BY DAN

In late January, as the summer nights warmed our souls and the cheery breeze of holidays came to an end, the return of the real world was welcomed along news that Morgan Smithies would be staying with the club.

Well sorta. The Canberra Times reported a deal as pretty much done then, after the Raiders set a deadline for a deal in December. Since then it’s been quieter than me when my wife asks who left the fridge door slightly ajar (I mean the crisper sometimes doesn’t sit right and who looks back to see if the automatically shutting door closed? I’m only human!).

Weird right?

In October last year, after the collapse of the 2025 golden season into a pile of pyrite dust, the Canberra Times reported a deal was pretty much done to extend Ata Mariota’s time at the club. This followed a long negotiation from at least July, hoping to lock him up before he hit the open market on 1 November. Since then, it’s been quieter than me when my partner asks who ate the last of the ice cream (I’m not human, I’m a remorseless eating machine).

Weird, right?

Two deals in a more prolonged stasis than Dave Lister. Both club-identified priorities, contracts ‘all but done’, waiting, but for what?

Is it a publicity thing? Are the deals done and the club waiting for a quiet moment to announce? Are all parties in agreement on everything except money, just waiting to see what cap space looks like at the end of the season before numbers are agreed on? Are the players holding back, waiting to see what comes from the Bears, and the Chiefs, before measuring that against what the Milk can offer?

I have guesses, but no answers, so let’s do what we always should at this time of any discussion and focus on some facts.

Both players seemingly want to stay. Morgan is even on the record saying he had no intention of leaving Canberra in July last year. Extensions for both had oddly specific numbers attached (one year for Morgan, two for Mariota), which suggests highly progressed negotiations.

Both players are represented by Sam Ayoub, at least according to the Canberra Times. He said he was too busy to finalise anything over Christmas last year (elite work-life balance Sam). Perhaps, like me, he’s been a bit stressed balancing work, children, forms (why are there so many forms), and his little blog, and just hasn’t got around to it (something I effectively wrote to my mortgage broker recently – he’s not a reader).

Both players are free agents after this season. Not ‘can negotiate for 2028’ free agents. ‘Don’t have a team’ free agents. They need a deal in place to play for *someone* next season, which rules the Chiefs out the discussion. The Bears are still building their roster, and will be deep in November, but players like Mariota and Smithies would be met with knowing nods of people who talk and/or know ball.

Quiet on the recruitment front doesn’t mean much these days. Jed Stuart’s pending three-year deal disappeared behind closed doors almost as quick as we found out about the negotiations. Payne Haas was but a breath on the wind until it was a deal at Souths. A million things are happening behind closed doors that those of us who are more familiar with McValue deals than the value of deals have no idea of.

So this isn’t an alarm. Just a curiosity. A thing that has been rolling around in my noggin for longer than I care to admit. These deals could be confirmed, formalised, or announced, before you know it. But the longer the silence rolls on, the more our curiosity trends towards anxiety.

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