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.
5. Who plays dummy half?
The Raiders had somewhat varying strategies in the number nine jumper throughout the 2023 campaign, with all of Danny Levi, Zac Woolford and Tom Starling in their Top 30.
That, despite some recent speculation around their respective futures, is not something that's about to change for the 2024 campaign.
The constant seemed to be Starling coming off the bench for the green machine, and yet, you could argue he needs and absolutely deserves more minutes heading into the 2024 season.
It's not so much that he didn't provide in the minutes he had, but it's arguable that the Raiders looked at their best with Starling on the park.
His coming off the bench seems to be the right school of thought, though, so it may simply be about getting him into the game earlier. Woolford has turned himself into a strong defensive force through the middle and looks to have the inside running on the starting role, although Levi brings plenty of experience.
Ultimately, it'll come down to who has the best pre-season, but this will be one of those questions that coach Stuart needs to get right and find consistency early in the campaign, particularly as he builds a new spine without Wighton.
