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"Tommy crossed all boundaries. Yes, he was a larrikin. Yes, he was a working class man. But he was also a bloody good mate," said John Dorahy, Raudonikis' long-time former teammate.<\/p>\n
"I can see him up there talking with Ned [Noel Kelly], talking with Keith Holman and talking with Dallas [John Donnelly] \u2026 making Lidcombe Oval the place to be in heaven. Tommy was an inspirational captain and great halfback.<\/p>\n
"He was also a mentor to many, which you don't hear too often. He was a great friend who cared for you but also for rugby league.<\/p>\n
"Tommy was the rugby league fire of the era. You need someone like Tommy in every football team you take you forward; follow me. It drove the team to winning results.<\/p>\n
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"His is a phenomenal story, one that will be told over and over again. We congratulate and thank Tommy for bringing strength to the game.<\/p>\n
"Farewell Tommy, thank you for your passion, your wild, tough and gritty playing character. You were special in so many ways. <\/p>\n
"You made an enormous impact on rugby league, whether you were playing, coaching or doing talks. You will be missed forever."<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dorahy recalled one classic Tommy tale in which Raudonikis turned up with a shovel in the dressing sheds before a Magpies match.<\/p>\n
There was no telling what he might do with it … and it was ultimately hurled into a window. Western Suburbs played strongly that day.<\/p>\n
Former Bulldogs halfback Steve Mortimer recalled the well-known tale of rooming with Raudonikis ahead of a NSW vs Queensland match, as the young upstart trying to take Tommy's No.7 jersey.<\/p>\n
He made the mistake of putting his bags on the bigger bed … so Tommy threw them out of the hotel window.<\/p>\n
As NSW coach, Raudonikis was responsible for the infamous 1997 'Cattledog' brawl that saw Andrew Johns decked by Jamie Goddard… only for Tommy to tell a bleeding 'Joey' that he'd let him down<\/a>, before demanding he return to the field.<\/p>\n Yet Raudonikis, a staunch advocate of beer and cigarettes, wasn't just a larrikin. Warren said that his litany of charity work was too often overlooked.<\/p>\n Newtown benefactor Terry Rowney said that he was also a tremendous clubman, having made a huge impact on the Jets late in his career. And despite his standing in the game, he forever retained the common touch.<\/p>\n "He was one of the most unique players to have ever played at Newtown," Rowney said.<\/p>\n "If he spoke to the Prime Minster, he paid attention. If he spoke to a battler, he paid attention. If he spoke to a kid, he paid attention.<\/p>\n "He stood for the position of, 'We are not just going to make up the numbers, we are going to have a real go'.<\/p>\n "He made a difference to people – many of which he had never met."<\/p>\n Raudonikis' close friend and former Wests coach Roy Masters said that the outpouring of grief for Tommy was "perhaps the greatest since Bradman".<\/p>\n "He pre-dated Tina Turner, what you see is what you get," Masters said.<\/p>\n ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys had the crowd cheering when he thanked the NSW Government for putting on the memorial – but then took a crack at them for not affording him a state funeral.<\/p>\n "We all heard today of 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.<\/p>\n "If you take the Macquarie Dictionary and look up selflessness, you'll find Tommy."<\/p>\n The service brought the toughest of rugby league characters close to tears, including former enforcer Les Boyd.<\/p>\n Apart from many football personalities, the service was attended by Raudonikis' wife Trish Brown and family members.<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rugby league icon Tommy Raudonikis was farewelled at an emotional memorial service on Monday, lauded as an inimitable and beloved character. The former Western Suburbs, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59915"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59915"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59917,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59915\/revisions\/59917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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