The Canberra Raiders took out the minor premiership in 2025, but that was quickly deflated by their straight sets exit from the finals series.

The men from the nation's capital had, frankly, an extraordinary season given where the majority of pundits had them pre-season.

That, maybe, shouldn't be a surprise. The Raiders have pulled off feats like that on more than one occasion over the years under the coaching of Ricky Stuart, who bleeds green himself.

But the Raiders owed so much of their 2025 campaign to Jamal Fogarty's leadership, and there were questions - legitimate ones it should be added - over whether they overperformed.

We aren't here to make a judgment on that today, but in this series, we are unpacking the big team list selection questions which could shape 2026 for each team.

There is no shortage of major ones for the green machine, even though much of the side looks as if it will pick itself for the season ahead.

How does Jayden Brailey fit in?

One of the more eyebrow-raising off-season signings is that of Jayden Brailey, with the dummy half shifting from the Newcastle Knights to the Canberra Raiders after what could only be described as an injury-riddled run in the Hunter.

Signed as something of a great white hope for Newcastle after the first three years of his career in Cronulla, the dummy half played just 38 games in his first four years for the Knights.

He has managed to be on field a lot more in the last two seasons, but fell well down the pecking order for Adam O'Brien in 2025, with the writing on the wall being clear - that he wouldn't be retained by the club beyond the end of his contract.

But if the 29-year-old can get back to his best, the feeling is that he will have a stack to offer the NRL.

The problem for him moving to Canberra is that Tom Starling will continue starting after being one of the club's best over the last 12 months, and Owen Pattie has been earmarked as the future of the dummy half role in Canberra.

Neither of those players will likely be dropped to reserve grade, which could leave Brailey on the outside looking in from Day 1 in Canberra.

Whether that's how it shakes out remains to be seen, but Ricky Stuart has a fairly sizeable question to answer.