The premiers that never were: 1993 Canberra Raiders

As part of a series on some of the best teams never to win a premiership we take a look at the 1993 Canberra Raiders, who seemingly had the title at their mercy before their superstar playmaker was cruelly cut down by injury just before the finals...

Put Mal Meninga, Laurie Daley, Brad Clyde and Ricky Stuart into any team and there’s a fair chance you’ll be sliding silverware into your trophy cabinet.

So it was for the Canberra Raiders in the late 80s and early 90s, when the Fab Four led the Green Machine to four grand finals in six years, converting three of those into premierships.

After claiming the club’s maiden title in the epic 1989 showdown with Balmain, the Raiders went back-to-back in 1990 with a four-point win over Royce Simmons’ emerging Panthers outfit.

The two sides met again a year later with Penrith turning the tables, before revelations of substantial salary cap breaches rocked the Raiders and saw them plummet to 12th in 1992.

Looking to rebuild the club and restore its reputation in 1993, coach Tim Sheens lured Fijian rugby sevens convert Noa Nadruku and Kiwi hardmen Quentin Pongia and John Lomax to Canberra… and he still had Big Mal, Sticky, Loz and Clydey to provide the class factor.

With three wins and three losses to open the ’93 season there was little indication the Raiders could be a force but victories over Canterbury, Easts and Gold Coast got the ball rolling and by the time they arrived at Bruce Stadium for a Round 21 clash with Parramatta they had lost just once in 14 outings.

Superstar Clyde was back in the fold after two months out with a knee injury, scoring a try in the 12th minute as the home side cruised to a 30-0 lead at the break.

Then disaster struck.

With the rampant Raiders on their way to their biggest ever win (68-0), and the finals just a fortnight away, Stuart suffered a horrific ankle injury that would end his season.

“I just wish I had taken Tim’s advice at half-time. He said to me come off and have a rest because we’d had a pretty hectic season. I said, ‘give me 10 more minutes and I will come off'. I ended up breaking my leg and having a full reconstruction on my ankle,” Stuart recalled years later.

"It was the best year of football I had, I hit a purple patch and couldn’t do anything wrong. It was one of those years where you’d chip kick and the ball would bounce back to you and you would catch it in one hand… we should have won the comp that year."

In a team full of champions, Sticky was the glue, his astute kicking game and lethal long passes sparking a Raiders attack that piled on 587 points in the regular season, 70 more than the next best team Brisbane.

So dominant had the Hall of Fame playmaker been in 1993 that he would go on to claim the Dally M Medal and Halfback of the Year award but that was little consolation as the Green Machine ran off the rails in his absence.

Like the Knights without Joey Johns or the Broncos without Alfie Langer, the Raiders lost their way without their little general, going down to Canterbury in the final round to surrender the minor premiership and then bowing out in straight sets in the semis.

Remarkably, Sheens tried three different halfbacks across the three games, but none could muster the magic that had delivered Stuart three Origin series wins, two premiership rings and one Kangaroo Tour.

First cab off the rank was the unheralded Trevor Schodel, who took the field for just his fourth career game and first as a starter in the 32-8 loss to Canterbury at Belmore in Round 22.

A week later in the major preliminary final against 1992 runners-up St George, Sheens opted to throw Meninga into five-eighth with Daley at halfback.

Big Mal had worn the No.6 just once previously, early in the ’92 season against the Gold Coast, while Daley had built a reputation as an elite five-eighth and centre but feeding the scrums was not his favourite pastime.

The minor semi a week later pitted the Raiders against a star-studded Broncos outfit featuring Langer, Kevin Walters, Glenn Lazarus, Willie Carne and Wendell Sailor, and this time it was 24-year-old Steve Stone thrown the No.7 by Sheens.

Playing the 34th game of his career but just his second as a halfback, Stone tried hard to inspire the Raiders but the task of winning without Stuart proved beyond them, going down 30-12.

Having lit up the regular season with their free-flowing attack the Raiders had managed just six tries in their last three games, losing their way after losing their main man, forced to watch on as the Broncos claimed back-to-back titles.

As if to ram home what could’ve been in 1993 the Raiders regrouped the following year with Stuart back in the fold to send Meninga out on a triumphant note with the club’s third premiership.

On Saturday night in Melbourne they begin the quest for a fourth and that man Stuart will again be front and centre, guiding a new generation of Raiders in their search for the Holy Grail.