Belcher was part of a famous brace of Canberra players who not only set the world on fire with their talents on the field, but also with the coaching clipboard upon retirement. It’s an impressive roll call of Raiders-turned-mentors: Ricky Stuart, Mal Meninga, Laurie Daley, Craig Bellamy and David Furner to name a few. But “Badge” still has no idea how it worked out that the ‘80s and ‘90s versions of the Raiders were first grade coach production lines.

“No idea at all,” says the popular former fullback. “I had no idea that our former team-mate Craig Bellamy, now at the Melbourne Storm, would turn out to be one of the great coaches.

“I also had no idea Mal Meninga would turn out to be the greatest coach in Origin history. But I did know we had some special guys … Laurie Daley made his mark, for example. It’s probably a reflection of the people that were in charge of us.

“A lot of it has to do with our coach at the time, Tim Sheens, and the way he went about his business and how thorough he was. And those men, in turn, have had their own influences on other people over the years.”

Gary Belcher is tackled by Alan Hunte of St Helens during a match at Knowsley Road in St Helens in 1990. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Allsport).