BY DAN

Can a game be a springboard?

Normally we wouldn’t ask such a hopeful question, but this season has worn at us, forcing us to seek answers in every corner. Sunday’s victory felt like an answer. The Raiders, still hamstrung by a deep, but not broad, injury crisis, played as direct and disciplined football as they’d played all season. The result was something that would have been a thumping, if not for Ethan Sanders’ unusually astray kicking boot.

It was a critical win, one that not only kept the club broadly within the solar system of top-eight star, but also positioned the club for a big period in the next month or so. For so long they’ve been surviving, piecing together lineups from the change left in the ash tray, manufacturing wins by necessity. Or not even.

Now they sit on the precipice: firstly, of getting help. The return of a host of players can’t be far away. Josh Papalii, Joe Roddy and Simi Sasagi should all be available in the coming weeks, with Roddy potentially available as soon as this week. Given the likely absence of Hudson Young and Ethan Strange throughout the Origin period, these are welcome returnees. Jayden Brailey will also be back on deck after missing the last game with concussion.

But also, while their match-up this week is with Roosters is both tough in turnaround and quality of opposition, after that they enter arguably the softest part of their draw, playing four teams in a row currently below them on the table. Given there’s only five teams below them on the ladder, that’s quite an opportunity.

But first they have to overcome two obstacles. Firstly Seb Kris will be missing this week. He failed an HIA from his late-game incident, and that means he’s missing this game, if not another (depending on how his symptoms progress). Coach Stuart acknowledged as much in the afterglow of the victory, and flagged that Daine Laurie and Jed Stuart were in line for more minutes.

Moving Laurie to yet another position wouldn’t be ideal. He worked well as a ball-playing middle – in attack at least. In defence it was a tougher sell, but he hardly let the side down. But playing him at centre not only sacrifices that dynamism in the middle of the park, but also asks a new combination to form on the edge. It would be the 353rd combination the Raiders have had on an edge this season (numbers approximate), but I guess at this stage it’s unavailable.

There aren’t obviously better options. The last time Stuart started it was to allow Xavier Savage to shift to centre. That looked shakier than 3am at a 24hr Maccas. Jed starting at centre doesn’t really improve the feeling. Further down the depth chart is the rolled-gold talent of Mark Tuialii. Normally we’d say asking a rookie to fill such a crucial role at such a difficult time against such a good opposition would be unfair. But life’s unfair. Maybe now is the time to do something a little crazy.

The thing I’m most surprised by is the fact that Sione Finau isn’t part of this conversation. He’s been on the wing in Cup, and he was pretty useful there on the weekend, part of a back five that beat the pulp out of their opposition (he had 214m on the ground). But he’s rarely mentioned as an option in first grade, and given he was brought to the club as critical back five depth, that’s been upsetting to see.

However Stick chooses to play this, there’s hope coming on the horizon. The victory over the Cows on Sunday gives the Raiders air. The draw after this coming week will hopefully allow them to take full advantage of their depth. But before they find this respite, they need to get through a short-turnaround and a quality opponent. Before last weekend I would not have thought this possible. Now, well, hope abounds.

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