Aaron Raper

The career of former Cronulla hooker Aaron Raper’s career was affected by both injury and the Super League war. The son of League great John Raper represented City in 1993 but his career was put on hold because of a mystery blood disorder in 1994. Raper made a timely recovery to lead the way in the club's reserve grade grand final victory but the following year, he stayed loyal to the ARL while his club signed with Super League. He was then the centre of two controversies at rep level - the first when chosen as a reserve for NSW but was not used in the match by coach Tom Raudonikis. Raper was then denied Test selection in 1995 following the suspension of incumbent Test hooker Wayne Bartrim. Raper was originally the selectors’ preferred choice but coach Bob Fulton opted for 1995 Kangaroo rake Jim Serdaris instead. The talented hooker and his father John (who was a selector) handled the situation gracefully, and Raper was rewarded with selection in Australia’s World Cup squad at year’s end. His one Test appearance during competition was against South Africa. Raper played with P’matta in 1996 and despite being released in 1997, stayed with the club and fought his way back into the top grade. After playing in the Eels’ loss to C’bury in the 1998 premiership final, Raper left Australia to play for Castleford in England. 2002 saw Raper return to Australia as captain-coach of Taree Old Barr in the Group 3 competition.