Middle questions

This is Josh Papalii’s last year in green. Morgan Smithies and Ata Mariota’s contracts run out at Halloween, as does Vena Patuki-Case. Corey Horsburgh is batting eyelids at the Broncos. And now Jake Clydsdale likely won’t be with the club next year, per the Canberra Times’ report.

Will the last middle left at Raiders HQ please turn off the lights and lock up? Possums got in last time.

Just who is manning the middle for the Raiders next year? This picture is less clear than Blue Poles and about as expensive. A bit of (dumb) noise has been made about turnover in Canberra over the next 18 months, but what is clear is that there will be plenty of moving and shaking in the middle rotation. For 2027, Joe Tapine, Zac Hosking, Myles Martin, and the aforementioned potentially-departing Horsburgh are the only middles on the roster.

That’s not enough. For a team that’s kicked in the arse by the impact of injury on its middle rotation this season, it’s an unenviable situation. It was clear after last week that Coach Stuart (and Ethan Sanders) appreciated having a full complement of options available to him, and that an effective middle is key to all things the Raiders do.

I cannot believe that the club would think that the roster for next year can cover that position to an extent that allows them to contend. Jayden Brailey has been proven to be a pretty handy hooker, and not much else, despite his best efforts. Daine Laurie is a great player to throw on the field for 15 but he’s not defending there for long periods and succeeding. Zac Hosking is excellent, but I don’t think anyone should be relying on his fitness. Myles Martin comes off the bench in Cup, behind Clydsdale and Patuki-Case, showing where he is in the depth chart.

There is a possibility that the club is looking at backrowers like Simi Sasagi, Matty Nicholson, Joe Roddy and Jordan Uta to make a permanent shift. That’s a fine idea, but it’s also not certain to work. Uta and Roddy are exciting but unproven. Matty Nicholson’s best footy was unquestionably as starting backrower last year, rather than bench middle. Simi Sasagi is a weapon, and Coach Stuart apparently was on radio last weekend saying he thinks he’s a lock long-term, but I’d caution against locking that in long-term. The physical toll in the middle is much greater.

The club will need to get into the market.

The Canberra Times report noted that they will be trying to pick up two middles to fill the hole. That seems like the bare minimum. Two middles are what I would expect if they keep Horse, Morgs and Ata, and are down with VPC (yeah you know me). If they lose all these other people they would need to buy more meat than a community soccer team preparing for a Bunnings stall.

If anything, this flux suggests a deep disappointment with the club of the progress and performance of its middles across the grades. This kind of clear-out is usually reserved for catastrophically obvious slides. The Raiders have been bad this year, and the middles have been the primary reason for that. This has been impacted by the seesawing of the rules under Vlando’s thumb, and the aforementioned injuries.

But those are contributing factors rather than determinants. After so many career years in 2025, this season has taken a decidedly less impressive tinge. No one has been at their best, in first grade or in Cup. So perhaps there’s some lines being drawn and hard decisions made. That’s fine, but letting people go without a plan for the next crop is kinda like quitting a job without having another lined up. It’s not illegal, but it’s certainly risky.

Jake Clydsdale had been factored in by many to be part of that plan. From our inexpert eyes he’d been the best performing middle in Cup for much of this year (along with Jesse Milin). In addition to that he’s been an Origin u/19s player. That he’d not crashed into first grade had surprised us, particularly Uta and Patuki-Case, had been used ahead of him this year. Coach Stuart, and the Raiders more broadly, are usually pretty good at working out who to keep and who to let go. Usually, you can see it coming. This one did surprise me.

There’s a lot of uncertainty here. The lack of clarity about who is leaving, about what people’s long-term positions are, even what is on the realistic market (I’d love Moses Leota to come to town but I’d also like a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle and for Benita Collings to say she’s proud of who I’ve become). Horsburgh and Clydsdale are just leading indicators of this uncertainty, drawing our eyes to the smoke billowing from the roof.

Stick and Donjamin Furnerator better get their red hats on. There’s a lot of decisions to be made, lines to be drawn, and a pack imagined that can deal with the problems of today and the football of tomorrow. Jake Clydsdale may just be the start.

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