BY DAN

It’s always a bit nerve-wracking when Raiders boys are running around in Origin I, but if Ethan and Huddo were worried, they didn’t show it.

If you’re a bit broken like me, or as terminally online, you watch Origin just wanting the boys to do well. When Hudson and Ethan found their way into the starting line-ups, part of me was worried they wouldn’t nail the role. Then I’d have to spend a week listening to media numpties make gross generalisations about players who perceived failure was influenced by others around them. Puke.

Hudson had been subject to it in the past. Pulled in and out of Origin opportunities. Bigger names favoured, and his rare chances scuppered by team-mates unwilling to pass him the ball (Jerome Luai, I still don’t forgive you). Any errors scrutinised beyond measure by talking heads looking for an easy-mark rather than criticising someone they’d have to interview (because, fuck Canberra’s too far from Sydney). You could forgive him for being apprehensive about pleasing the various taskmasters.

Instead he did his job, and he did it with the same brazen enthusiasm that has made him one of the best backrowers in the competition. He tackled anyone he could (44 total tackles – most for the Blues) and made a ton of important runs. When the NSW middle was being hit with a stone, particularly in the first half, he was the only one impervious to it.

A fair critique was that he pursued tackles too far out of position. It’s one that is made of him at Canberra too. I think the same reasoning for that applies here. He wouldn’t need to do it if someone else had the perpetual motor that he has. He was one of NSW’s best forwards, the only person in the pack that can, if healthy, book himself for the MCG in a few weeks’ time.

Even more impressive was Ethan Strange. We’ve been practically giddy about his development this year. While it hasn’t translated into wins, what has been emerging is a transition from a gifted runner to a well-rounded playmaker. Last night he was a triple threat. He ran brilliantly – it was five-alarm chilli for the Queensland defence whenever he got the ball. He somehow only has three tackle breaks in the NRL stats. I will presume that’s an average per run.

More exciting was the continued display of his elite passing skills. He created two line breaks, one of which resulted in a try for himself, the other arguably more significant as it put Tolutau Koula into the space that would become Kalyn Ponga’s send-off. He shifted left and right. This included when he and Nathan Cleary re-enacted his first try from the Miracle at Mudgee – I wonder how that felt for Nath?

We’ve seen this all year in first grade. But to see him do it with such success at the highest level just jacked up the enthusiasm like his shoulders. We’ve always felt that the Raiders had a remarkable find in him. This just highlights that the skills he’s showing each week in the NRL are almost ceilingless.

Add to the fact that he did all this while having almost endless traffic sent his way, and boy howdy did he handle it easily. In the past that has reportedly been the plan for most teams. Tire out Strange and he can start making questionable defensive decisions. 80 minutes of Origin football and traffic more plentiful than [insert busy street in your town] at peak hour couldn’t bring that out of him.

There were moments where things didn’t work out, too, such as his late pass off the ground and a couple of moments close to the line. But these were more a function of a nascent relationship with Stephen Crichton than any strategic or skill problem on Ethan’s behalf. In a game where he had every right to be overawed, he was every bit the game winner that Nathan Cleary was. Dwell on that for a bit Rodin.

Get used to Daine Laurie minutes, and Ata Mariota playing backrower I guess. These Canberra boys went to the biggest dance in town and popped-and-locked with the best of them. In a league where you need elite talent, and the Raiders have always had problems bringing it to town, these boys showed two blue-chippers are already residing in town. And they’re ready to take on the league.

We needn’t have worried.

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