Canberra Raiders recruitment boss Peter Mulholland gets NSWRL life membership

Because the Canberra Raiders recruitment boss is feeling as fit as a Mallee bull.

He's has a relapse of his rare form of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, but he has his sights set on being part of the next Raiders premiership.

It's not stopping Mulholland from driving thousands of kilometres around the country keeping an eye out for talent.

While he's usually got his ear to the ground, the NSWRL were able to sneak one past him when they convinced him to come into their offices for a "meeting" on Friday.

That meeting ended with him being awarded life membership, one of three inductees along with Steve Ghosn and Terry Rowney.

Mulholland was humbled by the honour - although he felt there were others far more worthy than him.

They'd have pretty impressive resumes if that's the case.

Mulholland started out leading St Gregory's College to multiple championships before moving into coaching in the NSWRL.

He was the Western Reds' foundation coach before shifting into recruitment, which eventually led him to Canberra.

"It's a big honour. It's quite flattering actually ... a lot of other people deserve it ahead of me," Mulholland said.

"I'd love to win a competition. I hope they haven't given me life membership because they think it's going to be a short one."

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Mulholland's been battling blood cancer for more than 18 months and, while he's had a relapse, he said it's currently under control.

He'll have his next check up in April and take it from there.

"They're trying to manage it and I'm as fit as a Mallee bull," Mulholland said.

"At the moment it's just wait and see because it's stagnant at the moment.

"It's there, but at the moment, touch wood, it's not growing and spreading.

"I'm quietly confident I can beat it, but if I don't you'll know that too."

Mulholland spent 18 years coaching schoolboys rugby league, before making the shift to clubland.

Since then he's had stints at the Raiders, Western Suburbs, North Sydney, the Reds, Penrith, Canterbury, Newcastle and St George Illawarra.

There were a few clear highlights from those 41 years, but it's helping the hard workers - rather than the superstars - that he's got the most satisfaction out of.

"I loved my schoolboy coaching, I did that from '76 to '93," Mulholland said.

"I loved playing, but I guess the highlight is when I turned full-time, I went professional in '93.

"There's been that many highlights ... winning a premiership at Penrith in '03 was great, the nine schoolboy cup finals we were in.

"But the highlight is it's great to see kids that have worked to the maximum of their ability and not natural ability. Just hard work gets them to play first grade.

"Kids like Matty Fuller, Corey Horsburgh, Emre Guler, Dunamis Lui - they're really the ones you look back on with great pride."

Mulholland has also relished working with his current coach Ricky Stuart.

He joined Stuart at the Green Machine in 2016 and rates him alongside the greats.

"I've been around the Warren Ryans and the Wayne Bennetts and the John Langs, and I know I spruik about him but this coach, he's gone to another level," Mulholland said.

"The trip with Eddie Jones has validated a lot of what he's doing and I think that's given him that confidence and vision to know what he is doing is on the right track."