Hudson Young and the Broken Market

Hudson Young is the latest target of the PNG Chiefs and I am fucking worried.

Code Sports is reporting he’s expected to be given a window prior to 1 November to negotiate exclusively with the Chiefs if he can’t reach a deal with the Raiders. This is the same pathway that led to Brian To’o leaving Penrith. That this is occurring after the Raiders have already offered him a reported eye-watering deal of north of a million dollars per year to keep him at home.

This is a stark contrast, and a near impossible choice. Young would be cruelly aware that careers are short and guaranteed to no one. He will be faced with a decision of setting himself up for life, or setting up his kids for life too.

Let’s start with the obvious. The Raiders simply cannot compete on money. They’ve given him more than any other player on the team, showing their belief and value in him. They’ve done that on the back of a potentially-career-changing injury, the promise of captaincy, and backing him through a multitude of early career challenges.

That is the offer. We love you Huddo. We’ve always loved you, and always will. We want you to be the centre of the club. But we can’t pay you what they can pay you. No one else in this league can. If that money appeals then there is little we can do about it. Canberra can’t even really up their offer. If the Raiders go from 1.1 to 1.4, will it matter when the rate from the Chiefs is effectively 1.7 or something equally silly? Young will also have access to 3rd party deals that he would never see in Canberra.

Personally I can’t be angry with the man, but then I’ve always been team Huddo. You only get so many opportunities in life to make cash. I’ve never had anyone offer me the figures that will be bandied about for Young. You can understand him turning his mind to life beyond football.

This is a challenge for the Raiders, and the league. I’m aware that this isn’t the first player to be caught by this, but it’s hard to imagine it will hurt a team more (unless the Chiefs sign Sam Walker or Nathan Cleary as some pages have reported they are trying to do). Huddo is at the peak of his powers right now, a critical part of the Raiders. Brian To’o might be the best winger of his generation, but no one thinks the Panthers will die without him (shit they just found Tom Jenkins on a scrap heap). No one cares about Jarome Luai. Alex Johnston will be more fork than man by the time the Chiefs enter the league.

But Huddo is a key part of the Raiders, and will likely just be rounding back into his full health and the back end of his prime when the Chiefs start. The Raiders 2027 will basically be treated as Hudson’s rehab for the Chiefs’ benefit. To say it tastes bitter is an understatement.

This isn’t competing with Brisbane or the Roosters for the best talent. This is destroying rugby league’s middle class. If Canberra can’t keep talent that they spot and develop, then how are they going to compete? They can’t sign formed talent like big clubs. That has been painfully obvious for years. If teams like the Raiders have no recourse to get better without the Chiefs just diving in, then the league will become a two-tier league in a few years and Vlando will have just watched it happen.

I might be being dramatic in a sense. Canberra will survive. They have depth at the position. But it’s hard to be happy that they would lose someone who is so integral to the spirit of the club. Someone they took a chance on when he had nothing but clouds over him. Someone they developed from a young player, supported through thick and thin when he made terrible decisions. Someone they promised the earth to, and paid as much as humanly possible under a normally functioning salary cap.

It’s also not the first time it’s happened, but it feels more dramatic. Losing Jack Wighton for the last big contract of his career is different to losing Young in his prime. Watching Josh Dugan or Todd Carney punch themselves in the face at Canberra then have career years elsewhere was painful but those bridges were burned. Watching Joel Monaghan… look, you get the point.

Our only hope is that Hudson is getting closer to the Chiefs money to drive the Raiders to up their offer (I just went there so I could ask how to get away!). Perhaps this is the Raiders calling a bluff already in play – the familial relationships between the Chiefs organisation, and Hudson’s manager Sam Ayoub have been noted before. Perhaps this will end up with a big deal for Huddo keeping him in Canberra.

Even in that circumstance it feels a pyrrhic victory. As we’ve said, Canberra can’t match the money. The cash they’re offering is already a lot. Trying to reduce the gap restricts their ability to build a good team around him, as paying Young a heap means that you can’t keep depth in the roster.

That it’s all happening while the rest of the Canberra Raiders’ community is celebrating the one-club man of Josh Papalii only makes the contrast more obvious. It’s a shame but that’s business baby. The world in which we live is a dark and mysterious one, stripped of all its joy by the power of the almighty dollar. We are just sad observers, mourning the potential loss of one of our favourites.

The Sportress is transitioning away from Facebook and Twitter for distribution so sign up to the email below because I’ll write something happier tomorrow. Don’t hesitate to send us feedback (dan@sportress.org) or comment below if you think we are stupid. Or if we’re not.