For the second successive year, Dane Tilse featured in every single game for the Raiders and his work-man like efforts in the front-row led to Coach Ricky Stuart re-signing the loyal clubman for a further two years.
Off-contract at the start of the year, Tilse worked extremely hard during the pre-season and guided the side’s talented young forwards such as Shannon Boyd and Kyle O’Donnell in the right direction.
After the leadership and maturity he asserted during pre-season, coupled with his form over the opening four rounds of the season, Stuart re-signed the club’s most capped player until the end of 2016.
“I’m really happy to have re-signed with the Raiders, I’ve played pretty much my whole career here so far and I’m really looking forward to another couple of years here,” Tilse said at the time. “It’s the happiest I’ve been here at the club and it would have been really hard to leave.
“There’s a great bunch of guys here at the moment. We’ve had a reasonable start to the season and I think that there's a bright future ahead for the Green Machine and one that I want to be a part of.
“The young guys are doing a really good job for us and I’m hoping my experience can help their development as well. That’s part of your job as a senior player is to help develop the younger players and it’s a challenge I’m keen to take on over the couple of seasons.”
The 29 year old is clearly passionate about the Raiders, the club which his father Mick was a foundation player at, and this is conveyed each time the tall piece of timber takes the field and his joy when he walks off the field after a victory.
Alternating between the starting side and the interchange bench, Tilse was an honest toiler in every match of 2014.
Impressively, the former Junior Kangaroo also improved on every facet of statistics from 2013 and scored his first NRL try since 2011.
Due to his long limbs and the frequent struggle at which opposition defenders face when they attempt to put him to ground, Tilse’s offload is a valued asset for the Raiders offense.
Tilse registered the most offloads of any Raiders player in 2014. Many of Tilse’s offloads propelled the attack forward through second phase play or would lead to a try or line break for one of his quicker team mates.
With Brett White retiring, Stuart will be looking for Tilse to take on even greater responsibility in 2015 to fill the void left by the former NSW and Australian representative.
Currently situated on 195 games and the most capped current Canberra Raider, Tilse is in line to play his 200th NRL match for the club in 2015.
Off the field, the colourful Tilse continued to be a loyal clubman, a good ambassador for the club and the game and a popular member amongst the playing group. He also continued to grow his business ‘Tilse’s Apple Truck Cider.’
Games: 24
Average Minutes: 40
Tries: 1
Try Assists: 2
Try Saves: 0
Line Breaks: 2
Line Break Assists: 1
Tackle Breaks: 8
Average Metres: 94.5
Average Tackles: 20.75
Offloads: 42
