The Raiders Meninga Medal is the biggest night on the Canberra Raiders calendar. It brings players, staff, partners and fans together to celebrate the season. For 2026, the awards came to AIS Arena, and the team at Event AV Services turned a sports arena into a premium awards venue, filled from floor to ceiling with Raiders green.
Rob Cartwright and the Event AV Services crew handled the vision, rigging, lighting and effects for the night, and a large part of the show ran on gear supplied by Eventec.
The Night at a Glance
- 7m x 4m Lampro RNII 2.6mm main LED screen
- 2 x 0.5m x 4m LED banners and 10 Poster Flip LED displays
- 20 JDP Kyra-D8 PLUS chain hoists
- A full rig of Event Lighting moving heads, profiles, pars and washes
- Spark machines plus Antari jet foggers and hazers
A Stage Built Around the Screen
At the centre of the stage was a 7m x 4m main LED screen built from Lampro RNII 2.6mm panels. It carried everything from player tributes to award announcements. Two 0.5m x 4m LED banners in the same 2.6mm pitch framed the stage, and 10 Poster Flip LED displays stood around the room as individual displays.
The 2.6mm pitch keeps detail sharp for guests close to the stage and on camera, and the RNII’s brightness holds up against an intense stage wash.
Rigging the Arena
The overhead rig and stage towers were built with Eventec truss and hoists:
- 290mm ladder truss and 290mm diagonal truss for the stage towers and overhead structure
- 20 x JDP Kyra-D8 PLUS 1000kg chain hoists, run on JDP controllers and motor cables
Lighting in Raiders Green
The lighting rig drew on a wide range of the Event Lighting lineup, networked through Event Lighting Art-Net nodes and DMX cable:
- HAVOCH600F 600W hybrid moving heads with framing, and M1H420W hybrids, for the big looks
- LM75B beam moving heads for punchy aerial effects
- M19W15RGBW 19 x 15W zoom washes for full-stage colour
- OPERAZ400FCP-IP 400W profiles for crisp key light on presenters and award winners
- PAR19X15O and PAR12X12 pars, plus DELUGE24X12BH battery bricks, washing the truss towers and room
- Event Lighting fresnels on the media wall, and PAR9X12BH-IP battery pars for cable-free placement around the venue
Effects for the Big Moments
For entrances and award reveals, Event AV Services added:
- SPARKJETPRO2 spark machines
- Antari J100 SonicJet foggers, which give a CO?-style jet effect without the bottles
- Antari HZ500 hazers to bring out every beam in the room
A Night to Remember
Congratulations to all of this year’s winners and nominees, and a huge thank you to Rob and the team at Event AV Services for an outstanding production. We’re proud to have our gear on a stage like this one.
