Why Everyone Should Jump On The Canberra Raiders Bandwagon

For spurned supporters of the ten teams no longer in contention for the 2016 NRL Premiership, now is the time to sneakily switch allegiances for the next three weeks. Chronically dejected Warriors fan Jarret Filmer explains why he’s throwing his weight behind the Canberra Raiders.

The History

Most league fans of a certain vintage have a soft spot for the boys from the capital. For many the sight of Mal Meninga bowling through defensive lines like a water buffalo on roller skates is a formative memory, the sheer pace and power of a cartoonishly proportioned man stuffed into a lime green jersey with ‘Video Ezy’ emblazoned across the front the gateway drug to their league obsession.

Those Raiders teams of the early nineties were studded with a slew of stars that would be impossible to fit under the salary cap even with the Melbourne Storm’s accountant and a brown paper bag big enough to bury George Rose in – Meninga, Laurie Daley, Ricky Stuart, Bradley Clyde, Brett Mullins, Steve Walters, Glen Lazarus. It’s unlikely such a dominant team will ever be assembled again.

With only three playoff victories since 2000 it’s a long time since the Green Machine has looked this finely-tuned – the 2016 vintage might be ready to start creating some more memories for a new generation of fans.

The Coach

It’s slightly surprising that Canberra’s return to prominence has coincided with club legend Ricky Stuart taking the coach reins. Stuart’s once ascendant coaching career has been on an inexorable slide since his glory days with the Roosters, while the Raiders have struggled to string together consistent success under a slew of coaches including David Furner, Neil Henry, Mal Meninga and Matthew Elliott.

Although he managed to win a Premiership in his first season at the helm of the Roosters, Stuart’s confrontational (some would argue caustic) personality had seen him become something like the NRL’s version of the Incredible Hulk, ambling from place to place, waiting for the moment when his volatile alter ego would spin out of control and level the joint before moving on somewhere else. After flattening the Parramatta Eels (and sacking enough players to do lasting damage to their salary cap) it seemed unlikely that he would get another first grade coaching job but the Canberra Raiders, desperate to regain a sliver of their former glory, threw their former playmaker one last lifeline.

Stuart has made the most of his return to Canberra, instilling a new sense of discipline and confidence and sinking errant players to the bottom of Lake Burley Griffin. With a nickname that is more suited to a demonic sock puppet there are few more entertaining sights than watching ‘Sticky’ stalk the sideline like Ivan Milat stalking the Belangelo State Forest. Given his history it’s probably best to enjoy Ricky now at the peak of his powers before everything goes pear shaped and he’s player-coaching the Gerrigong Rockspiders.

The English

At the start of the season few would have predicted a pair of under-the-radar English imports would become such vital cogs in the Green Machine. Hooker Josh Hodgson (previously most famous for running through a door on a drunken dare) is a chance to become the first Englishman win the Dally M, while compatriot Eliot Whitehead, a pre-season afterthought, has become a useful contributor on a top four team.

While the recent performance of English imports has varied from the excellent (James Graham, Sam Burgess circa 2014) to the outright abysmal (Sam Tomkins, Sam Burgess circa 2016) few would have predicted both Hodgson and Whitehead would pan out so far above expectations for Canberra.

Given the success of the Limeys in the lime green it’s no surprise to see Whitehead re-signed and St Helens’ Jordan Turner heading to Canberra next season.

The Likeability Factor

After a decade featuring a team of solid toilers like Alan Tongue and Simon Woolford offset with some of the biggest boofheads to ever lace a boot in the NRL (Todd Carney, Blake Ferguson, Joel Monaghan) the Raiders have managed to perform the not inconsiderable task of assembling a team that not only plays winning footy but is also packed to the gunnels with likable players.

Blake Austin might look like he is late for his audition for the next Mad Max film (he certainly plays with the sort of reckless panache suited to someone living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland) but he’s a relative clean skin off the field. The Raiders also boast a forward pack bristling with huge slabs of angry meat and an armada of skillful outside backs including the precocious tandem of Jordan Rapana and BJ Leilua.

Canberra have scored 100 points more than any other team over the course of the season, averaging nearly five tries per match, and top the competition in line breaks. More importantly they are playing a bright, attractive style of footy that goes a long way to erasing memories of some of the less than lovable Raiders teams of the past decade.

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The Style of Play

For all their relentless precision another Premiership for the Melbourne Storm would be a boring end to the season, another coronation for exactitude and relentlessness over flair and aggression. Unfortunately, the NRL is a copycat competition and in recent years has become poorer for the proliferation of teams focusing on the wrestle and running block plays.

If the Raiders managed to win a Premiership playing an enterprising, attacking style of football then it might convince other coaches that winning doesn’t begin and end with aping Melbourne’s low risk, grind-it-out style of play.

Honourable Mention: The Viking Clap

Canberra might have stolen this adorable gimmick from Iceland, the darlings of Euro ‘16, but the fact that grub Michael Ennis chose to make fun of the Viking Clap after Cronulla’s Preliminary Final victory only makes it more endearing – if someone like Ennis thinks it’s rubbish then it must be brilliant.