminiscent of a young Josh Papalii; not in style, but of the sheer impact a player his size can have out wide (provided they can keep up in defence). More than once this season he’s been offered a gap to run through and the resulting break has felt like a thousand thundering horses stampeding. Defensively in Cup he’s been up to the task, and while that task in the NRL is a whole other thing, there’s been nothing to suggest he can’t make the leap.

Keeping him until the end of 2028 also makes perfect sense. He provides NRL quality depth at all forward positions right now. He has an upside to he so much more; a game changer in the edge, a hybrid of the two, able to provide the Raiders with flexibility in their lineups like Zac Hosking currently provides.

Getting him so young means the Raiders now have seemingly five quality edge forwards under 30. In a competition where teams generally struggle to find two NRL starters this is a profound achievement. Given arguably all five can cover middle minutes, and add a change of pace in doing so, means the Canberra roster more balanced than Simone Biles.

As pertinently it means that the team-building ventures to the west and far north will not be getting their hands on another of Canberra’s five-star juniors. This is important statecraft. Building a roster to win is one thing; keeping the grubby mitts of other teams as you do so is a challenge. Not to compare the Raiders nascent project to the Panthers, but that ship has been so stripped of parts over the years that Theseus is having ideas. The key thing for them for identifying a core and building around it.

It seems to Milk are doing the same, and Noah Martin is going to be a critical part.

Sign up to the mailing list below and I’ll let show my sick tap dancing. Or like the page on Facebook, follow me on BlueSky, or share this on social media. Don’t hesitate to send us feedback (dan@sportress.org) or comment below if you think we are stupid. Or if we’re not.