# 2006 Canberra Raiders season

The 2006 Canberra Raiders season was the 25th in the club's history. They competed in the NRL's 2006 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season 7th (out of 15) to make the finals. They were knocked out of the play-offs in the first week by the Bulldogs.

## Season summary

The Raiders started the 2006 season heavy favourites to run last, however the raiders' players believed that they could make the top 8, but despite this external pessimism and heavy losses to the Knights and the Roosters early on, fought back and guaranteed themselves a finals berth with a round to play. 2006 saw club stalwarts Simon Woolford, newly named captain, Clinton Schifcofske and the club's longest serving player, Jason Croker, leave the club, going to St George Illawarra, the Queensland Reds rugby union team and the Super League club the Catalans Dragons respectively. Outgoing backs Schifcofske and Adam Mogg both earned representative berths with Queensland in State of Origin. Saturday 9 September 2006 saw Jason Croker, Simon Woolford, Clinton Schifcofske, Michael Hodgson, Jason Smith and Adam Mogg all play their final games for the club. The round one finals series clash with the Bulldogs saw the Raiders defeated 30-12 in slippery and muddy conditions at Telstra Stadium, and eliminated from the 2006 premiership race. This was also the final match for coach Matthew Elliott, who is coaching Penrith in 2007. His replacement was former North Queensland Cowboys' assistant coach Neil Henry.

## Season results

Trial Games :
| Round | Opponent | Result | Can. | Opp. | Date | Venue | Crowd | Position |
| Trial 1 | New Zealand Warriors | Win | 28 | 16 | Feb 12 | North Harbour Stadium | 11,000 | N/A |
| Trial 2 | Brisbane Broncos | Loss | 20 | 28 | Feb 18 | Port Macquarie Regional Stadium | 6,000 | N/A |
| NRL Regular Season Games |||||||||
| 1 | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | Win | 27 | 14 | 11 Mar | Brookvale Oval | 17,135 | 4/15 |
| 2 | Newcastle Knights | Loss | 32 | 70 | 19 Mar | Canberra Stadium | 11,606 | 10/15 |
| 3 | Sydney Roosters | Loss | 56 | 20 | 26 Mar | Sydney Football Stadium | 9,826 | 14/15 |
| 4 | Penrith Panthers | Win | 21 | 20 | 1 Apr | Canberra Stadium | 9,399 | 12/15 |
| 5 | Bulldogs | Loss | 12 | 30 | 9 Apr | Canberra Stadium | 12,125 | 12/15 |
| 6 | New Zealand Warriors | Win | 18 | 14 | 15 Apr | Canberra Stadium | 7,174 | 11/15 |
| 7 | BYE | BYE | BYE | BYE | 21-23 Apr | | | 9/15 |
| 8 | Brisbane Broncos | Loss | 28 | 30 | 29 Apr | Suncorp Stadium | 23,582 | 12/15 |
| 9 | Parramatta Eels | Win | 30 | 10 | 6 May | Parramatta Stadium | 10,146 | 9/15 |
| 10 | Cronulla Sharks | Loss | 18 | 14 | 14 May | Canberra Stadium | 9,695 | 12/15 |
| 11 | Newcastle Knights | Loss | 22 | 12 | 20 May | Energy Australia Stadium | 18,236 | 12/15 |
| 12 | North Queensland Cowboys | Win | 15 | 14 | 27 May | Dairy Farmers Stadium | 16,971 | 12/15 |
| 13 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | Win | 24 | 22 | 3 Jun | Canberra Stadium | 10,150 | 10/15 |
| 14 | Bulldogs | Win | 28 | 26 | 12 Jun | Telstra Stadium | 12,541 | 9/15 |
| 15 | Melbourne Storm | Loss | 22 | 12 | 18 Jun | Olympic Park | 7,954 | 10/15 |
| 16 | Sydney Roosters | Win | 42 | 10 | 25 Jun | Canberra Stadium | 11,876 | 8/15 |
| 17 | Parramatta Eels | Loss | 12 | 18 | 1 Jul | Canberra Stadium | 8,824 | 9/15 |
| 18 | Penrith Panthers | Loss | 12 | 24 | 8 Jul | Penrith Stadium | 9,111 | 11/15 |
| 19 | Wests Tigers | Win | 20 | 18 | 16 Jul | Canberra Stadium | 9,125 | 10/15 |
| 20 | St George Illawarra Dragons | Win | 31 | 12 | 23 Jul | Canberra Stadium | 13,504 | 9/15 |
| 21 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | Loss | 8 | 21 | 29 Jul | Telstra Stadium | 6,152 | 12/15 |
| 22 | Brisbane Broncos | Win | 30 | 18 | 6 Aug | Canberra Stadium | 13,137 | 8/15 |
| 23 | Wests Tigers | Win | 19 | 18 | 13 Aug | Campbelltown Stadium | 18,474 | 8/15 |
| 24 | BYE | BYE | BYE | BYE | 18-20 Aug | | | 8/15 |
| 25 | Melbourne Storm | Loss | 18 | 22 | 26 Aug | Canberra Stadium | 21,255 | 8/15 |
| 26 | Cronulla Sharks | Win | 26 | 24 | 2 Sep | Toyota Stadium | 9,289 | 7/15 |
| NRL Finals Games |||||||||
| QF | Bulldogs | Loss | 12 | 30 | 9 Sep | Telstra Stadium | 14,628 | N/A |
| Colour | Result |
| Green | Win |
| Red | Loss |
| Yellow | Golden point Win |
| Blue | Bye |

## Club Awards

| Award | Winner |
| Player of the Year | Alan Tongue |
| Coaches Award | Clinton Schifcofske |
| Rookie of the Year | Adrian Purtell |
| Fred Daly Memorial Clubman of the Year Trophy | Jason Smith |
| Premier League Player of the Year | Ryan Hinchcliffe |
| Premier League Coaches Award | Bronx Goodwin |
| Jersey Flegg Player of the Year | Josh McCrone |
| Jersey Flegg Coaches Award | Nick Colley |

## Season Ladder

2006 NRL seasonvte :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | B | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| 1 | Melbourne Storm | 24 | 20 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 605 | 404 | +201 | 44$^1$ |
| 2 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 24 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 608 | 468 | +140 | 36 |
| 3 | Brisbane Broncos (P) | 24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 497 | 392 | +105 | 32 |
| 4 | Newcastle Knights | 24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 608 | 538 | +70 | 32 |
| 5 | Manly Warringah Sea Eagles | 24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 534 | 493 | +41 | 32 |
| 6 | St George Illawarra Dragons | 24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 519 | 481 | +38 | 32 |
| 7 | Canberra Raiders | 24 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 525 | 573 | -48 | 30 |
| 8 | Parramatta Eels | 24 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 506 | 483 | +23 | 28 |
| 9 | North Queensland Cowboys | 24 | 11 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 450 | 463 | -13 | 26 |
| 10 | New Zealand Warriors | 24 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 552 | 463 | +89 | 24$^2$ |
| 11 | Wests Tigers | 24 | 10 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 490 | 565 | -75 | 24 |
| 12 | Penrith Panthers | 24 | 10 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 510 | 587 | -77 | 24 |
| 13 | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 24 | 9 | 0 | 15 | 2 | 515 | 544 | -29 | 22 |
| 14 | Sydney Roosters | 24 | 8 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 528 | 650 | -122 | 20 |
| 15 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 24 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 2 | 429 | 772 | -343 | 10 |
$^1$ The Melbourne Storm were later stripped of this minor premiership due to gross salary cap breaches.
$^2$ The New Zealand Warriors were deducted 4 competition points due to gross salary cap breaches.