No one seems to give a damn about the team from the ACT. Not the broadcasters, not the press, not the players and not David Smith.

In the past three weeks the Raiders went to the player market loaded with cash in an attempt to lure four big name players. With James Tedesco now reneging on his three year $1.9 million contract signed just days ago, it turns out that they have got none from four. Proctor and Mansour stayed with their clubs for considerably smaller amounts.

Michael Ennis wanted no less than three years and James Tedesco just didn’t want to leave his mates… A player who has a history of chronic injury just passed up the chance to secure his future because he didn’t want to go two hours down the road from where he lives.

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Previously I pointed out that the Raiders have major difficulties in attracting players due to their unfashionable location. It now appears that even ludicrous money can’t lure players to sign. The Canberra Raiders have the money but still nobody wants to come and, to rub salt into the wounds, the star junior is leaving.

There’s a Billy Crystal movie called ‘Forget Paris’ where Crystal and his missus are trying out a number of marriage counselors in an attempt to remedy their dysfunctional relationship. One counselor lets both yell abuse and blame at each other continually while he just watches on. Eventually Crystal turns to the seated counselor and yells “at what stage do you get involved? When there’s gun play!?”

The question must be asked of David Smith in relation to the Raiders: “Is there a point where you will actually do something to help?”

That Anthony Milford – a player the Raiders have developed from the age of 13 – can turn down $1.1 Million dollars a year to sign with Brisbane for reportedly considerably less should have set alarm bells ringing wildly at NRL HQ. Firstly, because of the apparent disparity in the offers and just how much money Milford was apparently turning down to join Brisbane.

Secondly, it should have raised alarm because if clubs aren’t supported to retain the juniors that they’ve developed then they may simply stop doing it.

The Broncos have recently come under major scrutiny in regards to their salary cap. However, what hasn’t really been scrutinised is that The Broncos and The Titans are the only two teams in one of the countries biggest grass roots areas.



There are literally thousands of up and coming kids all trying to get a go at the top level. The Broncos and Titans can’t possibly develop all of them. Enter The Canberra Raiders. They became involved with Souths Logan and began to develop lots of players. Not surprisingly they’ve developed some stars. Edrick Lee, Josh Papalii and Tony Milford top the list.

The Broncos haven’t won a title since Wayne Bennett was with them in 2008. Further, apart from Gillett, Glenn and McCullough, the Broncos junior development has been poor. There have certainly been no Darren Lockyers developed in spite of the massive resources and talent pool at their disposal.

So they went shopping… First Ben Barba wanted to ‘go home’ and now Anthony Milford does too. Daly Cherry-Evans has also been mentioned in dispatches. Barba and Milford were developed by the Bulldogs and Raiders respectively but the Broncos got their men in spite of that. There are no concessions under the salary cap that help clubs retain the players they’ve developed.

The first losers of this are the juniors of Souths, Logan and the other areas of greater Brisbane and The Gold Coast who will have to compete for far fewer development spots if the Raiders pull out of the region.

However, the biggest losers are the weaker clubs like Canberra. Not only can they seemingly not buy talent, they can’t even retain the talent they develop. And the NRL is doing nothing to help them.

Conversely the AFL has spent huge amounts of money establishing clubs in Sydney and Brisbane so they could claim to be truly national. In 1994 when the Swans were on the verge of collapse a deal was brokered that brought superstars Paul Roos and Tony Lockett to the club.

Massive financial assistance and concessions were given to the club to help it be successful. The same sort of support was given to the Brisbane Lions, The Gold Coast Suns, The Port Adelaide Power and now Greater Western Sydney. Why? Because the AFL is dedicated to making a truly national code.

Presently the NRL is not a national rugby league competition.



It is a Sydney competition with a behemoth Brisbane side and a number of seemingly inconsequential outliers. One of the reasons may be that the power brokers are mostly from Sydney and/or affiliated with Sydney clubs.

The AFL currently give the Brisbane Lions, The Gold Coast Suns, the Swans and GWS a ‘cost of living’ allowance in their salary cap. They do this so those clubs can pay players from traditional AFL areas more money to lure them to go to the Sydney and Queensland clubs.

The Canberra Raiders are in need of this kind of extra salary cap space so they can create a competitive side. Just as The Gold Coast Suns were able to offer Gary Ablett jnr a massive sum to lure him from Geelong, the Raiders need to be able to lure another Meninga.

Someone who is not just a great player but also a leader and talisman who will help attract and retain players. Other geographically challenged teams – such as the North Queensland Cowboys (post Thurston), The Newcastle Knights (Post Johns) and the Melbourne Storm (post Slater, Cronk and Smith) – may also need this kind of assistance in the future to remain competitive.

As well, the NRL must introduce big salary cap concessions for the retention of junior players clubs that they have developed. Not only will this reward clubs for good development programs, it will benefit the junior players of the game who will surely get more and better development opportunities than ever before under such a move. And that can only make the domestic game stronger.

Without these measures the NRL will surely become more and more like the English Premier League where only a handful of rich and powerful teams can win and the rest of the clubs scramble around for the scraps or wait in hope for a super rich buyer to sweep them up to glory. However, I don’t think there is any super rich sheikh who is at all interested in The Canberra Raiders. And just ask the Novocastrians what they think of their rich savior now.

Only NRL HQ can prevent a two tiered competition becoming entrenched. However, right now it doesn’t look like they think there is even a problem.

So what do you say Mr Smith? Will you help the Raiders become a competitive force again or are you really not at all bothered about it?


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