The greatest player in Canberra Raiders history has warned the NRL that the Green Machine is only at the start of a journey to dominate the competition, declaring "they will get even better" in the coming years.
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But Mal Meninga urged the Raiders to stick to their attacking guns against the grinding style of the Melbourne Storm on Saturday night to take advantage of a golden premiership opportunity.
Meninga heaped praise on the new generation Raiders this week as they prepare for their first preliminary final in 19 years.
He backed Jarrod Croker as the club's long-term leader and said several Raiders had forced their way onto his Australian selection radar for the end-of-year Kangaroos team.
The Raiders have enjoyed one of the best seasons in the club's history, finishing the regular season in second spot and scoring more points than any Canberra team since 1982.
Meninga was the inspirational leader of a team of rising superstars when he helped guide the Raiders to premierships in 1989, 1990 and 1994.
Back then he played alongside youngsters Ricky Stuart, Laurie Daley and Bradley Clyde as they set themselves on a path to rugby league domination.
Meninga believes the Raiders have shown they've got the talent to follow a similar path and rise to new levels as they mature in the coming years.
"[Josh Papalii] has been there for a while and you've got so many young quality players," Meninga said.
"Joey Leilua's only 24, Jarrod's only 25, Jack Wighton at the back. I still think Edrick Lee's got a bright future in front of him as well, [he's] been a part of the Queensland system for a while.
"Blake Austin, Shannon Boyd, Luke Bateman ... a few Kiwis in the side and a few Englishmen. It's a quality football team and will be an even better footy team further down the track."
The Raiders flew to Melbourne on Wednesday to get a head start on preparations to play the machine-like Storm.
Australian and Queensland skipper Cameron Smith will lead the Storm into battle and is regarded as the most savvy captain in the NRL.
Croker is at the opposite end of the leadership spectrum after only taking the captaincy reins last year.
Smith paid tribute to Croker's rise three weeks ago, saying: "I think Jarrod's just a great footy player to start with and he's done a fantastic job with his team this year."
Meninga worked with Smith as the Queensland leader and the pair will team up again for Kangaroos duties.
"Obviously the players highly respect [Croker], he's leading by example," Meninga said.
He loves the role, from what I see he's highly respected by his peers and I think that's the highest accolade you can have.
"Cameron's been around a while, he's obviously developed his leadership skills and I imagine for Jarrod, when you've got your players' respect and you've got their ear that's a good start to be a successful captain for the Raiders long-term."
Several Raiders are on Meninga's radar as part of his Australian coaching duties, with Leilua, Croker, Papalii and Boyd all in contention for Test selection.
The Raiders started the season with only one State of Origin player (Papalii) but their representative numbers are set to grow regardless of the result on Saturday night.
"Playing in the back-end of the year and playing in successful teams counts a lot," Meninga said.
"It holds you in pretty good stead for representative football. We've got a pretty strong roster, the four teams that are still available have a lot of representative level-type players.
"I don't think [the Raiders] will be worried about it ... at the end of the day they're there and they've got a great chance of being successful. As good a chance as anyone."
NRL PRELIMINARY FINAL
Raiders team: 1. Jack Wighton, 2. Edrick Lee, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Joey Leilua, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Blake Austin, 7. Aidan Sezer, 8. Junior Paulo, 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Shannon Boyd, 11. Josh Papalii, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Sia Soliola. Interchange: 14. Kurt Baptiste, 15. Luke Bateman, 16. Paul Vaughan, 17. Joe Tapine.
Storm team: 1. Cameron Munster, 2. Suliasi Vunivalu, 3. William Chambers, 4. Cheyse Blair, 5. Marika Koroibete, 6. Blake Green, 7. Cooper Cronk, 8. Jesse Bromwich, 9. Cameron Smith (c), 10. Jordan McLean, 11. Kevin Proctor, 12. Tohu Harris, 13. Dale Finucane. Interchange: 14. Kenny Bromwich, 15. Tim Glasby, 16. Christian Welch, 17. Ben Hampton, 20. Matt White, 21. Felise Kaufusi.
