Collateral Damage

Hudson Young is going to leave the Raiders and there’s nothing we can do about it.

We’ve been resigned to this fate for some time, but his quotes from this interview with AAP reveal just how fucked it is. In that article he spoke as if a decision is made, and he’s just doing his due diligence in checking out his future abode.

I have no interest in playing for another NRL club. Sticky and I have spoken about that. It’s more the opportunity of the PNG thing.

Apart from the misdirect about playing for another NRL team – maybe he should have said ‘existing – Young is basically revealing that the decision is made. The opportunity is of course sweet, sweet cash, and of course we can’t begrudge him that. One short career and all that. It’s hard to believe the ‘one club’ stuff when there’s such a prominent caveat.

Young also acknowledges the talent on the roster appeals to him, which is a statement of fact, and perhaps a harbinger of what’s to come.

And then of course, the players they have signed are world class. Obviously you want to win… So it’s an attraction seeing players like that go there

The article also includes a more surprising claim that Young believes his supplements company will get a boost from going to PNG. Don Furner had previously publicly said that his company would be stronger in Canberra, and if Young doesn’t agree then it’s a direct repudiation of one of the three key aspects of the Raiders pitch. The other two – his status as a club legend, and the ability to play footy – are not a priority, or not affected by this move (in Huddo’s mind at least).

Young contends his mind isn’t made up, but it’s only in the sense that he needs a backup option in case he goes there and doesn’t like it. Given the careful management of player trips there, I find it very unlikely that he’ll go there and discover anything other than a high-end resort style experience, and the adulation of Papuan New Guineans. I’ve never been to Port Moresby so I can’t tell you how realistic that is, and time will tell how appealing that is. But in the short term it will be enough to provide succor to Young that the money is worth it.

It’s a shame for the Raiders and their fans. Young has been a huge part of the club since he debuted and we should thank him for that. But the club has made their investment in him, picking him up despite a pre-Raiders suspension for PEDs that would have ended many other players’ careers, and supporting him after twice eye-gouging in his rookie season. They’ve invested time, opportunity, money, and status in him. He was meant to be a leader. He was meant to be the chosen one. And he’s joined the Sith.

That’s not Hudson’s problem. As we’ve noted before, if he was less good at football the team wouldn’t have been so loyal. In sport everyone is a mate until the money isn’t right. And there’s no way for the Milk to make the money right. Like Jack leaving, or Anthony Milford, the Raiders have gone above and beyond to try and keep him and it’s come to nothing. The Raiders’ competence, football or organisational, isn’t the issue. The structural imbalance is.

That’s the real problem for teams like the Raiders. Never mind producing it, but if you can’t keep talent, any success you have his time-limited. Any teams without the financial advantages of the Chiefs (or the Roosters or Broncos) will only be able to sustain improvement until it’s time for a big dog to eat. Just spurts and shooting stars.

This two-tier competition already existed. It was only through the salary cap and the comical ineptness of the people running big clubs that it hasn’t had more impact. But the league’s desire to see the Chiefs succeed has exacerbated the issue and will continue to widen the gap.

Is it the good the Chiefs will succeed? It certainly meets the goals of the powers that be. They’ll be adored in Papua New Guinea, which is the intent, though they would have been regardless. Some people who see the Chiefs as an underdog because of their location rather than a financial powerhouse because of their corporate financing and tax advantages, will also be happy. The rest of us will have to be content with the talent pipeline the Raiders had carefully curated over the past two or three years being at risk.

That bothers me and you, but isn’t an issue for the wider competition. The Raiders may never win a premiership again and the powers in NRL HQ would be fine with that. As long as they keep turning country boys and Englishmen into talent for markets they care about, the league will be happy. As long as he gets paid an insane amount of money to play for an all-star team, Hudson Young will be too.

You, me? Canberra fans? Ah well. You’re just collateral damage.

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