BY DAN

The Canberra Times is reporting that the Canberra Raiders are zeroing in on an extension for Savelio Tamale. The likely two year deal will keep the brilliant back in town until at least the end of 2028.

You’ll note that the reporting of this is as close to guaranteed as you’ll get. To quote Canberra Times journalist and the Green Machine Podcast’s latest bon vivant, David Polkinghorne:

His contract extension is close to being finalised and will be announced in the coming weeks.

For reasons I’ll never understand (and I presume relate to contract registration with the NRL or marketing), there’s usually a lag between a deal being done and announcement. This reporting suggested there’s already a plan in place for announcement, suggesting it’s only the legal formalities that are still being worked through. So it’s not done but it is done.

This is unquestionably good news. Tamale is a hot product, highly sort after, and likely to be the subject of overtures should the Raiders let him get onto the free agent market later this year. His yardage work isn’t just a willingness to take multiple carries (he’s got three games with over 200 metres already this season) but a remarkable ability to use both power and agility to make tacklers miss. He’s current second in the competition in line breaks, third in tackle breaks and fifth in post contact metres. As a rookie.

This weapon has been a huge part of Canberra’s success this year, and big reason everyone is so upset that he suffered such a significant injury in his last game. That will keep him out until round 25 at the earliest. But hopefully he gets a chance to be part of the Raiders run to paradise.

This extension is also a vote of confidence in Tamale’s ability to improve beyond just an elite yardage back. It’s not a particularly risky gamble, because Tamale is not only already showing how good he is but is also improving in key skills every week. A good example is his relative comfort under the high ball, something that, along with his brilliance on exit sets, has led to teams consistently kicking away from him as the season progress. That improvement on top of an already Eiffel Tower-level base of performance makes this the easiest decision going, even after a major injury. At the very least, he’ll always be an incredible yardage back.

Canberra’s focus on being smarter than your average bear continues. In combination with the revelations last week that Canberra was working on deals with Morgan Smithies, Zac Hosking, and the completed negotiations with Owen Pattie, Noah Martin, and Ethan Strange, it shows how deliberate this process has been. All deals are until the end of 2028, well before anyone had a chance to sniff an open market.

There’s still work to do. Hosking, Smithies, Simi Sasagi and Ata Mariota will be players that the club needs to lock up. But it’s pleasing to know that they’ve got a good idea for what they want to build, and that they need to put in place before anyone can run off with the parts. At various points in recent time it hasn’t been clear what the plan is. Now it’s up in lights with fireworks blasting around it like it’s Dirk Diggler.

It’s always hard to know whether Stuart, Don Furner or list manager Joel Carbone are leading the drive. Regardless of whomever is primarily responsible, it’s clear they’re working in concert. They have a strategy that they’re implementing, and they’re managing the major risk to that with aplomb. In an environment where nothing is guaranteed, the Raiders are at least doing their best to reduce the variables. And Tamale is a huge part of it.

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