Furner to extend Raiders reign

Canberra coach David Furner will extend his stay as coach for a further two years, after signing an extension to his current contract.

The former Canberra, Leeds and Wigan player will remain in charge at the Raiders until 2014 following his decision to pen a new deal.

Furner, who only concluded his playing days in 2004, took the reins at Canberra in 2009.

After an indifferent first season, Furner guided the club to within a whisker of the NRL‘s preliminary final, eventually losing narrowly to Wests Tigers.

But Furner has his feet firmly planted on the ground and refuses to take his new deal for granted.

“You can never be too safe as a coach and it’s important that we keep building for success and look to get this club back to where we know we can be,” Furner said.

“Yes it’s great to have the club show faith in me, but at the same time I know we have a lot of hard work ahead of us if we are to achieve the success we want as a team.”

The Raiders will enter 2011 with cautious optimism, having made several high calibre signings in Brett White, Blake Ferguson and Matt Orford.

They must however, contend with the loss of co-captain and playmaker Terry Campese, who will miss a large portion of the season with a knee injury.