NRL star Boyd Cordner’s mission to help fire-ravaged region
Sydney Roosters and NSW skipper Boyd Cordner said if firefighting helicopters didn’t come when they did, everyone from his former home town ‘would have been on the beach’.
NRL
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Boyd Cordner will visit the fire-ravaged region of Taree with the NSW Blues, only weeks after his family home narrowly avoided being burnt to the ground.
Cordner and the Blues have planned to tour the community this week to give back, following some of the worst bushfires in NSW history.
For the NSW and Sydney Roosters skipper, the trip will have a deep personal connection given his father Chris’ close shave with the fires.
“The fire was pretty close to my old hometown in Old Bar — it was at Wallaby Point, which is the next beach up,” Cordner said.
“Dad was OK. He saw it coming in from the highway, which is in the bush.
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“But it got really close.
“I suppose if the helicopters didn’t come when they did, then all of the town would have been on the beach.
“But there were a lot of people in our street that had to be evacuated. We were lucky because our place is near the beach. At the same time, the fire was coming in pretty quickly with the winds — it was pretty scary.
“It is a beautiful place Old Bar and it was just heartbreaking for a community like that where I grew up.”
Cordner hopes the Blues’ visit to the fire-impacted areas gives the heartbroken yet resilient locals a vital boost.
“It is a tough and strong community up there,” he said.
“I’m sure everyone will get together and they will be OK.
“Whatever we can do for the community we will put all our support behind and hopefully it can help in some way.”
Originally published as NRL star Boyd Cordner’s mission to help fire-ravaged region