The Raiders Recruitment Donut

Like a donut, the Canberra Raiders are quickly becoming a team without a middle. While there’s a fair bit of noise around HQ as the season starts to shift towards offseason priorities, the Raiders will have a singular focus. They need middles.

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Despite the fact they have a relatively stable squad, there’s a surprising amount of noise around the Canberra Raiders recruitment situation at the moment.

I guess it’s the time of year. As we’ve noted before, most teams deal in two- and three-year extensions at the moment. This means that a third of the squad is up for extension at the end of every season.

Add to that the preparation the Raiders, and most teams, are doing to shield their teams from the introduction of the Chiefs and the Bears, and you can understand why there’s a bit of noise about. For the Milk this has manifested with the ongoing negotiations with Ethan Sanders and Hudson Young. They’ve also upgraded young prop Jesse Milin and upcoming star centre Mark Tuialii, which was a smart move both for locking down the talent, but also because it stops other teams poaching it.

But there are also plenty of ‘goings’ in the pipeline, with varying levels of certainty. Morgan Smithies is the most sure, having apparently revealed his decision to his teammates last week. Josh Papalii is almost certainly in his last season, sadly. There were also reports that Jake Clydsdale would be leaving at the end of the season, which was surprising.

Similarly Vena Patuki-Case doesn’t have a contract for next year. Likewise Michael Asomua, who has been reported as looking to the Super League. He’s been in the top 30 for two years now and hasn’t really approached a consistent first grade spot, so it’s no surprise he’s may be looking at other opportunities. Jayden Brailey is also apparently pretty much gone to the Tigers.

There are more confusing rumours too. The idea of Corey Horsburgh going to the Broncos rankles and persists. Chevy Stewart was reported to have picked up his option last week, something that was then reportedly denied by his management this week.

Make of all that what you will, but it creates an uncertain environment, at least in our attempts to understand what the roster situation is. So, let’s deal in facts.

Canberra currently have 27 contracted players for 2027, including Horsburgh and Chevy Stewart and his wandering option. That becomes 28 if Jayden Brailey stays around, and 29 if Vena Patuki-Case does. You can see the certainties below.

Confirmed squad for 2027 (27): Black, Finau, Hosking, Horsburgh, Kris, Laurie, Mariota, Myles Martin, Noah Martin, Milin, Nicholson, Pattie, Roddy, Sanders, Sasagi, Savage, Starling, Stewart, Strange, Stuart, Tamale, Tapine, Timoko, Tuialii, Weekes, Young.

Depending on how those ‘less certain’ situations play out, Canberra could have between three and five free roster spots to fill. I note recent reporting from the Canberra Times said they currently have two roster spaces. If I had to pick if that means they’re keeping Horsburgh, Patuki-Case, and Stewart, but that’s just some of the Lord’s purest, uncut, speculation.

If we don’t know the specificities of the quantity of what Canberra will be looking for this offseason, we can definitely tell where the recruitment lasers should be pointed.

For the most part the squad is balanced, with appropriate depth at critical positions. Canberra have plenty of spine players, with depth at fullback (Weekes, Stewart and Laurie), five-eighth (Strange, Laurie and Ethan Alaia in NSW Cup), halfback (Sanders and Black), and even hooker (Pattie, Starling, and Shaun Packer in Cup, not to mention Mitch Brophy joining the top 30 in 2028).

The Raiders’ outside backs are also fundamentally sound, even if Jed Stuart continues to play ahead of much more talented players, and the fact that Seb Kris’ form has fallen like Denzel Washington is going to start singing time is on my side. 

Backrow is also relatively stacked (though it didn’t help this season). If Hudson Young comes back for round one next year, and Matty Nicholson and Noah Martin get a full off-season in, then the Raiders are well placed there too.

The Raiders have had a harder time historically finding spine and backrow players, so being so stocked in those positions is pleasing. But it does highlight where the pain point is for the team right now. Canberra have been bleeding middles. This started before this year, but has become more confronting this year as the side has struggled to get the same output in the face of injury.

If Horsburgh is really gone, along with Papalii, Smithies, and Clydsdale, there is a good argument they need to get 3 or 4 new middles. The Raiders only remaining middles for next year are Tapine, Mariota, Hosking, Milin, Myles Martin, and Joe Roddy, depending on what you think is his best position.

While Milin is an unquestionable talent, he’s also still a child and has only just played his first season of NSW Cup. Expecting him to be a big minute middle from next year is unrealistic. Myles Martin is currently playing behind Patuki-Case, Milin, and Clydsdale in Cup. Expecting a lot out of him is similarly risky.

Given the impact their dearth of middles has had on the Raiders performance in 2026, it puts into stark relief the recruitment priorities over the next few months.

It’s not a complicated challenge for Don Furner, Ricky Stuart and recruitment manager Chris Hutchison. There’s a bunch of options (23 props and 12 locks according to Zero Tackle, but that includes Ata, Papa, Patuki-Case, Smithies and Junior Paulo, who’s also signed for the Bears). But the necessity of the work makes it feel more urgent.

So the noise that has been heard around Raiders HQ in the past few weeks is unlikely to abate. They’ll need to protect their squad from the Bears and the Chiefs, and the regular cadence of the rugby league contract eco-system will continue to play out in the background.

But more interesting will be how the Raiders go about filling their hole in the middle.

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