'Pretty amazing': Brumbies greats elevated to esteemed Legends group

Owen Finegan and David Giffin were inducted into the Brumbies Legends group at the club's state of the union lunch on Friday, earning the highest accolade for an ACT Super Rugby player.

George Gregan, Stephen Larkham and Joe Roff were the inaugural Legends inductees in 2021, before George Smith and Stirling Mortlock followed a year later.

Finegan captained the Brumbies to their 2004 title and made 90 appearances for the club while Giffin, who earned 81 ACT caps, was considered the best lineout operator in the world in his prime.

"We had some great success in the early years, we made five grand finals and won two of them. It was an impressive team. They called us misfits and rejects who came together and proved everyone wrong," Finegan said.

"We played on it more than anything. One of the Sydney journalists came up with the tagline and we were happy to run with it, the poor cousins down in Canberra who were trailblazing their way. It was an amazing start to a new team.

"The Kookaburras, the Canberra team, had been really successful. I was part of the Waratahs team that got beaten by them in 1995, and then to come down and play with a lot of those guys in 1996, [I got] to see the transition of the team and for them to be really successful and play in a really exciting and innovative way."

But this weekend is all about 2004, and reminiscing on the night the Brumbies beat the Crusaders in front of a record Canberra Stadium crowd of 28,753.

Members of that championship-winning team are back in town and they will give the Brumbies a guard of honour when they run onto Canberra Stadium to face the Crusaders on Saturday.

"It just makes you feel a bit older," Finegan grinned.

"That [season] was pretty amazing. There was a bit of a mixture of a few of the older heads. I know at that stage, myself, David Giffin, George Gregan, Stephen Larkham, Joe Roff were a few of the player who had been there from the start. You had a few other players who were in their first or second year.

"It was a tumultuous year with some of the decisions around coaching and where we got to early in the season. We all pushed through that and had a common vision of winning."