Canberra Raiders Best Side of the 2010’s

With the NRL on COVID-19 hiatus, NothingButLeague will bring you the teams of the decade (2010 to 2019) for all 16 clubs. Here’s the Canberra Raiders’ team.

NOTE: Since Canberra have only had four decent seasons in the decade (2010, 2012, 2016, 2019), there’s a lot of recency bias towards the 2016 and 2019 teams, who helped the Raiders to a preliminary final and grand final respectively.

1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (2019-current: 28 games, 11 tries, 44 points)

This time last year, nobody had heard of this young signing from the Warriors. CNK (or ‘The Green Arrow’) quickly become a cult hit with fans and made the fullback spot his own (after Jack Wighton moved to five-eighth), scoring 11 tries and almost faultless under the high ball. He was rewarded with a New Zealand jersey in the post-season Tests. Canberra wisely signed him to a long-term deal, because he’s almost guaranteed to join Gary Belcher and Brett Mullins as one the Raiders’ greatest fullbacks. CNK is a far better choice than Josh Dugan, who was brilliant at times for the Raiders, but his behaviour before leaving the club was deplorable, and he’s since become an injury-riddled joke who can’t even make Cronulla’s first grade team.