Matty Johns: Why Canberra Raiders are on the cusp of rugby league’s next great era
Recruitment, development, adapting to the changing face of the game faster than rivals. Little by little, history is repeating itself in Canberra, with the foundations in place for the Raiders to launch the game’s next great era, writes MATTY JOHNS.
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Sometimes when you watch closely you get a glimpse of the future.
Take 1987.
The mid-80s were dominated by Canterbury’s Dogs of War, a team who – under the 5m rule – suffocated the opposition with aggressive defence and brutalised the competition.
But changes were afoot.
With Parramatta’s 4-2 win over Canterbury in the 1986 grand final being a tryless affair, John Quayle and Ken Arthurson knew the game needed opening up. Defence was increasing its dominance over attack and, from an entertainment point of view, the competition was suffering.
As evidence, in 1983, the competition’s highest try scorer was Phil Blake with 27 tries.
Blake was the top scorer in 1986, however this time crossing the stripe only 13 times.
In 1987, the referees were instructed to pull the teams apart, closer to 10m.
That year, the attack-minded Manly beat an emerging force, Canberra, in the decider.
There were suggestions the Raiders’ grand final appearance would be a one off, a year where they caught the competition off-guard.
But if you looked closely, you saw a glimpse of rugby league’s next great era.
At full-time, as is tradition, both teams stayed on the field for the presentation.
As Manly held aloft the premiership trophy the camera turned to the crestfallen Raiders. In the background stood three fresh-faced youngsters who sat in the stands as spectators that day.
These young men would dominate the game for the next decade and kickstart the Green Machine era … Laurie Daley, Bradley Clyde and Glenn Lazarus.
The Green Machine would rule rugby league, not just on talent but the intelligence to know what type of tactics would dominate the game’s new rules – expansive, fast-moving, sideline-to-sideline football.
Watching the 2025 Raiders gives you a sense that, little by little, history is repeating itself.
In my opinion, this current crop of Raiders youngsters are the best Canberra have welcomed into grade since the late 1980s.
Ethan Strange, Savelio Tamale, Kaeo Weekes, Xavier Savage, Owen Pattie, Ata Mariota and young Englishman Matty Nicholson will soon be joined by the likes of Chevy Stewart, Jed Stuart and Ethan Sanders.
This is a beautifully balance squad.
The previous crop, men like Matthew Timoko, Sebastian Kris, Tom Starling, Corey Horsburgh and Hudson Young, are now in their peak years and stars of the game.
Halfback Jamal Fogarty, under coach Ricky Stuart, has gone from a solid, honest playmaker to one so improved they were left vulnerable to big-money offers from rival clubs.
Meanwhile, prop Joe Tapine has developed into an elite leader and 314-game veteran Josh Papalii, no doubt sensing something special is brewing, has wound back the clock, playing the kind of football he did 150 games earlier.
Then there’s a player like Zac Hosking, who is underrated, but not by anyone who’s played alongside him. A man of the highest character whom others want to play alongside.
It’s my opinion that this is Stuart’s finest coaching season because, like the young Raiders team that he enjoyed dominance with as a player, they’ve recognised the changes in the game and exactly the kind of football they need to play to beat the best.
The fast rucks and six-again rule has made the area of defensive vulnerability not on the edges, but right through the centre field and the Raiders know it and know how to expose it.
This is a fast team and every player has great late footwork.
Their outside backs know when to wander inland and challenge the opposition middle men.
And the one-two combination of Tom Starling and Owen Pattie out of dummy half is a beauty, drilling holes through the centrefield defence each week
Pattie has been regarded for a while as an emerging superstar and is rated extremely highly by no less than Melbourne superstar Harry Grant.
Pattie was born and raised not too far from Grant.
As a 16-year-old Pattie was lucky enough to do a session with the Queensland and Australian hooker, learning the art of dummy half play.
Grant left the session blown away by the young player’s intelligence.
“Owen asked me almost identical questions to the ones I asked Cameron Smith playing behind him as a 21-year-old,” Grant told me. “The difference though, Owen was a kid.”
Few had the Raiders playing finals this season, many had them in the bottom four.
Even with their great start to the season I thought this young squad was still at least a season away from being a serious title contender. On last Sunday’s performance, a 20-18 golden-point win over Melbourne, I’m reconsidering.
Young teams who burst out of nowhere and win a title do so by developing their own unique style. Think the Penrith Panthers of 2003, the Wests Tigers of 2005 and, yes, the Canberra Raiders of 1989.
There’s plenty of similarities.
It will be a fantastic atmosphere at Canberra on Saturday when the Raiders host the Bulldogs in a battle of first against second.
Like the Raiders, the Dogs have exploded out of the blocks in 2025 and have worked themselves into title consideration on the back of a high-energy defence and, yep, their own unique style.
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Originally published as Matty Johns: Why Canberra Raiders are on the cusp of rugby league’s next great era
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