Is Josh Papalii the most influential Canberra Raiders player in the past 20 years?

Maybe that should be clawing order, given he's the bear that shouldn't be poked. Something the Sydney Roosters found out on Thursday night.

Not happy with just running 180 metres. Not happy with 29 tackles. Not happy with two tackle busts. Not happy with one line break. He had to score the winning try as well. Against the reigning premiers. In the grand final rematch.

Apparently he wasn't happy with his form. Well, he should be happy now. Not only is he performing, but he's doing it when the Green Machine needs him the most. Right when they're going through an injury crisis that seems to grow by the day.

It was the same last year. Not the injury woes, but the performing when his team needed him the most. Right when they started their charge to the 2019 NRL grand final.

He scored the winner against South Sydney to send them into that grand final. And he scored the winner against the Melbourne Storm in round 22 to cap a remarkable comeback.

A win that no doubt franked the belief in the Raiders camp they deserved to be at the pointy end of the finals.

He's won three Mal Meninga Medals as Canberra's player of the year. Including the past two. It sits him alongside Raiders coach Ricky Stuart and gives him a chance of catching Laurie Daley.

Daley's sixth-and-final Meninga came in 2000, putting the star five-eighth in the influential conversation of the past 20 years. Also tying those two decades to the Raiders' golden era.

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Names like Clinton Schifcofske, feared enforcer Ruben Wiki, Jason Croker's record for most club games, Jarrod Croker for holding almost every other record, Terry Campese's brilliance before injuries took their toll, star hooker Josh Hodgson and the inspirational Alan Tongue.

You could mount an argument Papalii's rapidly overtaking them all.

He's certainly impressed Raiders legend Glenn Lazarus. The "Brick With Eyes" might've taken a few too many knocks to the masonry to remember all the players over the years. But Papalii's efforts have certainly stuck in the mortar.

And he rates those efforts as the best in the NRL. The form prop of the comp.

"He'd certainly be in the running. My brain isn't that good anymore so I can't remember who was playing, but at the end of the day he's playing wonderfully well," Lazarus said of Papalii's influence.

"That was as good a front-row display that you'll ever see [on Thursday night].

"He's playing really, really well. And his team is just rallying around him. He just seems to be this leader - leading by example of what he's doing on and off the field.

"I've always been a fan of Josh's and he's got to be the form front rower of the competition.

"There's some bloody good front rowers around, but he's the pick of the lot of them at the moment."

If you need convincing of Papalii's influence, imagine a world without him. A world Stuart ironically almost made happen back in 2013 when he was the Parramatta coach.

Papalii signed on the Eels' dotted line, only to back flip while he cooled off.

He opted to stay with the club that gave him his chance rather than chase potentially richer picking elsewhere. Something that's been brought into focus this season with both John Bateman and now Nick Cotric opting to go elsewhere.

If there's no Papalii does 2016 happen? Maybe. He was going to work in the second row back then. And with Hodgson on fire and the Raiders' right edge turning rugby league lead into gold on a gamely basis, maybe the Green Machine would've still charged all the way to the prelim.

Then he switched into the middle to become the top of the props.

Does 2019 happen? Not a chance. Does the win over the Roosters happen? Probably not.

Papalii wouldn't have danced through a gaping hole in the middle of the Bondi defence to seal it.

Adding to the Jarrod Croker and George Williams tries in the come-from-behind performance. With Dunamis Lui also putting in a solid shift in the front row to score the opener.

Not even a Brett Morris first-half double could stop the Papalii heroics.

And long may those heroics continue. Given he's only 28 there's no reason why he can't continue to be that man of influence.

NRL ROUND 11

July 25: Canberra Raiders v South Sydney Rabbitohs at Canberra Stadium, 7.35pm.