The Canberra Raiders' premiership dream was shattered in Melbourne, but the club will finish the year with an almost $500,000 boost for their best NRL finals campaign in more than 20 years.
The end-of-year bonus is set to be reinvested in the club's future as the Raiders prepare to launch what is believed to be a world-first membership drive on Friday and continue player negotiations.
It's understood hooker Kurt Baptiste has agreed to a two-year extension but a contract is still being finalised while Canberra's recruitment staff have already turned their attention to long-term signings.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has turned a group of unknown players into premiership contenders - a feat which saw him named coach of the year - and chief executive Don Furner conceded rival clubs will try to poach Canberra stars.
The Green Machine want to transfer their finals bandwagon supporters into members over the coming years and will unveil a new initiative to entice fans to join the players on their premiership quest.
The Raiders attracted almost 50,000 fans to Canberra Stadium for their first two finals games this year in a massive turnaround from the 6000 hardy supporters that watched their last home game of 2015.
In a bid to keep bandwagon fans on board, the Raiders will offer a unique opportunity for members to win $500,000 if they sign up for the 2017 campaign and they have engaged the help of third parties after setting a new record this year of 15,000 members.
It is hoped that number will swell to 20,000 as early as next year.
Memberships went on sale earlier this week, and the new initiative to be launched by Stuart on Friday.
The membership drive comes after the Raiders played in their first preliminary final since 1997, losing 14-12 to the Melbourne Storm.
They finished the regular season second on the ladder for their best year since 1995 and scored more points than any other Raiders team in history.
They also scored an extra boost of between $400,000 and $500,000 after hosting two finals, ending their 19-year preliminary final drought and earning $100,000 prizemoney.
"It all helps, we're always reinvesting. We make a loss every year and we're underpinned by great licensed clubs thankfully," Furner said.
"Rugby league is a very expensive business and that [finals financial boost] is a really nice bonus at the end of the year to put into a lot of things.
"Spending it is never the issue. We're looking at our big facility at Braddon and [a potential move there].
"There are strength and conditioning ideas ... the junior development and maybe it will help us bring down more players from [NSW Cup feeder team] Mounties for the pre-season.
"We'll sit down in a few weeks and go through all of that, but it all helps."
Furner said the next step was building a multi-million dollar facility in Braddon to give the players a world-class base.
"I just hope we've shown what the team can do for Canberra," Furner said.
"To see the way the community got behind the club was a big boost. A non-financial boost, but a massive boost and we want to stay there.
"Other clubs look at our depth ... maybe they think Canberra's an easy place to pinch players from.
"That's why taking the next step and building a centre of excellence in Braddon will give us another point of difference. That's where we need to get to next to keep the pace with the other clubs.
"Ricky has created that culture and you want to be a part of that."
The Raiders' on-field revival was rewarded on Wednesday night when coach Stuart, captain Jarrod Croker and centre Joey Leilua were recognised at the Dally M Medal.
Stuart won the coach of the year prize while Croker was named captain of the year as well as taking the highest point-scoring honour and the Provan-Summons fan's choice medal. Leilua was picked as the centre in the NRL team of the year.
Leilua's right-side partner, Jordan Rapana, was overlooked for the NRL's winger of the year prize despite an outstanding year.
The Raiders are keen to re-sign him beyond the end of next year while Baptiste's verbal commitment locks in another piece of the puzzle.
There has been speculation about the future of prop Paul Vaughan, with several clubs believed to be lining up to lure him away from Canberra despite the 25-year-old still having a Raiders contract for next year.
