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\n Corey Horsburgh led the Raiders for the first time against the Dolphins.
\n \u00a9Scott Davis\/NRL Photos
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The Canberra Raiders’ 2025 premiership campaign didn\u2019t start under stadium lights or with roaring crowds in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
It began in the dirt, dark and discomfort of a military training camp. A brutal pre-season bonding experience that came to define their charge to a first minor premiership since 1990.<\/p>\n
Sleep-deprived Raiders players spent three days and two nights hiking and camping in bushland near Canberra.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was tough. I haven\u2019t done one of them for a while,\u201d said prop Corey Horsburgh, who has rejuvenated his career after being on the verge of leaving to join Wests Tigers at the end of last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just kind of made us close and just know that we can get through the tough stuff together.”<\/p>\n
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The 2025 Telstra NRL Minor Premiers<\/p>\n
The camp, which pushed the players to their limits physically and mentally, laid the foundations for the Raiders\u2019 transformation from a team on the fringe to one that lost just five games all season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt actually ended up being a good thing for us,” Horsburgh told NRL.com.<\/p>\n
“We had some tough nights, a couple of tough days there, it was good fun in the end and brought us closer as a group and I think that we have seen that in our footy. We are a very close-knit bunch of boys, and we play for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
That chemistry and resilience has been evident in Canberra\u2019s performances.<\/p>\n
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All the angles: A Mudgee miracle<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve come from behind more times than most, turning deficits into victories through belief and cohesion, something that Horsburgh says was forged during that camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been behind a fair bit this year and we\u2019ve come back a lot of times,” he said. “We\u2019re just playing our style of footy and it\u2019s working at the moment.<\/p>\n
“We are a nice calm bunch of boys at the moment. We\u2019re kind of backing our skill and we\u2019re not scared to play footy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Horsburgh captained the Raiders in Sunday’s final regular season match against the Dolphins – a remarkable rise for a player once known for his fiery temperament more than his leadership.<\/p>\n
However, the 2025 version of Horsburgh is composed, mature and battle-hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we showed that we are right in this competition from Round 1,” he said.<\/p>\n
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\n Corey Horsburgh led the Raiders for the first time against the Dolphins.
\n \u00a9Scott Davis\/NRL Photos
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“We put on some good performances and obviously had some lows along the way, but we bounced back every time and we\u2019ve had a good year but it\u2019s not over.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Raiders will host the Broncos in Sunday’s qualifying final, with the victor just one more win from a place in the decider at Accor Stadium on October 5.<\/p>\n
Comparisons to Canberra’s 2019 grand final run are inevitable but Horsburgh, who was part of that squad along with captain Joe Tapine and veteran Josh Papalii, is quick to point out why the Raiders believe that they can go one better this time,<\/p>\n
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In Finals, moments matter: Hail Hudson<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a different team to then. We play our style,” he said.<\/p>\n
“In 2019 there was a few of us in the squad; Huddy (Hudson Young) would have played if he didn\u2019t get into trouble back then, there was a few of us there but it’s no different.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019ve just got to play our style, back ourselves, I\u2019m sure we can get the job done when that time comes.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Horsburgh, who\u2019s never one to shy away from a confrontation, the chance to help the Raiders go deep into the finals is more than personal achievement – it\u2019s about legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ve ever been close since I\u2019ve been here so just to be a part of some history for the club and hopefully, we can make some more history and bring a premiership back here too. That\u2019s our goal,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Canberra Raiders’ 2025 premiership campaign didn\u2019t start under stadium lights or with roaring crowds in Las Vegas.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-126559","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}