2022-2023 /

2022 - 2023

2022 - 40 Years of the Green Machine

2022 was a special year for the Raiders, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the club’s foundation in 1982.

The club held a 40th anniversary gala night to celebrate the milestone, with four players inducted into the Raiders Hall of Fame on the night.

These players were Quentin Pongia, Brett Hetherington, Paul Osbourne and Noa Nadruku.

This season saw Jamal Fogarty, Adam Elliott and Zac Woolford arrive at the club.

The Raiders kicked off their 2022 campaign with a 24-19 victory over the Sharks at GIO Stadium Canberra. The win was bittersweet however, with hooker Josh Hodgson suffering a season-ending knee injury early in the match.

The Raiders were defeated by the Cowboys in round two, before a thrilling comeback win in round three against the Titans.

But the Raiders then slumped to a five-game losing streak. The team managed to turn things around and record wins in rounds 9, 10 and 11, but mixed results saw the Raiders needing a strong finish to the season.

And this they managed to do, winning seven of their last eight games of the regular season to finish in eighth spot.

Week one of finals saw the Raiders travel down to Melbourne to take on the Storm in an elimination final.

The Raiders led 16-8 at half-time thanks to tries to Matt Timoko, Jamal Fogarty and Elliott Whitehead.

The Storm made a second half comeback, scoring two tries to give them a 20-16 lead with 23 minutes to go.

But with five minutes of the game left, Jordan Rapana scored the match-winning try after a pass rebounded off Sebastian Kris’ head and into the in-goal area, with the Raiders winning 28-20.

The win marked the fifth victory in a row at AAMI Park for the Raiders.

In week two of finals the Raiders played the Parramatta Eels at Commbank Stadium. The Eels proved too strong for the green machine, leading 22-4 at half-time before going on to win 40-4.

James Schiller, Adam Elliott, Adrian Trevilyan, Harry Rushton, Zac Woolford, Trey Mooney, Jamal Fogarty, Albert Hopoate and Ata Mariota all made their Raiders debut this year, a special achievement for each player and the club.

Joe Tapine capped off a stellar season by winning the 2022 Meninga Medal as the club’s best player.

Tapine won by a landslide, finishing with 44 votes in the final tally, with Jack Wighton in second place with 22 votes.

Hudson Young took home the NRL Coaches’ Award, with Brad Schneider winning the NRL Rookie of the Year award, which was renamed the Peter Mulholland Rookie of the Year award.

The Fred Daly Club Person of the Year went to Kate Gallegos, the first female winner of the award in club history.

Michael Asomua was awarded the Gordon McLucas Junior Representative of the Year award, while Harley Smith-Shields was named the Geoff Caldwell Welfare & Education award winner for 2022.

Tapine was also named as prop in the 2022 Dally M Team of the Year, as well as in the 2022 RLPA Players’ Dream Team.

Sebastian Kris and Hudson Young were the team’s top try scorers this year with 14 tries each, while Jamal Fogarty was the top point scorer with 116 points across the season.

The 2021 Rugby League World Cup tournament was held at the end of this year, having been postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

There was a great representation of the Raiders at the World Cup, with nine players taking part in the competition.

Jordan Rapana, Sebastian Kris, Joe Tapine and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (New Zealand), Jack Wighton (Australia), Elliott Whitehead (England), Semi Valemei (Fiji), Josh Papalii (Samoa) and Brad Morkos (Lebanon) all played for their countries, with Australia defeating Samoa in the final.

The Raiders farewelled Josh Hodgson, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Ryan Sutton and Adam Ellliott at the end of the season. Harry Rushton departed the club midway through the season.

2023 - Raiders reach finals again & NRLW team makes debut

2023 was a historic year for the Raiders, with the introduction of our NRLW team.

Meanwhile the NRL team reached finals for the fourth time in five years.

New arrivals Danny Levi, Pasami Saulo and Hohepa Puru all joined the Raiders and all made their Raiders debut this year, along with Ethan Strange and Peter Hola.

The Raiders started the 2023 season slowly, only winning one of their first five matches. 

But the team managed to turn things around against the Broncos in round 6 up at Suncorp Stadium, and went on to win the next four straight games.

The season was a series of tight matches, with the Raiders' largest winning margin just 12 points.  

The team finished the regular season in eighth spot on the ladder and travelled to Newcastle to take on the Knights in an elimination final.

The lead changed three times and both teams got out to over 10 point leads. A Tom Starling try with just over two minutes remaining of the game gave Jamal Fogarty a chance to kick the conversion to send the game to Golden Point, and he did just that. 

With scores locked at 28-28, a penalty to the Knights in the 88th minute allowed Kalyn Ponga to kick the winning goal, sending the Raiders packing. 

Joe Tapine was awarded the 2023 Meninga Medal for the second consecutive year, while Sebastian Kris won the NRL Coaches’ Award.

Ata Mariota won the Peter Mulholland Rookie of the Year and Jamal Fogarty was awarded the Fred Daly Club Person of the Year.

Jordan Rapana and Matt Timoko finished the season as the Raiders' NRL leading try scorers with 11 tries each, while Jarrod Croker was the leading points scorer with 130 points.

There were a couple of special milestones brought up at the club this year, including Jarrod Croker playing his 300th Raiders game at home against the Warriors in Round 15. 

Joe Tapine played his 150th Raiders game and Jordan Rapana scored his 100th Raiders try.

Representative football was a special one this year for a couple of Raiders players, with Hudson Young and Corey Horsburgh making their Origin debuts for NSW and QLD respectively, and Matt Timoko making his NZ Kiwis debut at the Pacific Championships at the end of the year.

After 15 seasons and 307 games for the Raiders, Jarrod Croker announced his retirement following the 2023 season. Croker is just the second player to reach 300 matches solely for the Raiders and is the club’s leading try scorer and point scorer.

The Raiders also farewelled Jack Wighton, Matt Frawley, Brad Schneider, Semi Valemei and Elijah Anderson this year.

2023 was a historic year of firsts with our inaugural Raiders team joining the NRLW competition.

Coach Darrin Borthwick put together a balanced squad including players with lots of NRLW and representative experience along with players who hadn’t played NRLW before.

Simaima Taufa and Zahara Temara were named co-captains of the team.

The Raiders NRLW side played their first ever game in round one against the Sharks at Pointsbet Stadium, going down 28-16.

But the side were able to bounce back and put in a terrific performance in their first home match the following week, defeating a powerhouse Roosters outfit 24-14.

The Raiders went on to win their next three straight games before falling to the Broncos in round six.

The Raiders defeated the Cowboys in round 8 and needed to win their final match of the regular season to finish in the top four but fell short to the Titans.

Overall it was an impressive inaugural season for the Raiders, who showed plenty of talent and grit throughout their matches and were able to match it with the best.

There were 13 players who made their NRLW debut this year: Hollie-Mae Dodd, Cheyelle Robins-Reti, Mackenzie Wiki, Kerehitina Matua, Tara Reinke, Grace Kemp, Emma Barnes, Alanna Dummett, Ua Ravu, Elise Smith, Ahlivia Ingram, Petesa Lio, and Ella Ryan.

Simaima Taufa (NSW), Zahara Temara (QLD) and Sophie Holyman all played in the 2023 Women’s State of Origin series, with Holyman making her Queensland debut.

Simaima Taufa capped off an impressive season by winning the 2023 NRLW Player of the Year.

Janelle Williams was awarded the NRLW Coaches’ Award, while Cheyelle Robins-Reti won the NRLW Rookie of the Year.

Taufa was also named at lock in the 2023 Dally M NRLW Team of the Year, the 2023 Dally M Captain of the Year and in the RLPA NRLW Players’ Dream Team.

Madison Bartlett was the team’s leading try scorer with seven tries while Zahara Temara finished with the most points on 47.

Cheyelle Robins-Reti capped off an outstanding first season of NRLW by making her Kiwi Ferns debut at the Pacific Championships.