Canberra Raiders have provided an update on their squad ahead of the 2023 season.
The Raiders, who are coached by Ricky Stuart and former Wigan Warriors boss Michael Maguire, announced 29 players as part of their squad last week, with former Huddersfield Giants star Danny Levi expected to be the final player to make up their current top 30.
Levi is yet to be officially announced, but reports suggest the Samoa hooker has signed a two-year contract at Canberra and will battle with Zac Woolford, Adrian Trevilyan and Tom Starling for the number nine jersey.
Despite a full squad, it is believed the Raiders still have space on their salary cap as they look to bring in more players, reshuffle their roster and improve on the club’s eighth-place finish in 2022.
Levi will certainly add an X factor to the Green Machine and arrives in the Australian capital after an impressive season at Huddersfield as he helped the club reach the Challenge Cup final and achieve a top four finish.
On a personal note, the 25-year-old was exceptional as he brought a new dimension to the Giants attack as the club improved ten-fold on the previous season under head coach Ian Watson.
Watson publicly stated that he did everything to keep Levi at the John Smith’s Stadium but was accepting that the player was always likely to return to Australia and gain a lucrative deal in the NRL.
The RLPA and NRL are continuing to negotiate the collective bargaining agreement down under, which will determine the salary cap each club has to play with in 2023. However, the deal for Levi is not reliant on this and is already agreed according to reports.
Speaking to The Canberra Times, club CEO Don Furner remained coy on the Raiders current financial situation and their ability to bring in more players for the new season.
“It depends what happens after the audit when they come down and it depends on what happens with the salary cap,” said Furner.
“We don’t know what the salary cap is yet. There’s lots of moving parts to it, there always is – but more so in the year of a [collective bargaining agreement].”
Canberra’s current 2023 squad:
Nick Cotric
Jarrod Croker
Jamal Fogarty
Matt Frawley
Emre Guler
Corey Harawira-Naera
Peter Hola
Albert Hopoate
Corey Horsburgh
Sebastian Kris
Ata Mariota
Trey Mooney
Josh Papalii
Jordan Rapana
Pasami Saulo
Xavier Savage
James Schiller
Brad Schneider
Harley Smith-Shields
Tom Starling
Joseph Tapine
Matt Timoko
Adrian Trevilyan
Semi Valemei
Clay Webb
Elliott Whitehead
Jack Wighton
Zac Woolford
Hudson Young
Danny Levi*
*Still to be announced