In a revealing one-one interview Inside Sport for our November 2016 edition - on sale now - the Canberra Raiders legend was asked to recall his experiences of playing in the rebel Super League competition, conducted 20 seasons ago next year.

In particular, we wanted to know if playing in the Super League of 1997 felt like “real football” to the three-time premiership-winner, representative stalwart and NRL 360 panel regular on Fox Sports.

“The games themselves felt real, but the competition felt a bit weird, if you know what I mean. Knowing there was another comp going on and not having everyone together, it just felt really strange.

“Halfway through the season we actually went over to England for three weeks and played in a World Club Challenge tournament! That in itself was completely strange to us and different.

"But once the finals rolled around, you knew they were big games and you wanted to win as a sportsman. So on the field it felt the same, but off the field you could notice a real difference because you didn’t really know what was happening. You didn’t know how long the comp would go for, who would survive in terms of the Super League and ARL competitions, whether they’d merge, whether one would just fall away, so to speak.

"So there were things you weren’t really sure of, but in terms of the football itself, it felt genuine when you were out there playing.”

For the full interview, don’t miss the November 2016 issue of Inside Sport magazine, on sale at newsagents now!