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This one's for the number nerds; the Canberra Raiders hope what they believe is a world-first membership drive helps them break the 20,000 barrier next year. The Raiders will give members the chance to win $500,000 if they can crunch the statistics and correctly guess how many points and tries Canberra will score next year as well as how many points and tries they will concede. The club has already had more than 2000 members sign up in the two days since they went on sale as the green wave bandwagon prepares to sweep into another year. It comes less than a week after coach Ricky Stuart led the team to a preliminary final and the shattering end to their premiership dreams in Melbourne. But along the way they scored 688 points in their 24 regular season games to set a record for the most points by any team in Raiders history. It sparked Raiders fever in the capital with almost 50,000 fans watching two finals matches in the capital as the biggest two-week crowd in the club's history. The Raiders want to convert that to 20,000 financial members and they've teamed up with Austbrokers Canberra to give fans half-a-million reasons to join the bandwagon. Stuart, Raiders chief executive Don Furner and Austbrokers Canberra general manager David Marjoribanks met at the Auckland Nines in February to start plotting the membership lottery. The prizemoney has been sourced and the permits for the competition have been finalised for Raiders members to take a $500,000 punt. "It gives our members a great opportunity to have a bit of fun," Stuart said. "I'm sure there will be a lot of research and reviewing of years of the past to see what nominations can be put in. "We love the relationship with Austbrokers ... I think we played an exciting brand of football this year that everyone enjoyed watching and I enjoyed coaching it. "I think we've got a product and environment that's fun. It would be nice to see the optimism in the members again. It was an exciting season. When you look at the odds it is [better than a lottery ticket]. "It's a lot of money and I know [Austbrokers] want the money to go off." The competition applies to the 24 regular season games and will be open to members in December when the NRL draw is finalised. The prize is shared if there is more than one winner, members can only put in one entry per name and will be open until an hour before kick-off in the 2017 season. So think you've got the golden numbers? Or will the Raiders rise to a new level again next year and break more records? Here's a look at the averages that could fill your pockets with $500,000. The Raiders were the best attacking team in competition this year, scoring 688 points and 118 tries while conceding 456 points and 79 tries. Over the past 10 seasons they have averaged 528.3 points and 93 tries per year. They have conceded an average of 562.3 points and 99.4 tries over the same period. In the Raiders' 34-year history, their averages are: 513.01 points and 89.8 tries scored while conceding 479.74 points and 83.91 tries per year. Members have to guess correctly in all four categories to be in the running for the prizemoney. Just 12 months ago only 6000 fans turned up to the Raiders' last home game of the 2015 campaign. That number swelled to 25,000 and 24,000 for two finals. "We scored a few points this year so good luck to whoever gets the points," said halfback Aidan Sezer. "The plan is always to be better, so we'll see how we go. "Hopefully we can replicate [big crowds] more often next year and with this initiative hopefully we can encourage fans to sign up and be a part of our club. "Seeing them turn out for our two finals made the hair stand up on the back of your neck."

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