Amidst all the excitement stirred by the long-awaited return of the Canberra Raiders to serious premiership calculations, we thought it would be fun to step back in time to illustrate what Australia and the outside world was like the last time the Raiders won the comp. Be prepared to feel old, reminded and perhaps glad you weren’t around when all this was happening.

IN 1994 …

The premier rugby league competition in Australia was run under the New South Wales Rugby League banner. Back then the players fought for the Winfield Cup and appeared in theme songs sung by American superstar Tina Turner.

Record-breaking Queensland Maroons coach Mal Meninga was the Canberra Raiders captain. He retired after the 1994 grand final.

Rugby League’s split ARL-Super League season was still three years away.

Australia’s Prime Minister was Paul Keating.

Inside Sport magazine had only been around for three years.

Telephone numbers in Australia were being converted from six to eight digits.

More and more Australians were connecting to something new called the internet.

Some of the teams the Raiders beat to the 1994 title were the Illawarra Steelers, Balmain Tigers, Western Suburbs Magpies, St George Dragons, Gold Coast Seagulls and North Sydney Bears.

Justin Bieber was seven months old when Canberra won the comp.

Tom Hanks starred in Forrest Gump, while Hugh Grant appeared in Four Weddings And A Funeral.

The Sony PlayStation was launched.

Most people didn’t own mobile phones. (Fact we found on the net: in 1994 in Britain, there were 67 mobiles per 1000 people … for 12 years now there have been more phones than people.)

The TV series Friends began in 1994.

Superboot Daryl Halligan was the comp’s leading pointscorer with 270.

Brisbane Broncos flyer Steve Renouf scored the most tries in 1994 (23).

The legendary Greg McCallum oversaw the 1994 grand final, which was played at the Sydney Football Stadium in front of over 42,000 fans.