CANBERRA Raiders coach Dave Furner has thrown his full support behind the NRL’s Community Carnival initiative, touring a 30-man squad through the Riverina yesterday.
Speaking from Gundagai, Furner labelled the country visit as an annual highlight on the Raiders’ calendar.
“We’ve got a lot of blokes from the country at the Raiders and we like to support the little towns in any way we can,” he said.
“It encourages people not only to support rugby league, but the Raiders too.
“Last year we did the same thing and it worked really well.
“It’s an opportunity for some of the country towns to get access to the players they wouldn’t usually get to meet.
“It’s very important.”
Beginning in Gundagai, the group visited four schools in town before going on to visit Adelong, Tumbarumba, Tumut, Batlow and then spending the night in Cootamundra last night.
The Raiders will now travel to Albury to begin preparing for Saturday night’s trial game against Melbourne Storm at Lavington Sportsground.
Furner said a busy schedule of visiting small towns was a great way to mustering up support before game day.
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