Aidan Sezer keeps focus on finals as future remains up in the air
As speculation over Aidan Sezer’s future intensifies following the signing of a rival halfback, the playmaker opens up about his NRL future and reports linking him to the Super League.
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Aidan Sezer is refusing to be pushed out of Canberra, with the halfback’s battle to remain at the club beginning against the Sydney Roosters on Sunday.
Speculation over Sezer’s future has intensified following the signing of Wigan halfback George Williams on a three-year deal from next season.
Recent reports suggested that the Raiders were looking to offload Sezer and a deal with English Super League side Huddersfield was close.
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But Sezer, 28, said those reports were wrong.
“There’s always speculation but it’s not coming from me,” Sezer said.
“I read that too, and I thought, ‘OK, what’s going on here’.
“It was news to me that I was going to Huddersfield. Unless it comes from me I don’t think people should believe what they read.”
With Jack Wighton cementing his place at five-eighth, the impending arrival of Williams has placed a question mark on Sezer’s role in coach Ricky Stuart’s side.
But Sezer, who is contracted until the end of next year, told The Daily Telegraph he had no intention of asking for an early release even if Williams was preferred to him.
“I’ve said it numerous times before, I’m just concentrating on the back end of the year and my future will sort itself out,” he said.
“I’m still on contract here next year and I'll see my contract out if I have to.”
However, Sezer did concede that season 2019 could be his last in lime green.
“It’s a day-to-day proposition,” he said.
“It’s something that will have to wait until the end of the year. Obviously, I enjoy the boys and I love the team and playing with my teammates.
“It’s going to be tough [if I have to leave] but we’ll see how it goes.”
Raiders are facing their biggest challenge so far this season when they take on defending premiers the Roosters, first-placed Melbourne and fifth-placed Manly in consecutive weeks.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding his future, a dominant showing over the next three rounds from Sezer, particularly against Cooper Cronk on Sunday, will undoubtedly give Stuart plenty to think about.
After struggling with a stomach injury earlier in the season, and then being forced to work his way back into the NRL side through reserve grade, Sezer is in career-best form.
“I’ve been happy with my form all year,” he said. “In the Melbourne Storm game back in round two I was playing a bit injured and that’s probably the only performance this year that I was a bit disappointed in.
“But the way we are playing this year and the processes we have within the team it’s helping my game as a half in that it’s really simplified my game as a half as well.”
Originally published as Aidan Sezer keeps focus on finals as future remains up in the air
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