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Mal Meninga spent an hour on the phone with him, Craig Bellamy flew in from Melbourne for a party and Ricky Stuart describes him as "the lifeblood" of the Canberra Raiders. Most Raiders fans have probably never heard of Bobby Griffin. But the club's greatest players have no doubt he was a driving force behind their golden generation. Griffin turns 80 on Sunday and hundreds gathered in Queanbeyan on Saturday for a birthday party, which doubled as a journey back to the Green Machine's glory years. The former club masseur doubled as a bus driver in the Raiders' early days, spending 23 years on the support staff before retiring in 2006. He was there when the Raiders won their premierships in 1989, 1990 and 1994, toured with the Australian Super League team in 1997 and was with the NSW State of Origin side in the same year. "Bobby was everyone's best mate, and genuinely your best mate," Stuart said. "It's what we were like at the Raiders then, our best mate was Griffo. His family would take you in, you'd go to his house to get massages. Griffo was the lifeblood of the club, he'll always be remembered as part of the Raiders' family. "He would always put his Akubra hat out there and put a few $5 and $10 notes in and when the boys would get on the bus and think they'd have to tip him. "He'd end up more in tips than his pay. He drove us to games, massage us before the game and he was the only one, then drive us home that night." As a mark of his standing in Raiders' history, Meninga and Tim Sheens called Griffin last week and Melbourne Storm coach Bellamy flew to Canberra for a reunion. Former Raiders chairman John McIntyre, captain Simon Woolford and games record holder Jason Croker also turned up for the party. As well as working for the Raiders, Griffin played 151 games for the Queanbeyan Tigers and 130 games for the Queanbeyan Blues. He won a premiership with the Tigers in 1956, was packed in their team of the century and spent a season with the Queanbeyan Whites. But not ready to cut ties with sport, Griffin was the Tigers' masseur in their AFL Canberra premiership season last year. The only problem is he's always been too nervous to watch games. "I'd stay in the change rooms ... lie on the table and put a towel over my face to try to drown out the crowd. I'm too nervous, I can't even watch my kids play," Griffin said. "Simon Woolford was the worst asking for massages, and Brett Hetherington. Mal Meninga was the best player I saw, by a long way. "Winning the first premiership with the Raiders has to be the favourite memory."

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