BY DAN

The Canberra Raiders announced some additions to their pathways coaching structures on Friday, adding Matt Giteau, Dale Finucane and Matt Frawley to the organisation for 2026.

It’s low risk, high upside recruitment from the Milk.  These players all come with different experiences in that, but are all able to provide the exact kind of guidance and knowledge that young players will need. While many will note Matt Giteau is a cross-sport acquisition (and brother of the current lead assistant Justin), intricate tactical understanding of rugby league isn’t his job. Rather he will be nurturing offensive skills common to ball-players in both sports, and trying to impart a work ethic and commitment to professionalism that he is known for. Just as long as no one is expecting him to provide defensive insight, he’ll be a useful addition.

Speaking of commitment to professionalism, Dale Finucane will be a valuable resource for young players trying to establish themselves in the game. On the field no one would have ever questioned his heart or courage through his 250 NRL games including two premierships, six grand final appearances and five origins. He was an old fashioned hard man who made the best out of a limited skill set to have an outstanding career.

This will be valuable insight for young players. Most of these players would have spent their junior careers being athletically dominant. Finucane likely had a similar experience, but NRL is a different beast. Being able to walk the pathway from star to rookie to contributor to leader and keep your head is not easy. Finucane may provide useful advice for players about to start on that walk.

It also doesn’t hurt that Finucane is a former Player’s Association representative, and someone who’s had to make tough decisions about their relationship to the game because of medical advice. Young players enter a league with an inherent power imbalance. They desperately want a job, and will do anything to live their dream. Finucane could be useful guidance for young players entering a difficult world that doesn’t always have their best interests at heart.

Finucane and Giteau will provide a viewpoint from players that made it to the tops of their professions, but Matt Frawley will provide advice from a different vantage point. I’ve noted in these pages before that sometimes the least impressive professional careers actually create the best coaches. American sport is famed for it, with a host of near professionals or bit players becoming the generational leaders of organisations. Bill Belichick, Phil Jackson, Dave Roberts. Australian sport is obsessed with making stars into coaches, but they often find it hard to explain what made them great to others trying to walk the same path. Frawley will give useful advice to young footy players trying to work out what it is they can offer to the NRL at an elite level.

There are legitimate risks with each of these acquisitions. None are experienced coaches, and Canberra have had much success in recent times adding people known as ‘coaches’ first – like Justin Giteau and Brock Shepperd. Frawley, Finucane, and Matt Giteau will add a lot of things, but the innovative approaches and tactical improvements of Justin and Brock are unlikely to be part of that.

But that’s ok. At this stage of the careers of young players, the guidance they need is more around skills and attitude – i.e. how to be good footballers, and good professionals. Tactics and innovation don’t come until much closer to the top. At this point of their careers they’re learning to recognise shapes, predilections, beats in games that require certain responses. They’re also learning how to watch film, how to prepare for games, how to maintain their bodies, diets and fitness.

There is also a concern around ‘jobs for the boys’. Frawley is barely 12 months from being part of the squad. Giteau has a long association with the club beyond his brother. I’m guessing Finucane’s connection might come similar to Chris Smith Lewis (thanks Reggie for the correction) – either directly or through Bellyache. Adding Jarrod Croker to the club last year, and Elliott Whitehead this offseason as well shows this isn’t an accident.

It’s a risk. There’s a balance here between making sure people who have literally ground their bones for you or the game, and ensuring that the club has access to new ideas and new ways of working that keep it at the precipice of greatness. So while it’s not ideal, my hope is that while not all of these acquisitions will expand the melting pot of ideas for the Milk, that some like Giteau and Finucane will have varied enough experience to ensure the Raiders ideas don’t become too Hapsburgian. Ulimately though if you’re relying on your pathways coaches to drive an innovation agenda (as opposed to commit to one), then you’re going the wrong way about it anyway.

It’s a small thing. These coaches won’t determine the 2026 season for the Raiders. But as they’ve shown in recent years the Raiders are looking at generational change. If they want to ensure that then coaching at the youth levels is critical. Let’s hope Giteau Finucane and Frawley can help deliver that.  

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