Corey Horsburgh Leaves

Goodbye Corey. We knew you too well.

Corey Horsburgh is on his way to the Perth Bears, according to Brent Read and Michael Carayannis of Code Sports. It’s a good deal, something approaching $2m over three years, basically the same 650ish a year he was being paid by the Canberra Raiders. He leaves behind him a club with a massive hole in the middle, and one in my heart too.

Let’s start with the obvious. This is not a surprise, at least in his departure from the Canberra Raiders. While we’d been hoping that the noise around his potential departure was just that, it had persisted for some time, and it always had a feeling of a tilt towards leaving. Any lingering doubt evaporated following Sunday’s loss to the Knights. The Red Horse missed the moment, and Stuart let him know, both privately (according to the Sydney Morning Herald) and publicly.

It’s such a shame that hair ruffle of Dane Gagai that this will be such a defining moment. Corey has never been the most emotionally regulated fella, but we always felt that was overblown, a trope based on hair colour, and big units, and the unique combination of the two. It always felt people were sitting around waiting for him to do something stupid. That it ended this way will confirm a thousand priors.

Corey’s personality has always been in a battle with himself; the personification of the Raiders spirit in a way. When it’s good, it’s been great, but that always felt temporary. A man wrestling with a big dog on a leash, only he’s both.

It’s a sad way for this Canberra career to end. At his best he’s been an excellent complementary piece to much of the Raiders middle, providing work rate and connection to a middle that desperately needed it. He promised to be an important bridge between the ageing generation of Tapine and Papalii and the next generation coming through. Instead he’ll be neither the bridge nor the supports.

But sadder is that a man that was part of the 2019 grand final, who was a critical part of last year’s magic. He filled so many gaps, covered for the crimes of other forwards. At his best he would lead the pack in tackles, be a connecting pass on multiple tries, and clock 140 odd metres of more technical than powerful running.

At his best he was ready to be a leader. He’d grown so much over the years that he was trusted to be the captain of the Baby Raiders 2. A light on the hill for the next generation. But even in that debacle of a game, he couldn’t help himself, burning Canberra’s challenge early in the game on a low-leverage situation as the Raiders collapsed into a muddy hole of despair.

Corey was so much to the Raiders. He was connection. Potential. Brains and brilliance. But he was also everything wrong about them. Incapable of getting out of his own way. If only he could have kept his head when all about him people were losing theirs and blaming it on him. If only. He was a product and the epitome of the beast that inhabits Ricky Stuart’s Raiders.

It’s not an easy path we tread. Corey’s departure won’t make this team smart. The fire that drives them, and holds them back, is flamed by Coach Stuart. Every fault of Horsburgh’s is one he holds too. In the end the two of them drove each other mad, an exercise in self-loathing.

Canberra have real problems to solve now. They’re left with Joe Tapine and Ata Mariota, and little else proven. The next generation isn’t realistically ready for big minutes. Whatever cap space this frees up could be drawn into a battle to keep Hudson Young in town over the longer term.

These are practical problems for solving by cooler heads at calmer times. It almost feels trite to consider them now, like doing a shopping list or paying a bill while making love. Now is not a time for cool heads. We’re celebrating Corey Horsburgh after all.

Farewell Corey Horsburgh. We knew exactly who you were. It was all of us. And that ended up being the problem.

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