The Raider Nick Podcast, a new show celebrating the past, present and future of the Canberra Raiders, is being launched this week ahead of the 2021 NRL season.
Nick Risteski, known by his on-air handle Raider Nick, will be joined on the podcast by a couple of his childhood heroes, his co-commentator for Raiders on Mix, Phil Small, and Raiders 1994 premiership player, Paul Osborne.
With the first episode releasing this Friday 5 March, Raider Nick told Canberra Daily he’s excited to share the podcast with the Green Machine fan base.
“We’re just going to have a bit of fun, some light-hearted stuff, but won’t be afraid to go in-depth if we have to,” Raider Nick said.
“We definitely plan to dial up some old teammates of Ozzy, some old Raiders boys and also talk to some of the new boys as well.”
For Small and Osborne, the weekly Raider Nick Podcast will be a reunion of sorts, the duo having hosted a local TV show in the 1990s called League Round Up.
“It had a bit of a cult following, it was one of those shows that was on late at night on WIN after Frasier, and as a young kid I would sit up watching that,” Raider Nick said.
“They had great banter, great chemistry and we’re bringing that to the show.
“The moment they both walked into the studio it was like nothing had changed … To be able to sit here in 2021 and have a show with them is just awesome.”
Having previously hosted the official Canberra Raiders podcast Behind the Limelight, last year’s NRL COVID-19 bubble made that tricky and led Raider Nick to establish the new offering.
“I couldn’t go in there and do it, and then as time went on, I thought of it a bit more and the radio were keen,” he said.
Coming into his fourth season calling the Green Machine as part of the Raiders on Mix team, Raider Nick said he still wakes up on game day excited.
“It’s a childhood dream,” he said. “I called games in the loungeroom as a kid.
“Coming to the game and supporting the team is enough, but being able to come to the ground, swipe my card, step into the media box, put the headphones on and call the game; it’s a really satisfying exercise commentating the game you love with the team you love to the people you love, the Canberra community,” he said.
Removing his green-tinted glasses, Raider Nick, like a lot of the NRL media, thinks Canberra have a red-hot crack at winning a long-awaited premiership this year.
“I believe that premierships are a journey, they’re not made overnight,” he said.
“We got close in 2019 and there’s still the burn and the melancholy of that … 2020 was deemed a tick after all we had to endure.
“We bounce into 2021 with a full healthy roster, everyone on the same page, and I think the journey of the last two years puts us in great shape for 2021.”
The Raider Nick Podcast is available here or through most podcasting apps.
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