The Canberra Raiders are going to struggle in 2007, everyone knows that. The club lost a number of experienced first grade players at the end of last year and they have not been able to replace that experience.
Some people have questioned how the Raiders will recover when quite frankly, no established stars want to have to live in Canberra to play for the Raiders, no matter how much they pay them.
I think the solution is simple…
The Raiders should target young players looking for an opportunity to establish a place in first grade.
Around the NRL clubs have some great tallent in the lower grades. A lot of this tallent isnt getting the opportunity to play first grade because of established stars in the first grade side that are ahead of them.
While a star player who’s place in first grade is assured might not want to live in Canberra, there are plenty of young players that would live in Iraq for a chance to play in the NRL.
I think of a player like the Roosters Jamie Sowart who is definantly good enough to play first grade football but who just isnt getting that constant first grade experience every players needs to establish a career.
The Raiders should be targeting these players, coming out and offering a start in first grade. If the Raiders took that approch, eventually they would have more established stars than most clubs could dream of.
