Our history against the men from the nation’s capital feels a bit like a pendulum in motion, with periods of dominance on either side. There have been several matches along the way where the stakes were sky high, and nearly 30 years ago a few of those games damaged the Rabbitohs significantly. The period between 1986 and 1989 saw a wonderful Souths team denied the Premiership victory that they probably could have had. Denied twice by the Canberra Raiders.
And although we may well have settled that score and the Raiders glory days are now long gone, they have never been, and must never be, an opponent to take lightly.
To beat Canberra requires a keen understanding that they can get you when you least expect it; that they can play above themselves any week of the year, without warning. In order to triumph, we must be cool and calm, yet play with an intensity which ensures not a moment of relaxation, not a second of inattention.
Then we can continue to drag that pendulum back our way. Continue to avenge what they did to us during the late 1980s.
During the golden era that never was.
