BY DAN

For a brief moment I was excited.

I’d seen the club’s debut video for Vena Patuki-Case. We’d been told for weeks that Josh Papalii was only a matter of assurance from returning to the game. Joe Roddy was surely going to be in the 17 in order to provide coverage for Hudson Young. Canberra were about to get big.

Instead Papa is still a week away (from being a week away?). Roddy was named at 19. The bench has a back, a hooker, and two forwards on it. Jayden Brailey still looks like he’ll be playing the majority of the game at lock. The weaknesses baked into the roster remain there, as tasteless as always.

There’s a point here about the 17 vs the 19. Say what you want, but there seems to have been an established norm that the 18th and 19th men on the roster are ‘break in case of emergency’ picks. That means that Roddy isn’t necessarily in the plans, and Coby Black is cover for Ethan Sanders’ sore glute. The NRL website suggested that Roddy is ‘expected to play’ after injuring his hand against the Roosters. Given he didn’t play (and NSW Cup had a bye) I’m not sure what to make of it all.

With no Simi Sasagi for another month, the Raiders are rolling back what hasn’t been working. Is this the best they can do? We wrote here about how the Brailey solution hasn’t been working recently, but Canberra are going into another game seemingly leaning in to hoping *this* will be the week that works at lock to lock-down the middle.

Is this doing the best with what they’ve got? Or a refusal to acknowledge something is broken? While my inclination is the former, the possible reluctance to use Joe Roddy, and the ongoing prioritisation of Jed Stuart ahead of more athletically gifted outside backs (Sione Finau is right there), makes one wonder if we’re misreading the situation. Coach Stuart has always liked a high floor over a high ceiling, and that could be driving this approach. But at some point he’s got to let the dogs out.

Which brings us to Vena Patuki-Case. He was in the 19 last week (along with Chevy Stewart) but with the video put out by the club, we can assume he’ll be getting 15-20 minutes through the middle. If you’ve followed our work, you’ll know we’ve always had a preoccupation with Patuki-Case, dating back to when he first appeared in the top 30 in late 2024.

Back then they were saying he was the ‘heir apparent to Josh Papalii’ and ‘one of their most exciting forwards’. Make of that what you will (the Mole said one of them, so don’t make too much), but it’s been clear for a while that Patuki-Case is not only massive but talented. He’s overcome a devastating leg injury to get where he is, and it always felt like it was a matter of time before he was playing first grade.

Like Jordan Uta, that’s probably been fast-tracked by circumstance. Canberra have now debuted two Cup forwards this year, and if troops don’t return soon then it could be more by the end of the year. It’s a challenge being a young forward in a game that’s been turned to lightning. I’m hopeful that Patuki-Case’s physical preparedness will overshadow any issues with experience.

Because if he can show himself ready for the big game then it could force the Raiders into some fixes that they seem to be relucant to embrace. Maybe it will lead Stick to trusting people other than Jayden Brailey. Maybe it will lead to Roddy and VPC getting more minutes, and the Milk finding a way to control the ruck in defence, and skittle the opposition going the other way. Maybe then they can find the space for their outside backs to breathe.

Maybe I’m projecting hope because I need to. This season has taken on the feel of a buffer year, the space between good times like 2017/18 or 2024, as we reload and build up players for better times in future years. But if that’s the case then we’re happy Vena Patuki-Case is getting his opportunity. Because when the good times come again, he’ll be that little more ready.

And we can be excited again.

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