Boost for Raiders as Picker signs up
BY LEE GASKIN, RUGBY LEAGUE
21 Apr, 2011 07:06 AM
Canberra's spluttering start to the NRL season has received a massive boost, with Raiders second-rower Joe Picker extending his contract until 2013.
The Raiders will hold a media conference today to trumpet the retention of the 23-year-old for the next two years.
It's a timely piece of good news for the last-placed Raiders heading into Sunday afternoon's crucial round seven encounter with the Newcastle Knights at Canberra Stadium.
Picker has made 70 top-grade appearances since debuting in 2007.
His signature is the final leg of a trifecta the Raiders hope will power them into the future.
Picker follows international forwards Tom Learoyd-Lahrs and Bronson Harrison - both of whom have recommitted until 2014 - in pledging their allegiance to the Green Machine.
The Raiders had been in negotiations with Picker's management for the past couple weeks.
Picker was reported to have been in the sights of the cashed-up Newcastle Knights, with new coach Wayne Bennett eager to add a strike back-rower to his arsenal.
But Newcastle's recruitment manager Keith Onslow yesterday denied his club had made a play for Picker's services.
''We haven't made any contact with Joe Picker or anyone acting on his behalf,'' Onslow said.
Picker is the eldest of three brothers within the Raiders' system.
Michael Picker, 21, played in Canberra's two trial games.
The five-eighth/halfback is with the club's Queensland Cup affiliate Souths Logan Magpies, while Ben Picker, 18, is a hooker with the Raiders' under-20s team.
Joe Picker has missed two games this season with an ankle injury, but made his comeback in last weekend's 26-18 loss to the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville.
Among the remaining Raiders players off-contract for next season are dummy-half Glen Buttriss, versatile forward Josh Miller and second-rower Danny Galea.
Buttriss is in a battle with Raiders captain Alan Tongue and young gun Travis Waddell for the hooker position.
Both Tongue and Waddell are signed for next year, as is impressive under-20s rake Matt McIlwrick.
The Raiders will put Tongue, Matt Orford and Josh Dugan through their paces at today's training session in their bid to face the Knights.
All three must emerge with flying colours to be late inclusions in a Raiders side desperate to arrest a five-game losing streak.
The Knights received a fillip of their own, with skipper Kurt Gidley yesterday extending his tenure in Newcastle until 2015.
The highly-rated 28-year-old has played 173 games for the Knights, along with 11 Tests for Australia, 10 games for NSW, three games for Country and two matches for the NRL All Stars.
''I'm a Newcastle boy, I played my junior football with Wests Newcastle and have followed the Knights since the club's inception in 1988,'' Gidley said.
''It was always a dream of my brother Matt and I to represent our community by playing for the Knights, and we are lucky enough to have had the opportunity to do so.
''I believe that the Newcastle Knights are building towards a very exciting future with a team that is capable of bringing the Newcastle and Hunter region its third premiership combined with a prosperous future.''
The retention of Gidley is Newcastle's second major signing since mining magnate Nathan Tinkler's takeover of the club.
Tinkler has also secured premiership-winning coach Wayne Bennett to the Hunter for the next four years.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/new...s-as-picker-signs-up/2141006.aspx?storypage=0
