Ethan Sanders remembers watching the ‘Miracle of Mudgee’ from his Sydney lounge room in August last year, a NSW Cup prodigy yet to land a permanent spot in first grade.
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Fast-forward almost 12 months, Canberra’s prospective NRL Rookie of the Year is readying himself for the historic repeat.
Round 22
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The 22-year-old goes head-to-head with Nathan Cleary in a rematch for the ages in Mudgee on Saturday, as the Raiders plot an NRL finals berth that seemed unlikely just a month ago.
In a wide-ranging chat with foxsports.com.au, Sanders talks about the positional changes that have stirred the Raiders’ sudden finals hopes, the influence of Ricky Stuart, and his real driver to succeed in the NRL.
The positional switches that ignited the Raiders’ finals run
It has been a topsy-turvy year for the Raiders, but the belief inside their four walls has never wavered according to Sanders.
Replacing Manly-bound halfback Jamal Fogarty at the end of last season was always going to be a tough assignment for the reigning minor premiers, but coach Ricky Stuart’s patience around the evolution of the squad is now bearing fruit.
Sanders’ combination with Ethan Strange showed promise in early season wins over the Rabbitohs and the Storm, but a mounting injury toll particularly through the Raiders’ middle stymied their progress, while poor completion rates and countless errors in the first half of the season made wins difficult.
A Round 16 loss to Melbourne could be considered the low point of the Raiders’ season, plunging them to 16th on the NRL ladder.
But a positional switch combined with the return of Canberra’s middle men has helped turn the side’s fortunes drastically.
“There was definitely games that we were proud of earlier in the season, but I think moving Strangey back to the left and getting Kaeo back on the right was something that has definitely freed up those two boys,” Sanders said.
“Having Strangey there didn’t really affect my game too much, it was more just defending on the right side instead of the left.
“I like to say I’m an on-ball half that goes both sides of the field, so it was more of a defensive move for me, but it freed Strangey up on his preferred left side and Kaeo the same with his right side.”
The Raiders have scored 154 points in their four consecutive wins, while Sanders has led the league for the most try assists (11) and the equal most try involvements (15) over the past five weeks.
“There’s a lot to learn coming in as a halfback to a side that’s full of senior boys. It’s been different, we haven’t got as many wins as we would have liked to but over the last month it has all come together and we’ve been playing a good style of footy,” he said.
“We knew we could get it together, it was just some of those games earlier in the year that we weren’t getting the bounce of the ball and things weren’t working.”
Complementing the positional changes has been the integration of Owen Pattie into Canberra’s hooking role.
According to Fox Sports Lab, the 11th-placed Green Machine are now an 8.2 per cent chance of making the finals at the time of writing, with the Panthers, Knights, Sharks, Broncos and Cowboys comprising their run home.
Canberra have enough change to lose just one match from their remaining five matches, and will need to do so without injured forwards Hudson Young and Noah Martin.
According to Greg Alexander, Sanders is one of the keys to Canberra keeping their finals hopes alive.
“It takes time to settle in as an NRL player and you’ve got to get comfortable in knowing what to do, when to do it, all facets of your game are under pressure when you play NRL,” he said.
“Ethan Sanders was a very talented halfback as a junior and it takes a while for you to be able to show that at NRL level because of the step up in the speed and the physical contact and the pressure.
“I think we’ve seen the last couple of weeks Ethan Sanders play like Ethan Sanders can play. It’s good to see when someone can put the skills on the park. Ethan Sanders is a good runner of the football and we’ve seen that the last couple of weeks but he’s a very accomplished number seven and he’ll just improve on that.”
The Ricky Stuart influence
If Sanders and Strange are the key protagonists in Canberra’s attack, then coach Ricky Stuart is the brains.
‘Sticky’ is considered one of the greatest halves to play the game, but aside from his on-field nous, it is the locker room manner that helps his players flourish.
Stuart’s little morsels of wisdom will find their way to Sanders on the training field, from the sidelines during matches, and in the quieter moments away from the game.
Although Canberra wasn’t an obvious destination for Sanders – a Parramatta junior whose path to first grade was blocked by a certain Dylan Brown and Mitch Moses – he said he is grateful to have made the move to the nation’s capital in 2025, primarily because of Stuart.
“Sticky has been massive for me. He’s lived this and he came through as a young half, so to have him there is awesome,” Sanders said.
“It’s hard to put into words but it’s a lot of things that he goes into detail about. The crux of it is more just being yourself and playing the style of footy that you want to play, gaining the trust of boys with playing consistent footy every week.
“It happens on the field with my kicking, Sticky was a very good half so he’ll give me points there, but there’s also stuff off the field in terms of leading the boys around and that sort of thing.
“Ricky has lived this so I don’t think I could ask for anyone better.”
Arguably Stuart’s biggest asset as coach is that of patience.
Just as he has done in recent weeks with hooker Owen Pattie – giving him the necessary experience in NSW Cup before going under the microscope in first grade – the Canberra coach has played the long game with Sanders to build a spine that will work well beyond 2026.
“We spoke about it at the start of the year: it’s Ethan’s first season of NRL and it’s going to be a big learning curve. It still will be,” Stuart said in the aftermath of last week’s win over the Tigers.
It is this delicate balancing act that Stuart does so well, according to Greg Alexander.
“You’re chasing wins but you also realise that you need to give the individuals the time to become themselves as players,” he said.
“It’s a balancing act that’s for sure and Ricky’s stuck with it. It’s a very good young spine that they’ve got now with Owen Pattie and Ethan Strange and Ethan Sanders and Kaeo Weekes, so that’s certainly something to build on for next year.”
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Fox League’s Luke Keary goes a step further, describing Stuart as one of the game’s greatest coaches, and a ‘unicorn’ with his ability to transform the Raiders between their Jarrod Croker era, their big English import chapter and then most recently with the Strange-Sanders led campaign.
“That is a coach, and we don’t see it often, the unicorns where they can reinvent themselves, reinvent their team, work with all different types of players and get the best out of their teams,” Keary said.
“I think he’s one of the best coaches. He’s right up here with the best coaches we’ve ever had to go in the game in my opinion.”
The driver of Sanders’ success, and why the Raiders aren’t looking backwards
It is rightly dubbed one of the rematches of the season, but Canberra isn’t getting carried away with any Miracle of Mudgee hyperbole.
In fact, the squad has silenced it. Canberra’s playing group made a pact earlier this week to decline questions around last year’s golden-point win, instead preferring to keep their eyes forward.
It has been a similar mindset for Sanders and his season. Rather than getting carried away with what he’s achieved, the 22-year-old is more focused about what’s to come.
“At the start of the year, my goal was to get the number seven jersey. Nothing is guaranteed in the pre-season, so that was my first goal. My second goal was to be able to stay there and play consistent footy,” he said.
“When that Mudgee game was on, I wasn’t too worried about next year, I would have been focussed on the year that I was in at that time. I think it has worked out all right.”
The competition-leading Panthers are without star fullback Dylan Edwards for the rematch, while Jack Cogger comes into the halves in place of five-eighth Blaize Talagi.
Sanders isn’t getting carried away by the prospect of taking on Nathan Cleary as his opposing half. Nor is he riding any wave of euphoria following the breakthroughs of the past month.
“I haven’t really pinched myself after the big performances,” he said.
“It’s more just being able to train with these boys every day, that’s where I find myself doing that – being able to rub shoulders with boys like Taps [Joseph Tapine] and Papa [Josh Papali’i], Hudson [Hudson Young], Big Red [Corey Horsburgh].
“Those boys have played a lot of footy and I grew up watching them, to be able to be around those boys, that’s the best part.”
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