NRL 2022: Peter Mulholland leaves remarkable legacy as Canberra Raiders chase finals glory
The influence of the late recruitment guru Peter Mulholland is still strong at the Raiders as they bid to continue their remarkable late-season surge for a premiership.
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They are the giant-killing finals team that ‘Skull’ helped build – and he will be proudly watching over his Raiders again from heaven above.
Raiders chief executive Don Furner has revealed the club’s late recruitment guru, Peter Mulholland, either signed – or identified – no less than 11 players from Canberra’s NRL side to play Parramatta in Friday night’s elimination final.
This is the side Mulholland helped create and assemble. Nicknamed Skull and widely admired, Mulholland was regarded as one of rugby league’s finest recruitment scouts.
Mulholland played a significant role in luring and signing Raiders stars Xavier Savage, Matt Timoko, Sebastian Kris, Jamal Fogarty, Joe Tapine, Hudson Young, Elliott Whitehead, Emre Guler, Corey Horsburgh, Tom Starling and Ryan Sutton before dying from cancer in December last year aged 68.
He also helped lure some of Canberra’s reserves for Friday night’s game to the club, including Albert Hopoate, Ata Mariota and Peter Hola.
Other rookies spotted and signed by Mulholland who debuted this year were Brad Schneider, Adrian Trevilyan and James Schiller.
“We loved Pete and he had a great eye for talent,” Furner said. “There are so many players playing this game on Friday night that he recruited and there are so many more coming through.
“His hand – and his legacy – will be across our roster for many years to come.
“Pete would ring me after every game to dissect what happened so I’m sure he’s watching from above.
“Personally, I spoke to Pete every day during the season. We all miss him. I miss him a hell of a lot and so does Rick (Stuart).
“We had full faith in Pete. If Pete told us we needed to sign a player, we didn’t have to go through a committee, we trusted his judgment.
“He had a fairly good reign over the roster and worked closely with Rick (Stuart). Pete had a lot of contacts and I think all the good talent scouts have previously been coaches, which Pete was.
“That high level coaching helps because you know what coaches are looking for, you know how to speak to parents and young players.
“There is still a batch of young guys Peter identified who haven’t debuted for us yet.”
With a strong knowledge of Super League in England, Mulholland also helped bring John Bateman and Josh Hodgson to Canberra.
Mulholland worked with Western Suburbs, North Sydney, St George Illawarra, Canterbury and Penrith before joining Canberra in 2016.
He also coached the Perth-based Western Reds in 1995-96. A year later he coached Super League expansion club Paris Saint-Germain.
Mulholland became a schoolboy coaching legend after his immense success at St Gregory’s College, Campbelltown.
Mulholland was a former schoolteacher who turned coach and then talent scout. While at the Bulldogs, Mulholland helped bring Josh Jackson and Dale Finucane to Belmore.
Schneider claimed this season’s Peter Mulholland rookie of the year award.
Hard work and no booze to deliver $1m reward
-Brent Read
Rugby league’s next million-dollar man grew up without a car. If Joseph Tapine wanted to go somewhere as a teenager in Wellington, he used his feet or public transport.
Buses and trains were a way of life for the Canberra forward, who now finds himself in hot demand across the NRL.
There were no silver spoons in the Tapine family. Only hard work and resilience, the same qualities that have him on the verge of leading Canberra to a preliminary final.
Tapine already has clubs queuing for his services. If Payne Haas’ camp reckon the Brisbane forward is worth seven figures, there’s no telling what clubs will offer Tapine to prise him out of Canberra.
Every dollar will be well deserved because Tapine had to work hard for everything he has achieved in life, his fierce worth ethic and determination a hallmark of his character from an early age.
Former New Zealand international David Lomax was one of the first to identify Tapine’s talent through a program he ran at Wellington Institute of Technology, where the Raiders star was studying to become a carpenter.
“He was a thin, tall young lad but the thing that got me about him was that he was so resilient,” Lomax said.
“They didn’t have a family car – it was public transport every weekend to games, just him and his mum. He had that work ethic about him.
“He turned up every day (for school), 7am in the morning, four days a week. He would come in, do the weights in the gym, then at 8am he would go to course and spend the whole day doing that.
“Then he would jump on a bus and a train home. He would do that like clockwork – he wouldn’t miss a day. When I told him to go to Wainuiomata rugby league club because they had a premier team, he would be at [carpentry] course until 4pm.
“Then he would go to Wainuiomata, which is over the hill again. Someone would pick him up and take him there. He would spend the night training and then he would be home about 8.30pm or 9pm.
“He would do that every Tuesday and Thursday. He just got it done. Stuff he is doing now doesn’t surprise me because of the stuff he did early on.
“He wasn’t the most talented in some of the teams, but he was certainly the most resilient. And he was tough.”
When a legendary Canberra scout Peter Mulholland called Lomax for a reference for Tapine, the response was unequivocal. At the time, Mulholland was with Newcastle. When Mulholland moved to the nation’s capital, Tapine eventually joined him.
“He [Mulholland] asked do you think he will be a first grader?” Lomax said.
“I said mate, he will play 250 games.”
Tapine is well and truly on the way. Canberra’s final against Parramatta at CommBank Stadium will be his 160th in first grade and there is every chance if he fires up, the Raiders will live to fight another day.
He and Josh Papalii form arguably the most powerful front row tandem in the game. Their clash wth Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Junior Paulo on Friday night could determine whether Parramatta or Canberra progress to the preliminary final against North Queensland.
“He has been off the drink for 10-plus weeks and that is probably when his game went to another level,” Papalii said.
“In saying that, I think it is maturity. He has come to the realisation that he would like to be a captain here one day. He is taking that leadership more personally and that has brought the best out in Jo.
“It is incredible to watch. Tapine is in his own little world at the moment. It is Jo v Jo pretty much. It is such an honour to be part of to be honest.
“I just love watching him do so well.”
Inside the meeting that helped Papalii silence critics
Josh Papalii’s season took a turn for the better in a hotel room at Sanctuary Cove on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
It was there, in early-July, that Papalii met Billy Slater and asked the Maroons coach whether he still had his support.
Slater didn’t hesitate. He replied with an emphatic yes, Papalii helped Queensland win the State of Origin series, and he hasn’t looked back since.
Nor have Canberra as Papalii and front-row partner Joseph Tapine lay waste to the competition.
Papalii sought out Slater as he headed into Origin III under the pump, having been singled out for criticism after the Maroons’ loss in game two.
He opened up on that meeting as he prepared to lead the Raiders into battle against Parramatta on Friday night at Commbank Stadium, their premiership hopes once again on the line.
“Obviously it hurt a little bit,” he said of the criticism.
“I didn’t see too much. I deleted social media every time I went into Origin camp, especially the last one.I went up to Slats before game three - the first day of camp - and I said if I am not the right man to be in the team, I am more than happy for you to choose someone else.
“The confidence I got from Slats telling me he wants me in the team and he knows what I bring, that gave me more confidence to play my game.
“There are going to be critics out there whether you play good or not. Fans be fans, commentators be commentators.
“Everyone who watches this game is always going to have an opinion, whether that is good it doesn’t make a difference to me.”
Asked why he felt the need to reach out to Slater, Papalii said: “I was getting low minutes, games weren’t panning out the way I wanted them to.
“I feel like as a front rower I can do things many front rowers can’t do. I thought it was time to go and approach Billy. What he said to me gave me confidence that I belonged.”
Slater is an unabashed Papalii fan. He was still playing for Queensland himself when a raw-boned Papalii made his Origin debut nearly a decade ago and he didn’t think twice when the Raiders prop asked whether he was still wanted.
“He gave me a call and came up to my room,” Slater said.
“I just reinforced how much he means to the Queensland State of Origin team and the impact he has amongst, especially the forwards.
“He is our leader. The impact he has with everyone else is as important as the actions he has on the field. I just reinforced that with him.
“He is playing exceptional. The fact their forward pack has thrived in the last little period has helped him, but at the same time if you spoke to Joseph Tapine and those guys, they would credit Josh as well.
“His second stint against Melbourne on Saturday afternoon was exceptional. He is playing some good footy at the moment. It is a testament to him to play the way he did for us and then go on and lead his team into the second week of the finals.”
While Tapine continues to generate headlines, as he should, Papalii deserves his share of praise. He played 58 minutes and ran for more than 165 metres against the Storm on Saturday.
“If you ask Joseph Tapine, he would say Josh is the rock of that forward pack,” Slater said.
“If you ask Josh, he would say Joseph is pushing me. They are as good as any front row combination in the game at the moment — Tapine and Papalii.”
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