This week we catch up with the club's third captain, Ron Giteau.
Giteau played for the club between 1983 and 1986 and scored 527 points for the club.
Ron Giteau
Canberra Raider #38
Appearances 78
What do you do for work now?
I work for a waste oil collection company that is based in Queanbeyan and is around Wollongong and out west as well.
What’s your favourite memory as a Raider?
Just being involved with all the boys. They were a good bunch of boys that we had at the time. It was basically the building of the club. I came the second year and you could see the improvement as years went by. We greatly improved, didn’t deteriorate and then Mal Meninga, Ricky Stuart came along and did the rest.
What did it mean to you to wear the Raiders jersey?
When I first came down here I was looking around going what the hell have I done! But in the end it was nothing but pride because of the group of guys we had and what we achieved. We made the play-offs for the semi-finals and we were improving all the time. Don Furner Senior did a fantastic job in achieving that.
Who was your favourite teammate?
I don’t know! I think they were all pretty much the same. We all used to hang out together.
Do you keep in touch with any of your former teammates?
I’m still in touch with Gary Spears and luscious Lloydy Martin. I catch up with Spearsy and Rowan Brennan fairly often. I’m actually meeting with Rowan this Friday for his 60th birthday.
What was your funniest moment as a Raider?
We had a stopover at pub in Sydney and it was hilarious. We got there around midday and there were four pensioners having their Sunday sip. 20 of us piled into the pub and in the end we were all playing cricket and they were fully immersed in it.
When we first went in, the pensioners were asking what we were doing and by the time we left they were saying ‘we’ll see you next week!’. They had an absolute ball and we had a good time having a laugh.
Do you have any advice for younger players?
Times have changed since I was playing. My son Matt plays professional rugby union but advice doesn’t help in the sense of me saying players should do what I did because times have changed.
You need to enjoy playing because it’s a short career and to enjoy those moments, you need to train hard.
