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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Megan Doherty

It's peak Canberra: Green sheep, green bread and the Raiders 001 number plate

Raiders fans will be able to buy green bread from the Vina bakery at the Wanniassa shops on Sunday to put their snags in for the traditional grand final barbecue.

Wanniassa baker Quan Nguyen with his green Raiders bread.

Baker Quan Nguyen, after a couple of massive weeks, is going the extra mile and opening Sunday from about 7am to about 3pm to ensure he meets the demand for his now famous Raiders bread.

Oh, and don't forget the Green meat pies, either.

Across the border in the Raiders' pioneering heartland of Queanbeyan, Lindbeck's Butchery will be open until lunchtime Saturday, selling its green sausages. It won't be open Sunday and word on the street is that the green snags will sell out quick.

WHERE IS THE GREEN SHEEP?

In Canberra, of course. Kambah, to be specific.

The green sheep at the Kambah Village shopping centre.

Raiders grand final fever has reached everyone, including the famous sheep at the Kambah Village shopping centre.

Some dag has dressed the sheep in the lime-green jerseys. They won't have a baa of a Raiders' loss this weekend.

THE STORY BEHIND THE RAIDERS 001 NUMBER PLATE

With all this Green Machine grand final fever, we did wonder if the person who owners the green, Raiders-themed number plate, YOH 001 had received any interesting offers for it of late?

Ken Begg's historic Raiders number plate.

YOH 001 belongs to man about town Ken Begg.

The plates, proudly declaring to be in "Raiders Territory", originally sold as fundraisers to help get the Green Machine out of debt when it went over the salary cap.

The YOH on the plates was meant to be a bellowed "Yoh!!" for the team.

Begg was on the committee which helped to get the Raiders out of financial trouble. Another key member was Labor politician and club stalwart Fred Daly.

Daly, patron of the club, was so beloved by the Raiders that star players Ricky Stuart, Laurie Daley and Bradley Clyde were among his pallbearers at his funeral in 1995.

Begg said Daly received the first Raiders number plate YOH 000 and gave Begg the second, YOH 001, which he still has today.

"I am still in possession of YOH 1 and have no intention of selling it," Begg told us on Friday.

"I have received one or two approaches in the past to 'swap' rather than sell. Either way I am not interested.

"Can you imagine how Fred would have enjoyed this grand final? He was the last of the truly genuine people's politician.

"I remember Fred telling me 'When I see big Mal leading the Raiders onto the field I feel 10 foot tall'."

FOUR WEDDINGS AND A GRAND FINAL

This weekend is big; next weekend is perhaps even bigger for Raiders second-rower Joe Tapine and his fiance Kirsten Stanton, who are getting married in Newcastle.

Kirsten Stanton and Joe Tapine are getting married next weekend.

As we told you recently, four Raiders players and their partners will be getting married after post-the grand final.

Sam Williams and Sarah Gilbert are getting married in Canberra the week after Kirsten and Joe .

Then it's Jordan Rapana and Kelsey Kopp in November and Joey Leilua and his partner Tiana Faapoi in December.

Kirsten, who works a the ATO, and Joe will be married at the Merewether Surfhouse on October 12.

"Everything's sorted. I've got the dress, the shoes. I think Joe got me some earrings in Sydney today, it's their day off, which is good. We're pretty much all sorted," Kirsten said, on Friday.

Her dress is from Zavana Couture while Joe got a custom-made suit in midnight blue from Institchu in Canberra, to be set off with a bow tie.

We wish all the happy couples the best for their big day.

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