Legacy piece: Raiders dig deep to honour club's old boys

When the going got tough at GIO Stadium on Friday night and a desperate Storm outfit was coming hard at them, Canberra's Class of 2026 drew on the inspiration of Raiders past to hang on for a 26-22 victory.

Significant for so many reasons, the win was the Raiders' first on home soil for 2026 and their first against the Storm at GIO Stadium since 2016.

And it all played out against the backdrop of the Raiders’ annual Forever Green round which honours past Canberra players and the club’s heritage dating back to its inception in 1982. 

With 17,000 fans watching on, the honour of blowing the Viking horn fell to Raider #52 Billy Walker, who played 26 games in lime green in 1984-85 alongside the likes of Chris O'Sullivan, Sam Backo and Storm coach Craig Bellamy, whose team was desperate to avoid suffering five straight losses for the first time since 2012.

For Raiders captain Joe Tapine, who churned out 13 runs and 31 tackles in 58 minutes of game time, the win meant for the team in front of many of the club’s former greats.  

“To get a win for them and the old boys, it’s huge," he said.

"That’s what made it even better. We had the whole week, Ricky's talked about it. The boys understand what it means. 

“I said to the boys, 'you know you want to be that player everyone wants to play with'. Try and go out there and show the old boys that you’re that player that they would want to play with.” 

For Kiwi centre Matt Timoko, the emotion of Forever Green round made his return to the run-on side even more special.

The 26-year-old, who scored a valuable try early in the second half and ran for 150 metres, acknowledged the importance of the club’s legacy. 

“This club likes to acknowledge a lot of the past players and the past events that have happened,” TImoko told NRL.com.

“You know, making it special for those old boys coming back, especially because somewhere in the near future that’s going to be us and we just wanted to make them proud.”