BY DAN

For weeks (and Weekes) we’ve speculated that the major risk of Kaeo Weekes’ new deal wasn’t on the field but off it. Courtesy of the Daily Telegraph, we’ve finally got confirmation of our worst fears: Chevy Stewart’s day with the club are likely numbered.

The report is that there’s discussions ongoing between Chevy’s management and the Raiders about him leaving his offseason. It suggests the Dragons are watching, which is usually pretty good indication that a deal is done, if not officially. That doesn’t make all the sense in the world given St George’s investment in Clint Gutherson, but I assume another year of the King is easier for Stewart to stomach than 208 Weekes.

Given the push factors there’s very little reason to doubt this report. Anyone with two eyes and a horn for the Milk (including us) saw this coming. Chevy is too talented to play Cup forever. He’s too much of a fullback to be turned into a generic outside back. There’s no clear pwathway in Canberra, and there’s too many desirous eyes out there wanting to get their hands on his talent for him to ignore the opportunity.

It’s a shame. Stewart came to the club as the hope of a new generation. Canberra had been in a battle for the young talent and won That wasn’t happening often, and before he even arrived in town we were already spelling his name H-O-P-E. In an ageing team he was a big injection of promise, and even if it didn’t immediately set the field alight, he has still been held in high regard, at least in these pages.

We didn’t know it then but he was the first of a plan to build a new roster. The youth movement started with Chevy, and in a twisted irony he may also be its first victim. That’s the difficulty of the decision for me. Weekes has been incredible, and has plenty of room to improve. The club are invested, heavily, in making that happen. Forced into a choice between Weekes and Stewart they’ve chosen the more certain one, the 23 years old and fifty games into his career. There’s been hope that Stewart will be an elite fullback. Weekes is proving it right now.

For Stewart he’ll leave in search of opportunity. For Canberra it’ll mean another precious roster spot, and a way forward to keep Albert Hopoate, acquire Sione Finau, and perhaps find a spot for Josh Papalii without having to pull any roster shenanigans. That will solve an immediate problem of outside back depth, and Papalii depth, but will create a new one in the back-up fullback space.

I’m not so worried about that. Ethan Alaia is starting to play Cup and he’s likely got a future there as a Scott Drinkwater type fullback. He’s not remotely ready for first grade, but there are interim options while he grows into the game. Seb Kris, Bert Hopoate, and Manaia Waitere have played fullback in the past, as has every talented footballer (seriously, if you told me the Martin brothers fought over fullback back in Eden I wouldn’t bat an eye lid). There’s no shortage of people interested and able to do a facsimile of the job. There may be a need to go back to market to find someone passable in the role. But do it well, ah yes. That’s a different beast.

That’s how we got here. Canberra went in search of their future and found it. Only it wasn’t Chevy, it was Kaeo, who left where he was because he couldn’t find a way through Tommy Trbojevic. Stewart will have to settle for being someone else’s saviour. If that’s at the Dragons, or the Sharks, or wherever, I think he’ll make it. And someone else that was meant to be ‘next’ will be forced to find a new home. The cycle continues only to remind us that inevitability is a trick played on us by our hopes and dreams.

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