Canberra Raiders

Canberra Raiders

Club information
Full name	Canberra Raiders Rugby League Club
Nickname(s)	Raiders, The Green Machine, The Milk
Colours	Lime Green   White   Navy
Founded	30 March 1981; 43 years ago (1981-03-30) in Queanbeyan
Website	raiders.com.au
Current details
Ground(s)	Canberra Stadium (25,000)
CEO	Don Furner Jr
Chairman	Dennis Richardson
Coach	Ricky Stuart
Captain	Joseph Tapine
Competition	National Rugby League
2024 season	12th (Rd 18)
Home colours Away colours
Current season
Records
Premierships	3 (1989, 1990, 1994)
Runners-up	3 (1987, 1991, 2019)
Minor premierships	1 (1990)
Wooden spoons	1 (1982)
Most capped	318 – Jason Croker
Highest try scorer	136 – Jarrod Croker
Highest points scorer	2374 – Jarrod Croker

The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership since 1982. Over this period the club has won three premierships out of six Grand Finals, the last one played being the 2019 NRL Grand Final, resulting in a 14-8 controversial loss to the Sydney Roosters. Canberra currently have the second longest active premiership drought in the NRL totalling 30 years. The Raiders' current home ground is Canberra Stadium (GIO Stadium) in Bruce. Previously, the team played home matches at Seiffert Oval in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, with the move to the Canberra Stadium in Bruce taking place in 1990. The official symbol for the Canberra Raiders is the Viking. The Viking, also a mascot at Raiders' games, is known as Victor the Viking.^[1]

As part of the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership's first expansion outside Sydney, the Raiders were admitted to the League, along with the Illawarra Steelers in the 1982 season. Over the following years they improved steadily, reaching a playoff for 5th in their third season, and becoming the first non-Sydney team to make the finals (1987), after this they would go on to feature in a grand final (1987) and win a premiership (1989). This heralded a period of great success for the club, with five grand Final appearances and three premierships in eight years. During this period, the Raiders boasted international players such as Mal Meninga, Laurie Daley, Ricky Stuart, Glenn Lazarus, Bradley Clyde, Gary Belcher, Brett Mullins and Steve Walters. After this came the Super League war, with the Raiders switching to the rebel competition before continuing to compete in the re-unified NRL. During the 2000s the Raiders suffered from an exodus of experience. At the beginning of the 2009 season, the Raiders squad contained only four players who have played at the representative level. Joel Monaghan and Terry Campese each represented the Australian side during the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, with Monaghan also playing for the NSW blues during the third game of the 2008 State of Origin series.