This was published 4 years ago
That’s the end of the Herald’s live coverage of the public memorial for Tommy Raudonikis.
Two of our sports reporters - Adam Pengilly and Sarah Keoghan - were at the SCG. Their wrap of the final tributes to the rugby league legend can be found here.
Thanks for following along.
There were some fantastic images taken at the memorial by Herald photographer Edwina Pickles.
Ray Warren has now wrapped up the memorial, which finishes with a video highlights package of Raudonikis.
In a previous interview in the package, Raudonikis said: “You can’t take the memories away from me”.
His last video tribute prompts a round of applause from the rugby league royalty in attendance, who leave to the Western Suburbs team song echoing through the SCG.
“Well Trish, I hope it helped a little bit and thank you for making the trip down from the Gold Coast,” Warren said.
“God bless you all.”
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys is the final speaker and has taken the opportunity to take aim at the decision not to give Raudonikis a state funeral.
The comment had many in the crowd cheering and applauding.
“We all heard today as Tommy as a player but what we all would like to be judged as is what we are like as a human,” V’landys said.
“If you take the Macquarie Dictionary and look up selflessness, you’ll find Tommy.”
Western Suburbs patriarch Rick Wayde has taken to the stage and passed on a message from Australian Olympic Committee boss John Coates, who sent an apology for not being able to attend the memorial.
“We all have our heroes, and Tommy was mine,” Wayde says in Coates’ tribute.
“He was Western Suburbs’ greatest warrior and that’s how I’ll always remember my hero.“
Wayde told the story of how Raudonikis was taught how to play rugby league by nuns in the central western NSW town of Cowra, where he grew up to European migrants.
Raudonikis’ great mate and old Wests coach Roy Masters led the video tributes from influential figures in the game, including John Quayle, who fondly remembered the time Raudonikis trekked Kokoda when he refused to stop despite his body being in crippling pain.
“He pre-dated Tina Turner, what you see is what you get,” Masters says.
Masters described the outpouring of emotion after Raudoinikis’ death is “perhaps the greatest since Bradman”, while claiming Raudonikis had a “commitment to social justice”.
Steve Mortimer retold the hilarious anecdote of the time Raudonikis threw the Bulldogs halfback’s bags out of a hotel room window when he tried to claim the double bed when they roomed together in NSW camp.
Ian Schubert described the time Raudonikis told him never to clean his room on a Kangaroos camp, which lasted for six weeks.
“Tommy was true to his word, I’ve never seen a filthier room,” Schubert laughed.
Newtown Jets benefactor Terry Rowney has just spoken.
He talked about Raudonikis’ immediate impact on the Jets upon his arrival at the club in 1980.
“He was one of the most unique player to have ever played at Newtown,” Rowney said.
Rowney credited Raudonikis for the club Newtown is today and has labelled his signing “a nuclear explosion”.
John Dorahy tells a story about the day Tommy Raudonikis took a shovel into the dressing room to try to inspire his side.
His players thought he was going to use it on one of them, but instead threw it into a window in the sheds. The end result? The Magpies played a helluva lot better than what they were expected to that afternoon.
“His is a phenomenal story, one that will be told over and over again,” Dorahy said.
“We congratulate and thank Tommy for bringing strength to the game.
“Farewell Tommy, thank you for your passion, your wild, tough and gritty playing character. You were special in so many ways. You made an enormous impact on rugby league, whether you were playing, coaching or doing talks. You will be missed forever.”
Raudonikis’ old Western Suburbs, NSW and Australian teammate John Dorahy is the first guest speaker.
Following Ray Warren, he points out, is no mean feat.
“We embrace the life of a rugby league legend,” Dorahy said.
“Tommy crossed all boundaries. Yes, he was a larrikin. Yes, he was a working class man. But he was also a bloody good mate.“
Ray Warren has read out Raudonikis’ huge list of achievements, labelling him as the “most competitive to have ever played the game”.
He has also paid tribute to his charity work, which he continued while battling serious illness in the final years of his life.
“It was side of Tom that didn’t get told as much as it should,” Warren said.