Raiders earmark key recruitment target area

The Raiders have been linked heavily to a number of players in recent times.

The Canberra Raiders have earmarked the second-row as their recruitment priority in the immediate short term.

While the Raiders are set for the 2024 campaign, the club will lose English veteran star Elliott Whitehead to retirement at the end of the coming season.

Morgan Smithies, who recently signed with the club from the English Super League, could turn into his long-term replacement, although for the time being at least, he is better suited to the lock forward role and will likely commence his time in the nation’s capital playing there.

That said, there has still been a push in recent times to add talent to their outside backs, with the club launching a chase of David Fifita in recent times when his contract came up for grabs after Justin Holbrook’s surprise departure from the Gold Coast Titans.

The star forward ultimately elected to re-sign with the Titans, with the Raiders also interested in Keaon Koloamatangi recently, before he too elected to re-sign his long-term future with the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

The Canberra Times are now reporting that the club will continue their pursuit of a second-rower.

“We’re looking for a back-rower. It’s pretty clear – we had a big crack at Fifita,” the club’s recruitment manager Joel Carbone was quoted as saying by the publication.

“We’re looking for a back-rower that has a point of difference.”

The pursuit of a second-rower means they will be in talks with a number who are still off-contract at the end of the 2024 season.

It also comes with the Raiders facing significant questions over the standing of their halves moving forward following the departure, and, as yet, inability to replace Jack Wighton.

But Canberra rebuffed claims they would chase Jarome Luai, instead claiming they are a development club, which could put a lot of trust in the young players at the club, as well as the recent signing of Kaeo Weekes, who can play at either fullback or five-eighth.

Maguire keen to juggle roles as Raiders, Kiwis brace for NSW call

The coach could be holding three jobs in 2024.

Canberra Raiders assistant and New Zealand Kiwis head coach Michael Maguire is expected to have made a call on whether he will take over the NSW Blues job by the end of next week.

The impending decision for the NSWRL and Maguire, while widely expected, has led to plenty of speculation for both the Canberra Raiders and New Zealand national side.

Maguire, who was sacked by the Wests Tigers in the middle of the 2022 season, spent the 2023 campaign as the right-hand man to Ricky Stuart in the nation’s capital at the Canberra Raiders, while also continuing his role as head coach of the Kiwis.

That saw his side take out the Pacific Cup last week, administering the heaviest defeat in history to the Kangaroos in the tune of a 30-0 beatdown during a sparsely attended final in Hamilton.

Reports have suggested both the Kiwis and Raiders will be forced to weigh up their options over Maguire’s future if he does indeed take on the Blues job, despite the fact the NSWRL have reportedly changed their tune on the coaching job, with Brad Fittler’s exit seeing it switch from a full-time all year round role, to a part-time one.

It could have allowed a club head coach take over, of which Ricky Stuart and Craig Bellamy were at one point linked to the job.

Speaking on SENZ Radio though, Maguire said he has no intentions of dropping the Kiwis job in taking up the NSW one.

“After the special month I just had, I want more and more of it,” Maguire told SENZ Afternoons.

“I wish it was my team each week because we’d be having a lot of fun. “I really enjoy coaching the Kiwis and it’s something that I want to do for a long time.”

Set to a backdrop of the next Rugby League World Cup being just three years away and likely to be held in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s a team Maguire wants to keep coaching.

It comes amid speculation that Australian coach Mal Meninga is about to have his contract extended by the ARL.

While Maguire might be able to cling onto the New Zealand role along with the Blues one, The Canberra Times is reporting it’s unlikely the Raiders will be quite as friendly over the situation, likely to cut ties with Maguire if he becomes an Origin coach.

It’s understood the Canberra board wants the coaching staff to be fully focused on the club in what could be a moving year for the green machine.