Canberra Raiders

The unstoppable grunt factory led by massive front-row pairing Shannon Boyd (122 kilos) and Junior Paulo (123 kilos) routinely won the battle of the middle of the field that year.

Throw Josh Hodgson’s wily dummy half play into the mix and a powerful, athletic backline and Stuart had found an intoxicating recipe for rampaging attacking football that took his side to second on the ladder and a preliminary final with the Storm.

Brennan received a nightmare initiation, watching the Titans concede three tries inside the first 10 minutes.

But he left his first match glowing about the character of his players after they recovered to snatch victory with a Konrad Hurrell try from an Ash Taylor grubber with less than two minutes on the clock.

The rookie mentor wanted the youngest halves pairing in the Telstra Premiership to take control of their team and the end result was Taylor and his partner Kane Elgey creating all five Titans tries.

And that’s why Canberra coach Ricky Stuart has enlisted the help of multi-premiership winning Raiders legend Mal Meninga this year.

Stuart revealed in November he had spoken to his fellow club legend about a consultancy role with the Raiders, designed specifically to help Croker develop as a leader.

And while Croker played down Meninga’s job when asked about his work, he revealed he regularly meets with the current Australian coach who has become a mentor of sorts.

Hodgson plans to get in the ear of several off-contract teammates to try to convince them to stick around in the nation’s capital.

He signed a four-year extension with the club in November that will keep him in the lime green until the end of 2022.

But his fellow Canberra spine stars — Austin and Sezer — are yet to commit beyond 2018 and appear no certainty of staying put.

Towards the end of last season there were reports linking both players to rival clubs. Most recently the Daily Telegraph reported Canterbury is trying to lure Sezer to the kennel.

Abbey has joined the club for pre-season training and comes with a classy junior resume, including an appearance for the New Zealand Warriors at fullback in the 2014 NYC Grand Final, and representation of the Junior Kiwis.  

He made his NRL debut for the Bulldogs in 2017 playing four matches and scoring one try. 

May barged his way over by the posts with just seven minutes remaining to effectively clinch a spot in the Finals for the Panthers, with Canberra – who eliminated Penrith in the semi-finals last year – now needing to win their last two fixtures and rely on results elsewhere going their way to do the same.

Nathan Cleary became the youngest player to score 200 points in an NRL season when he touched down following a burst down the right from Waqa Blake, whose opening score was answered in kind by Nick Cotric.

Edwards was the Panthers' next best behind Moylan as Penrith snatched a late 24-20 victory over the Raiders in Bathurst on Saturday.

After making the mid-season move to the Raiders last season, Paulo knows the feeling of having to adjust to new surroundings almost immediately but believes the pivot will have no trouble.

Moses has already taken on the Raiders once this season for the Wests Tigers, with the Ryde junior well contained in Canberra's 46-6 win back in Round 3.

"It was the same group of boys that they had there, a real tight-knit group, and I'm sure he'll slot in straight away," Paulo said of Moses.

The win was also important because it came heading into a weekend with no NRL, allowing the players to rest up any niggles with the benefit of coming off a win – while the Raiders will be left to stew on their below-par efforts for a fortnight before they get the chance to make amends.

Leilua has put his hand up for a New South Wales State of Origin debut after spearheading his sides 20-8 win of the Warriors.

As well as tries either side of half-time, Leilua amassed 125m, seven tackle busts and two linebreaks as Ricky Stuart's side recorded their third victory on the trot.

While there are lingering question marks over the 25-year-old wrecking ball's defence, he received a ringing endorsement from Balmain and NSW great Steve Roach during the Fox Sports broadcast.