BY DAN

The Canberra Raiders busy pursuit of certainty is continuing with reports that Kaeo Weekes is close to staying with the club until the end of 2029.

Bye weeks are like this sometimes. Everyone gets a break and a chance to talk to their agent. The on-field product is less of a priority, and suddenly conversations are happening, people are making decisions, and deals are being done. So it seems a Weekes deal, while not final, is certainly on the horizon. That’s wonderful news.

This isn’t a surprise in the potential outcome. As we said with the Zac Hosking deal, the Raiders have been telegraphing these things for so long that we are expecting things to function in a certain way. Canberra officials tell the papers they’re commencing negotiations, then it’s reported that a deal is nearly done. Then after about the time it takes the NRL to register a contract, it’s finally revealed as done. Many of the recent deals with Pattie, Tamale, Martin etc have been announced this way. It makes us very confident about the Hosking, and now Weekes deals.

It doesn’t take me to tell you that this is a bit of a no brainer. Weekes’ footy has exploded this season. I can cite the numbers if you’d like (top 10 in the competition in line breaks, tackle breaks, metres, and number of times I had a spiritual experience this season). But that’s beside the point really. You’ve been watching. You’ve seen the impact of the presence of his pace has on the attack, averting eyes and stretching the distance between defenders as everyone screams “who’s got Kaeo”. No one has Kaeo. That’s what we keep learning.

Or at least the Raiders do. This locks Weekes into the same timeline as much of the squad. Canberra possibly now have their entire spine, key front rowers and edge players in place until the end of 2028. They are seeking to do similar with Simi Sasagi, Ata Mariota, and Morgan Smithies. Given the success of this process and of the team there is little reason to doubt this will occur.

There is a risk here inherent of banking this season as a baseline going forward. Some of the numbers rumoured to be in the last two years of the deal (850k per) are eye-watering if a drop off occurs. He’s still got improvement to his game – no back except Seb Kris seems comfortable under a high ball these days. We can’t possibly expect the improvement trajectory to continue at current pace, but small issues like this can be addressed.

But even if this is the peak, the backend dosh is relatively manageable and likely to occur within an increasing salary cap post the upcoming renegotiation of broadcast rights. Expansion teams mean more money for footy, and while most contracts come with ratchets in them, the expanded space should supply the Raiders to meet Kaeo’s wage and find space for others to increase as well.

It does bring to the fore the question we’d been all been hoping to avoid until necessary. What do we do with Chevy Stewart? Once the future of the side he’s now watching from the outside as his job over the long term has been taken. If this deal is signed there’s not really a pitch for Stewart to stay. He’s not a half or an outside back. Reinventing himself as say a centre or a winger to stay in Canberra would only make sense if there wasn’t demand for his services elsewhere. We’d hoped this might resolve in some fantastical way whereby everyone would stay in Canberra. Alas that may not happen. We will need to give up that fantasy.

How quickly that part resolves is unclear. Stewart’s 2027 contract year is an option. Preemptively rejecting that may put him on the open market at the end of the year, so it may resolve sooner than we think. However it goes forward from here, the challenge will be making sure the rest of the youth movement do not lose faith in the Raiders’ system to deliver for them. This season so far has provided plenty of goodwill there, but this would undoubtedly be a test.

That’s a sad note on an otherwise happy story. Kaeo came to the club in search of certainty and a dream. Well he’s gone a long way to achieving them over this last 18 months, and particularly this season. If he signs this deal he’ll have landed both the job and the dream.

That’s wonderful for him. It’s better for the Milk.

Do me a favour and like the page on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, or share this on social media and I’ll tell what my four year-olds favourite song is (it’s TNT by AC/DC and I don’t know why). Don’t hesitate to send us feedback (dan@sportress.org) or comment below if you think we are stupid. Or if we’re not.