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How badly do the Canberra Raiders want to make their first grand final in 25 years? Bad enough to go on a self-imposed booze ban at the club's annual awards night this week. Raiders players turned up to training on Wednesday fresh and ready to focus on their premiership target after the players decided to avoid alcohol at the Mal Meninga Medal. The Green Machine's charge into a preliminary final has earned them a week off during the finals series for the first time since 1990. It's a welcome break from the battered and bruised bodies the Raiders have put on the park for intense finals campaigns in 2010, 2012 and 2016. But co-captain Jarrod Croker says the players are refusing to take their time off for granted as the Canberra bandwagon prepares to shift into another gear. Tickets for the preliminary final against either Manly or South Sydney will go on sale to members on Monday and the general public on Tuesday. Raiders officials have been working with Canberra Stadium staff to try to organise temporary stands of up to 1000 extra seats to cater for the demand, which could see the club break the venue's crowd record of 28,753. That mark was set at a Super Rugby grand final in 2004, and the stadium configuration has changed since then to reduce capacity. RAIDERS NEWS Either way the Raiders are bracing for a green wave and avoiding the temptations of a traditionally relaxed awards function was the first step to being contenders. "I haven't played in [a final] this big. This will be the biggest game of my career," Croker said. "Just having it at home adds that extra little bit, I'm looking forward to it. "I'm trying not to think about it too much. I've already been in bed one night and started thinking about it ... I couldn't sleep. "We haven't been in this situation before where we've had a week off. We haven't had a freshen up and a full roster to pick from." The Raiders will also reap the rewards of not having to play this weekend after draining campaigns in the past three finals series. The Raiders ran out of steam in each of those seasons following either late-season charges just to make the top eight or being hit with injuries to key players including Croker, Terry Campese, Joey Leilua or Josh Papalii. The Raiders have won the right to have a week off just once in the club's history, making the most of their break to win the 1990 premiership. "In the past it was a big party on the way in just to get into the finals. We were winning 10 or 12 games just to make the finals," Croker said. "We were blowing sides off the park in those years. This year we're defending our way to wins and we've been consistently doing that through the season. There's definitely a steele about it." The Raiders will meet with Canberra Stadium again this week to determine the final crowd capacity for the match.

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