"That one got the board saying, 'What's the point?' " Raiders chief executive Don Furner said from his office in the nation's capital.

Enough was enough.

Millions of dollars invested in developing players, only to see them either shown the door or watch them run through it even faster.

Milford's defection – based on compassionate grounds, given the health of his father – forced a change in philosophy at Canberra.

"It certainly got the board and us questioning why we invested all that development money into the game," Furner said.

"I don't want to put all the focus on Anthony, but certainly that one got the board saying, 'What's the point?'

"We were asking ourselves, do you invest in 16-year-olds who may come good at 23, with all that uncertainty, all that cost, all that time with no guarantee they stay with you? Or you buy a guy who is 23 or 24 and is ready to play NRL?

"Financially, it's better to do the latter, which has not normally been our philosophy. But years and years of frustration in terms of the spend on development and no incentive there, you question why you would do it.

"Some players we had to let go, some players left. You put all the time and effort into the Milfords of this world, who have been with the club since they were 15, then they make it and get pinched. It's very frustrating."

While Milford's defection robbed the Raiders of a genuine rugby league superstar, it could also be seen as the catalyst for Canberra's golden run to this weekend's preliminary final against Melbourne, with a side gathered from all corners of the globe.

Josh Hodgson, born in Hull. Elliott Whitehead, just down the road from his compatriot in Bradford.

Blake Austin and Aidan Sezer, Sydney. Edrick Lee and Kurt Baptiste, Brisbane.

Jordan Rapana, Josh Papalii, Joseph Tapine and Iosia Soliola, all born in New Zealand.

For years, another Raiders golden era threatened to break through. With talents such as Josh Dugan, Todd Carney and Blake Ferguson emerging through the system, the Raiders were always considered to be on the cusp of something special.

And here they are, on the verge of that "something special".

However, it's a somewhat bittersweet feeling, given those they envisaged to be leading the charge are now in rival colours and the club has had to abandon its traditional philosophy for a recruitment drive that has yielded great success.

"Of course, the ideal scenario would be 13 Jarrod Crokers," Furner said. "But it doesn't always happen the way you think."

THE BAD BOYS

The Raiders brand, a powerhouse in the 1990s, has been battered and bruised for the best part of the past decade.

First it was Carney's bad-boy antics. Then it was the embarrassing Joel Monaghan saga. And then there were the "Cruiser couple", Dugan and Ferguson, whose mounting indiscretions became too hard to sweep under the rug.

The Raiders, who had invested thousands of dollars to help them realise their potential, were reluctantly forced into making tough decisions that would see all four depart the nation's capital.

It left a sour taste for all involved with the club, who still insist the stance they took was made worse by the NRL's lack of support and a belief most rival clubs wouldn't have acted in such a manner.

"I never thought we had a bad culture," Furner said. "The fact we made the hard decisions showed we always had a pretty good culture, and we didn't tolerate it.

"I don't think many other clubs would have done what we did. Continuing today, they still don't.

"We took some very hard decisions that hurt us on the field and set us back quite a while, and I don't think many clubs would have done that. It's OK for clubs to talk about offloading a 30-year-old, but those guys were 21, 22, 23 – just getting to the peak.

"Going back over the years, I don't think the NRL handled it that well. It's getting better, but the reality is you have young kids who are allowed to play up and if they are not facing any discipline or repercussions, they are going to continue to play up."

THE COACH

The reality was, Ricky Stuart had led a team to the finals series only once in the past six years when the Raiders began their plan to lure him home.

His reputation had taken a hammering at Parramatta, but Canberra never doubted his coaching ability when they decided to replace home-town hero Dave Furner with another former Raiders premiership winner.

"If it wasn't for the instability [at Parramatta], the opportunity wouldn't have presented itself to get Ricky back," Furner said.

"It had nothing to do with us. There seemed to be board tussles and that played into our hands a bit. He didn't want to be jumping on Dave's grave, and didn't engage with us until we sorted out what we were going to do with him.

"But you don't become a bad coach. You don't get your first three years into the grand final and equal minor premiers with Cronulla, too. One of the things good coaches do is have the ability to convince players to buy in. And also recruit. The best coaches are the best recruiters. And he has shown that."

THE BACKFLIPS

The Raiders have done wonders turning relative no-names and discards into genuine top-line first-graders. But Stuart's recruitment drive didn't start well, with James Tedesco and Kevin Proctor both reneging on deals.

"Certainly the backflip of Tedesco was hard to cop, and Proctor as well," Furner said. "If they never wanted to live here, they should have said it up front. There's no use saying it at the end. They never said it to us."

Once a place only discards and foreigners would join, it is those discards and foreigners who have helped transform the joint into a formidable force once again.