Those were the days, when the Raiders were winning premierships and they had the most powerful man in the land right in their corner. On the front page on this day in 1991, Prime Minister Bob Hawke, who supported the Raiders passionately while Canberra was his home, was intervening on the club's behalf in a dispute with the Australian Rugby League.
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Hawkie rebuked ARL chairman Ken Arthurson for his claims that money raised for the Raiders trust should not be added to the club's salary cap. The PM was understood to have felt the timing of the comments was deliberate to unsettle the Green Machine before a match against Manly - Arthurson's old club.
Hawke was travelling to Brookvale for the match and he was joined in his rebuke of the ARL by another heavy hitter and Raiders fan, Minister for Sport Ros Kelly.
The Raiders wanted to bolster their salary cap with $200,000 of community-raised funds to a total of $1.5 million.
When asked whether his comments were made to unsettle the Raiders, as Hawke has apparently alleged, Arthurson was livid.
"You're not suggesting for one moment that this has come about to try and prevent the Raiders from playing at their best at the weekend, surely to Christ? I think that is ridiculous."
The Sea Eagles won the match 14-13 but the Raiders had their revenge, knocking the silvertails out in the semi-finals on their way to a third grand final in a row.
