'Similar to Daley': Ricky Stuart's bold call on Canberra young gun Ethan Strange's representative future

There is no denying Ethan Strange will be a star of the future, but his coach believes the young talent could make his mark on the representative stage as soon as this year.

A standout performance against the Manly Sea Eagles only added to Strange's impressive resume in the NRL with the Canberra Raiders this season.

The 20-year-old made his debut with the club in 2023 before taking on and retaining a starting role at five-eighth alongside veteran playmaker Jamal Fogarty.

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Several league greats have admitted their awe over the talented displays Strange continues to produce week in, week out.

However, a remarkable rap from coach Ricky Stuart left Phil Gould stunned.

Stuart knows exactly what it takes to be selected at representative level, having both been in the position of the players and as the head coach.

And on Friday night, Stuart wasted no time pushing his case for Strange to take the next big step in his career.

"I love him as a young bloke, you would too if you coached him," Stuart told Gould post-match on 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."

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The comment left Gould too stunned to speak as he continued to repeat the impressive rap over and over to Nine's panel following the interview.

"That is a huge rap on a bloke who is so young," Gould said.

"(Stuart) would know (if Strange is ready) because he has coached Origin.

"I just wanted to know how it has been coaching him... I did not expect him to say something like that."

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Stuart continued his praise for Strange.

"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.

"You look for players like Joe (Tapine), Papa (Josh Papalii), Red (Corey Horsburgh) to inspire the team when you're under a little bit of fatigue and adversity," Stuart said.

"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."

Speaking during Nine's post-match show,Gould admitted a selection call up will largely depend on how Strange handles the pressure of the upcoming finals series with the Raiders.

"A lot will depend on how he fairs through this finals season, I would imagine," he said.

"That is a big rap and he probably deserves it to."

Kangaroos coach Kevin Walters echoed Gould's message on Fox Sports, saying the young Raider had already been mentioned in preliminary discussions.

"He's one of the names that was thrown up, from my experience with the Kangaroos someone through that finals series gets on a bit of a run," Walters said.

"They play their way into the Australian side because of their form. He's one certainly that could force his way in.

"I just like the way he runs the ball, he's big and strong. He enjoys the contact in defence and attack... he's a good young player."