He might not have known it at the time, but Craig Bellamy's 10 years at the Canberra Raiders laid the platform for him to become the master NRL coach he is today.

The Melbourne Storm mentor was honoured as one of four inductees into the Raiders' hall of fame on Friday night - along with good mate Phil Carey.

They played together in Newcastle before being reunited at the Green Machine when Carey switched from Manly in 1985.

Two-time premiership players Paul Martin and Matthew Wood rounded out the four, which were announced at the Raiders' new centre of excellence in Braddon on Friday.

The Raiders held their 2020 NRL season launch in the shiny new facility.

The four join the 17 inaugural inductees from last year.

Bellamy was a foundation Raider and played 148 games, scoring 46 tries and 175 points, including Canberra's 1990 premiership.

He pointed to Don Furner snr's brutal training sessions and the Raiders' tough introduction to the competition as helping build mental toughness.

The 60-year-old also felt the fact he shifted around a variety of positions - while frustrating at the time - also gave him a great grounding in the game.

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It laid the foundation for him turning the Storm into an NRL powerhouse, where he has four grand final victories under his belt.

"It's a huge honour ... I was a bit surprised to be quite honest," Bellamy said.

"I was lucky enough to be here for 10 years as a player. I saw the tough times, but I was also here to see the real good times.

"Sometimes I wish a few of the other guys who started could've done that as well because there were a lot of great contributors.

"You learn things as you go along, but at the end of the day you've got to stick with what you see as right in your guts.

"I learnt a lot off my time here because to be at a club just starting, while it was tough going there was a lot to be learnt there.

"I probably didn't learn as I was going along, but after you think there's a couple of real good messages that I could take away.

"I played everywhere from fullback to lock ... at the time I wasn't overly happy about it because it made it hard to get in the team, but it got me an understanding of the different positions and what they need from other positions."

Bellamy said the fact he was being inducted with a good mate made the honour even more special.

Carey played 87 games for the Green Machine, including the 1990 grand final, scoring 21 tries and 96 points.

Martin and Woods both played in that '90 decider, as well as the Raiders' inaugural premiership in 1989.

Woods made 75 appearances for Canberra, scoring 23 tries and 168 points, while Martin played 86 games, scoring 28 tries and 112 points.

"I stayed in touch with Phil over the years and I think we had a bit of a chat on Wednesday night," Bellamy said.

"We're really good mates and for us to go in together it's a real honour, but it's also really nice to get inducted with a real good mate of mine as well."

Bellamy shared the honour with his daughter Rachel, who flew down from the Gold Coast.

He spent a couple of days in the capital, attending Furner snr's funeral on Thursday.

Bellamy started his Raiders career under Furner before also having the guidance of Wayne Bennett and Tim Sheens during his time in the ACT.

"I thought it was really well done. It was obviously a very sad occasion, but the amount of people that got there over a very, very long career in rugby league and coached at plenty of places," Bellamy said.

"It was great to see the older guys turn up and it was great to see the team that's there at the moment, they were all there as well. It was a very fitting tribute and farewell."