The Canberra Raiders enter the 2024 season as one of those that are going to prove nearly impossible to predict.
Sure, you could think you know what will happen to Ricky Stuart's green machine.
But in the best of times, this side often either wildly exceeds or grossly fails their pre-season expectations.
This year is not the best of those times. They have lost a stalwart of the playing group and snuck into the finals last year despite having mostly narrow and unconvincing wins combined with some horror-low moments throughout the campaign.
That leaves plenty of questions that will ultimately define Canberra's season. Here are the five big ones facing the Raiders in 2024.
4. Will Xavier Savage finally consolidate a first-grade spot?
Savage might be rated as one of the best young talents in the NRL, but in the year he turns 22, he needs to start realising it consistently, or that term will start to fade rapidly.
Ricky Stuart has (and rightly so at times, it must be added) held Savage back from being a regular in first grade, although it must be said injuries certainly haven't helped the youngster's cause during 2023.
He played 19 of his 23 first-grade games during 2022 with mixed results, but this must be the year he locks down a spot because if not, he is going to lose his spot on the waiting list to Chevy Stewart, who is the next big thing in the nation's capital.
A future NRL-levelย fullback, some suggest this could be the year Stewart makes his first-grade debut, dislodging Savage from his role in the process. Savage could potentially shape up on the wing, although many will argue he is going to need to pack on plenty of size for that to become a consistent reality moving forward.
Whatever the case, the Raiders are likely to have a youngster at the back in 2024, and for the club to make waves and move forward, it simply has to work as they build this new spine without Wighton.
