The Canberra Raiders invited 18 schoolboys to Raiders HQ earlier this week to attend the club’s annual Scholarship Camp.
The camp ran for four days with junior players travelling to Canberra from as far as the regions of Townsville, Mackay, Brisbane, Lightning Ridge and Griffith.
The Raiders Scholarship Camp remains a strong tradition for the club which stems back to late great NRL recruiter and mentor, Peter Mulholland.
Canberra Raiders Head of Pathways & Performance Dean Souter, touched on the purpose of the camp and its long-term benefits.
"The scholarship camp is basically an opportunity for the Raiders to bring talented players we've identified around the country, that can't play in our junior rep competitions at this point in time," Souter said.
"It could mean they're still in year 10, 11 or 12, and we don't want to disrupt them from their lifestyles. The idea is we bring them in, give them a Canberra Raiders experience, keep an eye on what they're doing in their own patch and give them all the support we can."
Mackay junior Mark Morrow reflected on his experience in the four-day camp and the relationships he built with the rest of the group.
"It's really good to meet all the other boys down here. It's great to build a connection, that way if we move down to Canberra, we've already got that relationship which makes the move that much easier," Morrow said.
Griffith juniors Jezaiah Charles and Sioeli Vea touched on some special advice the group received from Raiders coach Ricky Stuart.
"I've learned so many things from this camp. I'm just trying to be a sponge and soak it all up," Vea said.
"I picked up one of the things Ricky said in the theatre room, and it was no matter how far you go, is to just stay humble. It was great for him to give up his time to talk to us about what it means to be a Raider," Charles added.
