Ricky Stuart has compared young five-eighth Ethan Strange to Canberra Raiders legend Laurie Daley after he scored a hat-trick against the Manly Sea Eagles on Friday night, while forward Corey Horsburgh has been charged by the match review committee.
Only in the third season of his NRL career, Strange has formed a formidable partnership with Jamal Fogarty in the halves, which has moved the Raiders to the top of the NRL ladder and has one of the best running games for a playmaker.
Approaching the upcoming NRL Finals series, in which the Green Machine are considered one of the favourites to clinch the premiership, Strange has earnt plenty of praise from his club coach.
Not only did Ricky Stuart compare him to rugby league legend Laurie Daley but he believes that the young gun will represent Australia later this year and be a future five-eighth of the NSW Blues.
"I love him as a young bloke, you would too if you coached him," Stuart said on Channel Nine.
"Personally, I think he will play for Australia this year and I think he will play Origin over the next year or two. He will be our next NSW five-eighth."
Stuart added in the post-match press conference, "I don't sit here gloating, I don't sit here as a happy coach saying that. I firmly believe that he's got Origin attitude, the way he defends, the way he runs the football."
"He's got qualities of a representative player already as a young person. I don't say that outlandishly.
"For a young player such as Ethan to be able to give off energy to his teammates, it's similar to Laurie Daley when he was a young player.
"I know I'm talking about big shoes to fill and 'are you putting too much pressure on Ethan?'. Well bad luck, handle it.
"If you're ever going to make it in this game, you have to handle pressure, and he will."
The words of praise from Stuart come as forward Corey Horsburgh has been charged with a Grade 1 Shoulder Charge following an incident in the 74th minute against Jazz Tevaga.
The former Queensland representative is facing a $3000 fine, which he is likely to accept, but if he decides to contest the charge and is found guilty by the judiciary, he will be suspended for two matches.
