BY DAN

Amongst the hullabaloo of the announcement of the draw, and his comments that somehow triggered the premier’s fan-base and led the media cycle for a day or so, Don Furner dropped an actually interesting comment by suggesting Canberra were nearing some recruitment announcements. Everyone ran off to get butt-hurt about the Broncos, and meanwhile the actual story – that Raiders have more announcements coming – was seemingly ignored entirely.

His statement was in response to a question about the Raiders recent acquisition of Coby Black:

We do have that policy, a youth policy…and I think it paid dividends the year just gone. It’s a young person’s game, particularly in the backs, so we’re excited….we’ll probably announce a few more later on, see how we go

What a beautifully cryptic comment. Is he going to announce new recruits for the 2026 season? The season after? Is it internal retention like Morgan Smithies? ARE THEY IN THE HOUSE WITH US RIGHT NOW? The line was a surprise, a grenade dropped into a press conference that was inexplicably not followed up, and eclipsed in the commentariat because Furns said “orchestrated” instead of “planned” about the Broncos getting heaps of home games.

It’s not just fascinating because acquisitions inherently are, but particularly so given the club announced their top 30 for 2026 recently. Usually there’s some inbuilt flexibility in a top 30, particularly one as dense with inexperienced and young players as the Raiders’ is. If there was recruiting to do for 2026, there are players in that top 30 who could probably be shifted into other roles in the squad (like train and trial), or other teams in the competition (Chevy Stewart would appear to be prime amongst them). So while it might be a longer term view, that’s not immediately clear from the comment.

One could focus on a 2027, given those players have just hit the market recently. The Raiders have already been in ‘rumours’ around Keaon Koloamatangi, which as we noted seems hopeful, at best. Back here in the real world it doesn’t feel like that Donnie would flag that as an addendum to a press conference. They’ve also been searching for another halfback for months but there are almost zero names still available, so it’s hard to know if this is about that. Given he was talking about the youth policy and the club’s adherence to it, this sort of recruitment wouldn’t seem particularly aligned with what he was talking about.

Nor would internal retention, even though it could still be that. Ata Mariota’s deal was recently extended. Morgan Smithies is the most immediate priority, so perhaps they’re nearing an announceable deal with him, but he’s not young, not an outside back, and not a new recruit. There’s a heap of young players off contract after 2026 (Asomua, Clydsdale, Roddy, Stuart, Manaia Waiter), and it would make sense to keep some of these. But again, these aren’t the same ‘typology’ as Coby Black’s signature.

But the fact a top 30 is already set, and that Furner was talking about recruitment in the guise of the youth policy and outside backs, my expectation is that this is less about recruiting big names for 2026 or 2027, and more about another step into the youth world. The problem with that is that it’s hard to know who or what it will be until it lands. There’s a lot of young talent, and even I’m not sick enough to keep a mental list of highly talented Jersey Flegg players I’m hoping the Raiders will sign (update: turns out it was Broncos depth fullback Saxon Innes). To paraphrase the great rugby league mind Cady Heron, the limit of options does not exist.

So while it’s worth waiting on the outcome, I’m not really sure what we’re even waiting on. Donnie Furner spun a headline out of his press conference. But it was the wrong one.

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