Ken Nagas - Canberra Raiders

Canberra Raiders

Nagas, a fullback or winger, started with the Raiders in 1992 with a single appearance on the wing in a loss to the Newcastle Knights. 1993 saw Nagas appear in nine games for Canberra where he scored 4 tries.

In 1994 Ken Nagas hit form and he played 18 games and scored 11 tries, many of them length of the field runs, the most famous being against Manly in Round 7 at Bruce Stadium in Canberra when he ran the length of the field to score while holding the ball in one hand, keeping his shorts up with the other and being chased the whole way by Manly winger Craig Hancock who actually lost ground to the flying Raiders' winger. Nagas went on to play on the wing in Canberra's 36-12 Grand Final win over Canterbury-Bankstown where he scored 2 of Canberra's 7 tries.

Nagas, like the rest of the Canberra Raiders players, signed with Super League in 1995 and although his great form continued, scoring 14 tries from 19 games, he along with team mates Laurie Daley, Bradley Clyde, Brett Mullins, Ricky Stuart and David Furner (other than Nagas, all were players on Australia's 1994 Kangaroo Tour), were left out of 1995 representative teams as only Australian Rugby League contracted players were selected. Canberra finished equal top on the 1995 ladder with Manly but after defeating rivals Brisbane 14-8 at Suncorp Stadium, the defending premiers were knocked out in the Preliminary Final by eventual premiers Sydney Bulldogs 8-25.

In the 1997 World Club Championship, Nagas scored six tries for Canberra against Halifax, a club record. In the 1997 post season, Nagas was selected to play for Australia in all three matches of the Super League Test series against Great Britain.

After eleven seasons with the one first-grade club, knee problems forced Nagas to retire midway through 2002.