Even when it’s good it’s still bad.
Three wins in a row and we should have been singing. Instead we balance that with the news that Hudson Young will be out for the season with an Achilles rupture. Even when the sun shines it burns.
It’s a cruel blow to Young, almost Greek in its tragedy. In the last two seasons Huddo had proven himself one of the best backrowers in the competition, consistently excelling and finally being recognised as a permanent fixture in the Blues’ and Australian teams. Finally he was on top, and acknowledged as such over a dominant Origin period.
It was a just recognition of the toil over the years. He worked seven years in the NRL to get there. But it was pulled out from under him in the split second of the sniper shot that he looked for when his Achilles tore.
There’s no guarantee he comes back first thing next season with the same athleticism, same pace, same agility. Many a player has hurt their Achilles and then been plagued by it, be it in re-injury, robbed confidence, or ramifications from compensation in other parts of the body.
If he never regains his pace and agility, there may be an earlier than anticipated shift to the middle that most backrowers make as they age. But for me that’s a worst-case scenario. Hudson will do the work in rehab, and I reckon he’ll come out on the other side just as effective.
For the Raiders it’s a similar problem. Canberra had gotten their season back on track in a sense by being able to deploy Zac Hosking as a middle forward. It brought defensive support to Owen Pattie, and dynamism to their yardage work. When Hosking covered for Huddo over the last 25 minutes of the game the Raiders struggled, stripped of not one, but two of their key tools.
Coach Stuart acknowledged the impact was greater than just on the field in the post-match press conference:
It’s a massive blow. I feel for him. He’s such a massive part of our team. Not just the 80 minutes that everyone sees but what goes into the preparation, his senior leadership.
-Stick
There are other solutions. The Raiders may look at shifting Noah Martin to one edge, Simi Sasagi to the other, and bringing back Seb Kris through the centres. Martin played left all last year in Cup. Sasagi has shown that it doesn’t really matter what position you put him in, he just needs the rock in his hands. That would allow them to keep playing Hosking at 13.
Another solution will be Matty Nicholson, but that’s not immediate. He still needs match fitness. We saw at the end of 2025 how much he struggled post injury with conditioning and athleticism. Let him earn his time in Cup and then maybe we can chat. Joe Roddy should be an option, but injury and suspension has probably contributed to the club’s reluctance to use him.
None of these should involve playing Jayden Brailey at 13, or Morgan Smithies big minutes. That will be avoided this weekend by Owen Pattie also getting a rest courtesy of the judiciary (I can’t comment on whether it’s right or wrong, I honestly have no idea what the incident was). But Stuart has hopefully learned his lesson in that regard.
Canberra have solutions, and that’s fine. But no solution will be as good as the real thing. The Raiders have relied on Young’s defensive acumen, his energy, his relentless pursuit of success. Now when the ball is there to be dived on, who will take the task? In the past that had always been Hudson.
Some people lead with words and some people lead with action. Sometimes the best leaders are those that had to fight for what they have, have made every error, and know what it means to earn, and re-earn. Hudson will have to do the work again, just in a different guise, to find his way back. At least he knows how.
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