Canberra Raiders boss goes back to his roots as nothing can stop the Viking clap

He'll put the suit and tie aside to become an NRL ball boy.

Right after the Viking clap shows that not even the coronavirus pandemic can kill it off. Although, like everyone else, it's had to adapt. Switching to a virtual Viking clap.

Furner's done about every job there is in rugby league this year bar playing. Running a club? Check. Project Apollo astronaut? Check. Lay turf at the new Raiders HQ? Check. Ball boy? Coming soon to a venue near you.

While it will bring back memories of his youth - Furner did the Queanbeyan Blues ball-boy duties with Raiders coach Ricky Stuart back in the day - it will potentially cause a few awkward moments at the dinner table.

It's normally his son Ryan who has the job. But he's not the only one to have been usurped by his father. Raiders chief operating officer Jason Mathie has taken over from his son and corporate sales manager Glenn Safi from his daughter.

The new NRL protocols mean only a handful of staff from each team will be allowed in Campbelltown Stadium when the Raiders host their first game since the coronavirus pandemic forced the competition to shutdown. Against the Newcastle Knights on Sunday.

That means extra duties come game day.

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While he's done the job before, it will be the first time Furner's done it for the Green Machine. His brother David has though. Way back before he played 200 games for the club and then coached them for another five seasons.

"Ball retriever - I think I'm still on the cards for that ... I'm down to replace my son as ball boy," Furner said.

"Jason's son's a ball boy, my son's a ball boy, Glenn's daughter's a ball girl so we'd be replacing our children. [Ryan] will be [filthy with me].

"We won't be on the sideline, you can't go on the field, we've just got to grab it if it goes in the stands. I'm going to go up to the game so that's what I'll do probably.

"I was a ball boy for the Queanbeyan Blues and other things, but I retired before the Raiders came in.

"Ball boy's the best seat in the house. It's fantastic being on the sideline. Rick and I did the Queanbeyan Blues, my brother [David] did the Raiders in the early days. I'm going back to my roots."

Furner was part of the Raiders crew that headed up the Hume Highway on Saturday to set up their new home ground at Campbelltown.

They're stuck playing home games there for at least a month, with their round 11 clash against the South Sydney Rabbitohs the first chance they'll get to potentially play at Canberra Stadium.

That was still the plan following his phone hook-up with the NRL during the week.

Part of the set up will be dusting off the video screen and making sure it's ready for its most important job.

With the help of major sponsor Huawei, the Raiders have created a virtual Viking clap. It'll be played on the big screen as the Green Machine charges out of the sheds.

More than 200 Raiders fans sent in videos of themselves doing the clap, with about 33 making the first edition to be shown on Sunday.

But don't fear if you're not one of the lucky few. The Raiders plan to make a new virtual Viking Clap for every home-away-from-home game. Which at current count stands at three more after the Knights.

It also sees the very first virtual Viking clap ambassador. With Terry Campese getting the nod to blow the Viking horn.

"We're going up the day before because it's our home game so we've got to do a lot of setting up. [The Viking clap is] part of what they're going to set up," Furner said.

"It's what we've become renowned for, so try and keep some semblance of a home game and some sort of connection to what will be a home game for us."

NRL ROUND FOUR

Sunday: Canberra Raiders v Newcastle Knights at Campbelltown Stadium, 4.05pm.

Raiders team: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2. Bailey Simonsson, 3. Jarrod Croker, 4. Curtis Scott, 5. Nick Cotric, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. George Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Dunamis Lui, 11. Joe Tapine, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Corey Horsburgh. Interchange from: 14. Siliva Havili, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Sia Soliola, 17. Jordan Rapana, 18. Tom Starling, 19. Matt Frawley.

Knights team: 1. Kalyn Ponga, 2. Edrick Lee, 3. Enari Tuala, 4. Bradman Best, 5. Hymel Hunt, 6. Kurt Mann, 7. Mitchell Pearce, 8. David Klemmer, 9. Andrew McCullough, 10. Daniel Saifiti, 11. Aidan Guerra, 12. Sione Mata'utia, 13. Herman Ese'ese. Interchange from: 14. Tex Hoy, 15. Jacob Saifiti, 16. Tim Glasby, 17. Brodie James, 18. Gehamat Shibasaki, 19. Chris Randall.