BY DAN

Another week, another injury.

This week it’s Jayden Brailey, who will sit out the round 13 game with a concussion. Daine Laurie has been named at 13, because sure, why not. That’s about where we’re at right now. I don’t think he’ll start there – rather it will be Morgan Smithies or Ata Mariota getting that initial run, but however you paint it, it’s not a good thing.

Let’s start with the impact of not having Brailey available. We spent a lot of time in the post-Dolphins review noting that the Raiders simply didn’t have the horses in the middle to compete with their opposition’s middle. And that was with Brailey playing 65-plus minutes of minute-eating adequacy in the middle.

Canberra’s injury crisis has meant they’ve relied on Brailey to make a heap of tackles, and occasionally pass or run the ball, in order to cover the absence of others. In the three weeks he’s been playing lock, he’s averaged 32 tackles a game, which if extrapolated over the year would put him behind Noah Martin (38.9 per game) and Tommy Starling (34.7 per game) as the players making the most tackles. He’s played this role to diminishing returns. He’s not meant to be a lock. He’s a rake.

But without him, Canberra will now have to come up with yet another solution. We’ve run through Plan A through Z. I think we’re up to that point where we’re using wingdings and pretending they’re words. Most likely Morgan Smithies will need to get through big minutes, which is fine until you realise a few weeks ago he was so tired in a game that Nathan Cleary ran 10 metres directly at him to score a try.

Daine Laurie is also named there, which is something you can probably throw at a problem in most games for 10-15 minutes. But lack of size this week is unforgiving. Jason Taumalolo is on a heater, and the Raiders’ best middles have a hard time bringing him down. A fullbackish dude playing lock is unlikely to have an easier time. The Cows have won their games this year by smashing through the middle and then letting Scott Drinkwater wreak havoc. If this is the solution, havoc will be wrought.

Another option will be extended Owen Pattie minutes at nine, allowing Tommy Starling to take the Brailey role. It comes with the same problems as using Brailey there. When two hookers get caught side by side in defence, someone has to be able to take the big guys high to control the ball and prevent an offload. Starling is a much stronger defender than Pattie, but it seems unreasonable to expect him to solve the size problem, no matter how scrappy his doo.

I would love to see Jordan Uta, currently in jersey 19, to get some of that time in the middle. I know he’s a rookie, and he wasn’t meant to really play first grade this season, but he brings the size capable of competing with the Cowboys and controlling the middle.

This is a critical point, and something that has undermined them at every step this year. Their middle weakness has exposed their edge defence. Injuries have made that worse, weakening them for both rotations. As far as relationships go, it’s toxic.

Laurie can’t solve that. It would be hard for a combo of Pattie and Starling to do it for a long time. Smithies might tire from the task. There’s only so much Hudson Young and Ethan Strange can be expected to do given they’ll both be playing something close to 80 minutes on Wednesday night. Maybe Uta can be the bridge that makes sure everyone gets a breather.

The key thing is that someone is. How Canberra solves this problem is secondary to actually solving it. As we’ve written, they’re getting close to the must win season, and if they don’t eat soon they’re going to starve. Scabbing a win like a seagull snatching a chip might be the best approach to keep their belly full until more help arrives.

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