BY DAN

Tis the season.

No, not that one. Not that we’re a grinch. We’re as pumped as the next man to engage in a bit of goodwill to humankind. Hug a stranger. Embrace warmth and goodness and earnestness instead of worrying about the other side of embarrassment. But that’s a joy for another day. The season that’s starting right now can loosely be referred to “predicting line ups” season.

This hasn’t caught on as strongly in the Raiders community for some pretty obvious reasons. A lot of players had their best seasons to date in 2025, so there’s not the same level of uncertainty. No sane person is asking about Kaeo Weekes v Chevy Stewart. No one wonders if five-eighth is Ethan Strange’s best position. Matty Nicholson, if healthy, is an obviously capable backrower. Zac Hosking and Ata Mariota are a middle rotation that play with a furious pace most teams would die for.

It’s also driven by the fact that where there are questions, there aren’t a lot of solutions. Is Ethan Sanders a long-term seven? Well, the other options are currently…unclear (update: or might be Coby Black! How exciting). Was Matt Timoko or Jamal Fogarty to blame for the right edge’s welcoming nature? Well Matt is here, potentially alongside Ethan Strange, and Jamal Fogarty is there, doing whatever he’s doing at Manly. So unless you’re proper shuffler, these articles and posts tend to get a glance, and little else. There’s just not that many questions about the Canberra line up.

Except one.

You see, Canberra may have a pretty settled roster, for the most part. T’s have been crossed, lower case J’s dotted. The starting 13 is known. Owen Pattie is the 14, with a bigger role in 2026. A healthy Matty Nicholson hopefully means Zac Hosking and Ata Mariota can re-start their ‘thunder-and-lightning’ routine off the bench. 1-16, Canberra is straightforward.

But at the end of the bench though is a question that is fundamental and influential for dictating how Canberra play in 2026.

Pick Morgan Smithies, whom I would consider the front runner. Pick him because between him and Corey Horsburgh they can lock up the middle defensively, and reduce the tackling load on Zac Hosking and whoever is playing hooker, giving Joey Taps, or Josh Papa, freedom and energy to run. Pair him with Owen Pattie so the younger man can be supported when targeted by bench middles around the league. Be safe, build a high floor, and let Ethan Strange or Kaeo Weekes be the one that breaks the game.

Pick Simi Sasagi. Play with pace. Don’t just have Hosking and Mariota bringing the brilliance. Have all three come on through the middle thirty minutes and make it a maelstrom of chaos that makes Stick feel like he is Raiden, lightning crackling at his fingertips. Lean into the Mr. Fix It aspect and have coverage at every goddamn position across the park. Have the ability, should that right edge remain unsolvable, to jam him in there just to stem the tide when the momentum of a game makes it messy. Sure you’re smaller, but do you care? Pace and space baby. Let’s shoot some threes and hit some dingers.

Or Pick Noah Martin because deep in our hearts we all just want to see him run free. Stick has said his edges are his weapons. Well, give him one that runs like a brumby in the outback. Bring terror because you’ve let a Golem loose on the football field. The Thing running lines at opposition halves. Pick him because he could be a ten-year backrower, a beast on the edge like Viliam Kikau, or Haumole Olakau’atu. It’s been a while since the Raiders have had one of those and the spirit of Tom Learoyd-Lahrs should again be unleashed on the rugby league world.

Each of these brings a different pathway, a different way of winning. In a squad that is unusually settled, the last seat on the bench carries outsized weight. Smithies offers stability, Sasagi chaos, Martin raw power and potential. However Stuart plays it, that choice could determine the Raiders’ identity in 2026. Sometimes the smallest decision defines the biggest season.

And that is something worth speculating over.

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