BY DAN

The Canberra Raiders are apparently back on the Sandon Smith train, with the persistent rumour taking another turn on Monday night with Michael Chammas reporting on Channel 9 the Raiders are in conversations to bring him to the national capital.

Canberra’s search for a backup halfback to provide backing vocals to the Ethan Sanders experience has been ongoing for some time. We’ve cycled through Jake Clifford and Lachlan Illias, and Sandon Smith keeps coming around, like the old union pacific. Is it a sign that they’re interested, or is Michael Chammas just reporting old news because a manager wants to drum up demand?

About a month ago, the Raiders had been monitoring the Sandon Smith situation. That was always code for they were interested, but his contract status meant approaching him wasn’t an option. Now he’s been given formal permission to negotiate with other clubs. Apart from indicating that Daly Cherry-Evans is going to the Roosters, it also means that the Raiders can be formal about their interest too. And according to Chammas that’s exactly what is happening.

The Raiders desire for Smith makes sense. He’s a talented footballer, and can cover both halves positions as well as doing a fair impression of a bench utility in a pinch. He’s not a perfect backup for Ethan Sanders – as we’ve said previously, in the old binary of running and organising halves he’s definitely the former. But then again he’s only really ever played alongside the latter at the Roosters. Perhaps there’s more strings to his bow.

Smith is also approaching that ‘famous’ 50 game longevity in the game that Coach Stuart thinks players tend to take a leap. The Raiders could be identifying more than most recognise. They’ve done it before. For examples see here, but if I rattle of Hosking, Weekes, Sasagi, you’ll recognise players that came to Canberra in search of opportunity and found their claim. Given the record of Canberra’s talent spotting recently, who are we to judge?

The appeal for the Raiders – that they’d be getting a really good footballer as backup to their young halves – is exactly the reason it seems unlikely. While Ethan Sanders is no sure thing, the Milk have plenty invested in him. It will take a lot to supplant him, and if Smith is unable to then he’s basically just moving to a different location to be doing exactly what he’s been doing the last few years – filling in. Given he reportedly turned down a 400k a year extension offer earlier this year, coming to Canberra for a back up deal seems unrealistic.

There are ways to squint it into existence. Maybe Smith is looking at the outcome of the Kaeo Weekes/Chevy Stewart situation and thinking that when Ricky Stuart says you’ll be given a chance to compete for a starting role, he’s not joking. Maybe there’s only backup demand, and he likes what Stuart has done recently for players halfway between rookies and established. But it does feel like Smith will have options at other clubs with much clearer pathways to first grade.

It’s a shame. We’ll keep monitoring this because he would be an good solution to what Canberra needs. A backup with a high baseline that can cover for the growing pains that will inevitably come when you shift a novice into such a pivotal role. It would be a great get.

Which is precisely why it seems unlikely.

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