Former Raiders captain Tongue is a finalist in the Australian of the Year awards, with the winner to be announced at a function at Parliament House on Wednesday night.

Tongue got everything he could out of his diminutive body in 220-game NRL career. But the real work started when he used his against-the-odds journey to help at-risk youths change their lives.

The man known to most as 'Tonguey' is up against indigenous leaders, philanthropists and refugee advocates on the finalists lists. So can the humble red head take the top gong?

WHY HE CAN WIN

1. Tongue was a rugby league inspiration to his teammates and Canberra fans, constantly wiping blood off his face just to make another tackle.

He was well respected by everyone in the NRL and led the Raiders through some of their toughest times. He's broken his nose more times than most people break fingernails and has never complained.

Tongue's reputation was built on guts and an unwavering attitude on the field, but he also became a leader of men when he took the captaincy reins. He is now transferring that to working with youths.

Tongue's former teammate Josh Miller once said: "People don't see the training and behind the scenes, the ice packs sitting on his body all night and the pain he goes through during the week preparing for games..

"There was this time he broke his nose real bad and you could see him coughing up blood before we ran out. He's the most selfless person I've ever met."

2. Tongue could have easily walked into coaching or some sort of rugby league job when he retired from the NRL in 2011.

But the 36-year-old opted for a tougher test in changing the lives of youths around the capital. Tongue was nominated as the ACT Australian of the Year for his work mentoring juvenile offenders and combating family and domestic violence.

He has set up programs at the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre, the Alexander Maconochie Centre and disengaged youth in Canberra schools.

3. Tongue never gives up. Coaches told him he would never play in the NRL and that he should keep working as an apprentice mechanic in case his rugby league career didn't work out.

Tongue was a tackling machine in his playing days, once making 1087 tackles in a season to set an NRL record.

He has used that as motivation from the moment he made his debut as a 18-year-old and passes that determination on to every one he meets through his youth work or Canberra's homeless.

4. He's a red head and, let's be honest, the ginger army needs a red-head to look up to as Australian of the Year.

WHY HE WON'T WIN

1. There's only been a handful of ACT winners in the Australian of the Year award's history, including last year's winner David Morrison.

It's unlikely that lightning will strike twice in two years given Canberra recipients have been scarce on the list. But Morrison and marathon legend Robert de Castella are proof it can be done.

2. There's some stiff competition. Deng Adut is considered to be the front-runner. Adut was forced to fight as a child soldier in South Sudan before escaping to Kenya and moving to Australia as a refugee in 1998.

Adut now operates a law firm in Western Sydney and will become the first African-born recipient if he wins.

There's also indigenous leader and business woman Andrea Mason, mining magnate Andrew Forrest, author Kate Swaffer, refugee advocate Paris Aristotle, speech pathologist Rosalie Martin and biomedical scientist Professor Alan Mackay-Sim.

3. Tongue is a Raiders legend, but will his rugby league reputation and youth work cut it on a national stage?

While Tongue is considered an inspirational leader in Raiders circles, he didn't get a chance to play for NSW or Australia in representative rugby league.

He was a hard-worker, not a headline maker, during his playing career.

It's not unusual for sports people to win the Australian of the Year award, but those who have are well-known beyond the boundaries of their sports.

Athletes like de Castella, Steve Waugh, Pat Rafter, Dawn Fraser and Adam Goodes are some of the sporting icons to win the prize.

4. Tongue is at the start of his journey of working with troubled youths, but how does it stack up with the work of others?

Mason was the first indigenous Australian woman to lead a political party, Swaffer is an activist for people with dementia and was diagnosed with the disease in 2008 and Aristotle has been working with asylum seekers and refugees to help them settle in Australia.

Tongue is helping a younger generation find their path in life and has been working at schools in Canberra and regional NSW.

His Aspire program is reaching out to almost 300 students to help them set life goals in an eight-week program.