'A sigh of relief': Raiders dig deep for charity as comeback saves golf trip

A handful of Canberra Raiders were playing for a golf trip to Australia's top courses - Barnbougle, on the north coast of Tasmania.

Raiders star Joe Tapine was worried if the 20-0 scoreline kept going in the wrong direction against Manly, his coach Ricky Stuart might have cancelled their days off this week and got them back on the training track.

Tapine's wife Kirsten had organised a golf trip as a 30^th birthday present for him and some mates, like Josh Papali'i and Tom Starling, where they were leaving on Tuesday.

A heavy loss to the Sea Eagles could have left their trip in ruins.

Thankfully, they fought back for a courageous win that ensured their days off got the all-clear.

It also meant they were able to take part in Canberra golf star Matt Millar and ex-Raider Sia Soliola's golf day at Federal golf course - the Sleepin' Rough Invitational - on Monday.

Stuart, Tapine, Papali'i, Brumbies great Rod Kafer, retired jockey Jim Cassidy, former Aussie cricketers Moises Henriques and Geoff Lawson, and former Collingwood star Shane Wakelin were just a few of the stars on the guestlist.

The hope was to beat last year's total of $60,000 raised for St Vincent de Paul to help the homeless.

It's a cause close to the heart of Soliola, who made the trip down from Newcastle for the day.

He's spent many an hour sleeping rough as part of the Vinnies CEO Sleepout - that's when he wasn't helping out serving breakfast to the homeless at his old gig at the early morning centre in Civic.

Tapine and his fellow Raiders were also there for a tune-up for their aforementioned golf trip.

"There was extra [effort] trying to win for that one. A sigh of relief after the game, too," Tapine said with a laugh.

Former Wallaby Kafer was back to try to replicate his hole-in-one, which landed him a $50,000 cheque.

Not only did he sink an ace - his team also won the whole tournament last year as well.

So it was only fitting he started his day trying to replicate his hole-on-one on the hole he sunk it last year.

"The odds of doing that once are so remote, let alone trying to do it again is the archetypal blue moon," Kafer said.

"There's no pressure when you're a hacker on the golf course. It makes life pretty easy out there knocking it around.

"Charity causes are always blissfully easy to give time for and I hope we're lucky enough to raise a fair bit of money on the day for a fantastic cause.

"Hopefully the funds raised can go towards improving some people's lives."

Raiders captain Elliott Whitehead said they were always happy to help out - especially when it also helped mad Raiders fan Millar.

"It's a great occasion. Quite a lot of different professions are getting together to raise money for Vinnies," he said.

"It's good to see so many familiar faces and a lot of unfamiliar faces too.

"It's nice to be a part of it. The Raiders really buy into stuff like this so it's good."

It sounded like there was also bragging rights on the line, with a lot of the Raiders players counting themselves as handy golfers in their spare time.

Jordan Rapana, Papali'i, Tapine and Starling can often be spotted carving up the Canberra fairways on their days off.

"A lot of our boys like to play as well," Whitehead said.

"A lot of them are not too good - they think they're better than what they are, but I'm sure we'll see today."