Two Canberra stalwarts will go into the 2024 NRL season unsure if it’s their last as they delay tricky calls on their playing future.
Captain Elliott Whitehead, 34, and 31-year-old champion prop Josh Papali’i have been non-committal on the matter – despite the former previously indicating he planned to hang up his boots at the end of the season.
Whitehead is out of contract at the end of 2024, while Papali’i and the Raiders have a mutual option to extend his deal for 2025, as the players gauge their health and status within the squad before making a definitive call.
“I’ll see how I’m playing and how my body’s feeling,” Whitehead told AAP.
“It’s feeling good at the moment, so I don’t want to call it too early, look back and wish I hadn’t.”
The skipper said he would sit down with coach Ricky Stuart and CEO Don Furner when the time was right, but would “rather get into the season and see how I’m feeling before I start making decisions”.
“Every time I go away and play for England, I go pretty well and then I feel like I’ve still got it,” he said.
“I’ll see if I’m ready to hang the boots up and call it a day, but I’m not too sure where my head’s at … it’s a big decision.”
Whitehead is on track to pass 200 club games in 2024 – he enters the season on 189 – while Papali’i could become just the third Raider to the 300 mark. He begins the campaign on 282.
Samoa international and former Queensland front-rower Papali’i missed the back-end of last year after surgery on a biceps tendon injury.
He looked lean and as explosive as ever in a short trial stint against North Queensland on February 25.
“I’m still the same weight as last year, just more happy off field … still sitting at 116kg, which is very good for me,” he told AAP.
“I’m just taking it one year at a time, I’m not looking too far ahead.
“I don’t want to look into the 2025 season, we’re stuck in 2024 and I want to keep it that way.”
There’s no shortage of middle-forwards in the nation’s capital, with established representative stars Joe Tapine and Corey Horsburgh joined by an emerging young crew including Ata Mariota, Trey Mooney, Pasami Saulo, Morgan Smithies and Hohepa Puru.
“A few headaches there for ‘Stick’ (Stuart), but that’s what you want as a coach and as a club,” Papali’i said.
“We’re looking very strong and we’re going to need that this season.
“We’re not short of front-rowers here and it’s a good thing, the younger boys pushing the old fellas to be better.”
The Raiders play their first round match on Thursday night against the Knights in Newcastle.
By Alex Mitchell in Canberra
