BY DAN

Noah Martin will need surgery on both of his ankles, injured in Api Koroisau’s hip drop tackle last Thursday night. Zac Hosking is out for two weeks with concussion. Life is meaningless and Tuesdays are for crying.

Apologies for the delay in relaying what was already mostly known information on Martin. Hudson Young sorta revealed the outcome on Monday’s 100% Footy on Channe 9, saying that he ‘didn’t know’, but also that the young buck ‘probably’ needed surgery on both ankles. It seemed a situation known but that Huddo didn’t know if he was going to be breaking news, so caveated it into meaningless. How good is media training? As such we felt obligated to wait for an actual journo to do their job and stick a mic in Stick’s face. Eventually David Polkinghorne of the Canberra Times came through to confirm the dual surgeries and 8-10 weeks on the sideline. Huzzah for ethics in rugby league journalism.

Alas that’s now happened and confirmation has been received. Surgery to two ankles doesn’t sound good and the rest of the season with Noah is the kind of news that we’re getting used to this year. Annus craptapulis and all that.

It is a cruel blow to Eden’s finest. Martin had only just established himself as a regular first grader, and while he hadn’t had a perfect run, he was showing plenty to like, and a work ethic hard to match (averaging over 40 tackles a game even with Thursday’s half-game). He was building connections with halves in attack and defence, and a few more hard lines and time with either half was going to get him in a bit of space, thundering down the ground as the astute Cup watchers got used to last year, and we’ve seen a few glimpses of in first grade.

This is just a delay, for sure. Martin is a physical specimen and presuming a safe and full recovery will be back to tormenting opposition halves in 2027 (or late 2026). He’ll still learn from his experiences this year and still be better next year. But that elusive fifty-game marker is pushed a little further away, meaning that we’ll have to engage in a bit of delayed gratification to see his full potential. In the meantime we wish him nothing but the best and most healthy of surgeries and recoveries.

For the Raiders it’s a problem we foresaw, though not in this severity. Canberra have quickly gone from having arguably the best back-row depth to walking the same tightrope that Martin might have inserted in his ankle (what am I, an orthopaedic guy? Tarantino?). They’ll all (hopefully) be on board for the start of next year (or even late this year), but this kind of luck is foreboding.

Solving the immediate crisis would have been easy if Hosking himself hadn’t picked up a concussion, also confirmed by Polkinghorne. Without Martin, Hosking, Hudson Young, and Matty this weekend, they’ll be piecing a backrow together from paddle-pop sticks and hope. Simi Sasagi better be healthy. Joe Roddy is likely to be on the other edge. After that your guess is as good as mine.

Jordan Uta is a big fella but pretty green. Ata Mariota and Corey Horsburgh have filled the role in the past, though they were at different points in their careers and physical development. I would not love either to slide over for any reason. Add to that the absence of Josh Papalii, and it’s getting to the stage where we ring the bell and declare a full-blown injury crisis.

I honestly don’t know what to do here. This isn’t bad luck. This is like acid rain on your wedding day. Canberra’s season couldn’t be going worse, and the problems aren’t abating. Rather they’re accumulating, a giant shit-snowball rolling down the hill and picking up mess along the way.

I’d say it’s another problem to solve, but it’s actually two more, and two more than they could handle. Losing one superstar backrower can happen. Losing four at once is insane. Most teams don’t even have four to start with. Forget backs against the wall. They’re being asked to build the wall before putting their backs against it and lineup for the nice men with the exploding sticks.

It’s yet another pall in a season full of them. Canberra will struggle through. They always do. But given the precarity of the season, they’d prefer to be doing it with more help. And their emerging star would prefer to not be having surgery. This will test the resilience of everyone involved. Them. Me. You.

Fuck this season.

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