BY DAN As the annual jumble of players has settled like a boggle game, the eyes of the rugby league world have started to think about the ramifications. For most, including the good people at Fox Sports, this has been a focus on what potential lineups will look like. You don’t need actually need to … More The Backup Plan
BY DAN How good is next year? This one has been rubbish, so the promise (hope?) of a better one next year is something we’re holding on to rather tightly. So when the NRL draw came out today we were a bit guarded, wary of what might be offered our way after the Raiders were … More Key Things We Saw in the Draw
BY DAN The slightest ray of sunshine poked through the rain clouds of 2020 today, with the release of round one of the 2021 draw for the National Rugby League. Unlike this time last year, where the NRL, and the television companies, showed little interest in the people’s team, the Raiders have managed to score … More A Modicum of Respect
BY DAN It’s been a relatively quiet free agency period in Canberra. As teams around the league have been rushing to finalise their rosters in time to start pre-season, there’s been barely a whisper out of the Canberra Raiders. It’s not a typical situation. For many years the Raiders had been a preferred runoured landing … More Death of the Raider Raise?
BY DAN In an otherwise quiet offseason for God’s football team, the Canberra Raiders have been busily ensuring they set themselves up for the future. The latest step in this is becoming clearer, with Emre Guler set to re-sign with the Green Machine, and negotiations beginning with Hudson Young, as reported by David Polkinghorne in … More The Next Generation
BY DAN Hidden away in the recent squad announcements for 2021 was a little ray of hopeful sunshine for many Canberra Raiders fans: Sam Williams is still scheduled to be in green for 2021. Given the recent news about a possible shift to Wakefield this is good to hear. Sam’s net benefit to Canberra hopefully … More Hoping Sammy Stays
BY DAN We are well into the free agency period of rugby league’s offseason and a major matter still remains outstanding for the Canberra Raiders: the whereabouts of Jordan Rapana’s signature. Whether Rapana would stick around has been much discussed he returned from Japan in the Covid break. The Raiders almost immediately identified him as … More Outstanding Issue: Rapana’s Signature
BY DAN This is Part II of our season review. You can read Part I here. In Part I of this season review we made the case that the Canberra Raiders had established a resiliancy and adaptability in their attitude, roster management and playing style that would future-proof them over the next few years. So … More The Questions: Season Review Part II
BY DAN One of the challenges facing the Raiders in 2021 will be how they reintegrate their star dummy-half and captain Josh Hodgson into the starting side. Injured in round 9, Hodgson sat on the sidelines as the younger model, Tom Starling, helmed the Raiders’ ruck all the way to the preliminary final. By the … More Reintegrating Josh Hodgson
BY DAN In the aftermath of the grand final Dunamis Lui was officially confirmed as part of the Queensland State of Origin squad. Now he’s starting in the first game. It’s a fitting reward for a career of stepping up. For a guy that probably wasn’t in most Canberra fans first-choice 17s before the season, … More Dunamis Steps Up
