The Canberra Raiders started preparing for how to cover Curtis Scott before his immediate playing future was even in doubt.
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Scott's waiting anxiously to find out whether NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg will stand him down or not after he was arrested and spent the night in jail following Australia Day celebrations.
Greenberg will view police body-camera footage of his arrest before deciding whether he will enforce the NRL's no-fault, stand-down policy after Scott was charged with six offences, including two counts of allegedly assaulting a police officer.
But the Raiders already had contingencies in place for how they would cover Scott's potential loss - as they have for all their players.
Despite the release of star centre Joey Leilua to Wests Tigers, they still have several options if Scott is unavailable for their season opener against the Gold Coast Titans at Canberra Stadium on March 13.
Scott's next court appearance is on March 20, which means he could be unavailable for that round-one clash, but Greenberg could also have decided not to stand Scott down by then when he views the footage this week.
Raiders outside back Michael Oldfield has been mainly training in the centres, while Canberra under-20s player of the year Harley Smith-Shields is another option.
Nick Cotric could shift into the centres, with Oldfield potentially coming onto the wing.
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But Raiders coach Ricky Stuart is a massive fan of what Cotric provides the Green Machine on the wing - not just his finishing, but the work he does coming out of his own half as well.
Raiders assistant coach Andrew McFadden said they were always planning for the unexpected.
"We look at contingencies for all positions. We're always mixing our squads around, changing them up, because you just don't know when something's going to happen around the corner," he said.
"That goes for all positions. We're well prepared for anything that happens."
McFadden will take charge of the Green Machine when they travel across the Nullarbor for the NRL Nines this weekend.
They have two group games - against the Titans and South Sydney - before hopefully making the finals.
He named a young squad on Tuesday which only had five regular first graders, including Elliott Whitehead - who will captain the side - Sia Soliola and Dunamis Lui.
There's also seven members of their under-20s side that made the Jersey Flegg Cup final last year.
McFadden listed Duwanye Mariner, Semi Valemei, Matt Timoko and Harley Smith-Shields as four young guns who could be part of the next batch of Raiders stars.
The Raiders have a good track record of bringing young players through, including Nick Cotric - who made his NRL debut in 2017 and has barely missed a game since.
"There's probably a number of them there the fans here in Canberra may not have heard of," McFadden said.
"Duwanye Mariner, he's a good young kid, a middle forward that did a good job in the grand final under-20s game last year.
"Then there's the exciting outside backs like Semi Valemei, Matt Timoko and Harley Smith-Shields. They're really exciting prospects.
"Looking forward to seeing how they go against some experienced guys."
While Whitehead had hoped to play as many minutes as possible, McFadden quickly quashed that and said they were using the Nines to develop their young players.
McFadden said halves Sam Williams and Matt Frawley would provide important experience in a crucial area.
"We took the old dog Sia and Elliott, who's captaining the side," McFadden said.
"Although he's spoken that he wants to play as much game time as he can, he probably won't be getting too much.
"We're definitely going to prioritise these young guys. We don't want to compromise round one against the Titans so these young guys are going to get a lot of time."
NRL NINES
Friday: Canberra Raiders v Gold Coast Titans at Perth, 9.15pm.
Saturday: Canberra Raiders v South Sydney Rabbitohs, 3.55pm.
Raiders Nines squad: Harley Smith-Shield, Semi Valemei, Matthew Timoko, Michael Oldfield, Daine Spencer, Matthew Frawley, Sam Williams, Dunamis Lui, Siliva Havili, Sia Soliola, Jack Murchie, Elliott Whitehead, Ryan Sutton, Tom Starling, Duwanye Mariner, Dan Keir, Kai O'Donnell, Darby Medlyn.