On this day in 1991, a pledge from ANZ Bank for a $700,000 loan provided some reprieve to the Canberra Raiders as it helped them secure their financial future. Les McIntyre, club founder and administrative committee member, also stated the Raiders group would purchase the premises of the Raiders Leagues Club at Mawson, a club that was incurring losses.
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McIntyre stated the loss incurred by the Mawson club was one of the central reasons for the Raiders finding themselves in such a precarious financial position. The ANZ loan only had one condition, which was the reduction of player payments to within the salary cap set by the NSW Rugby League. The Raiders were considerably over the cap.
McIntyre was "quite insistent that we work within the rules of the NSWRL and that is the $1.5 million salary cap". He also hoped the team would not face a cut to its cap the following year. The $700,000 loan accompanied the $5.3 million ANZ had already advanced to the struggling Raiders group.
Kevin Grace was appointed as the overall head of the Raiders' new management committee before quitting within 24 hours, only to later return as the group's chief executive in some highly octane bureaucratic drama. Grace stated the club was aiming to reduce its debt by $1 million before 1993.
The group planned to use ANZ's cash advancement to pay players, poker machine tax payments and more player payments later in the year. McIntyre said "the bank has said to us that when the runs are on the board at the end of next year they will look at us getting the money to purchase Mawson".
