Craig Menkins Sportsman’s Dinner a sellout event

When Craig Menkins’ revealed his cancer diagnosis, Wests Mackay wanted to find a way to help out. They did, and the response from the community was nothing short of extraordinary.

He is the man who broke a 36-year premiership drought, turned them from a relative underdog to powerhouse team of the competition and helped build a renowned club culture.

So when Craig Menkins was diagnosed with brain cancer early this year, the Wests Tigers Mackay club knew they had to do something to help.

“From a club perspective, we are looking at trying to support him and his family through these pretty tough times and whatever help we can show him,” Wests Leagues Club general manager Kingsley Theiber said.

“We came up with the concept to do a sportsman's dinner to raise funds for him and that will be held on the 19th of August.”

Craig Menkins.

The NQ Cowboys foundation player has had about five months of chemotherapy.

He said he was “probably a lot worse” health wise at the start of the year.

He has found the response from both the Wests and Moranbah Miners community since his diagnosis to be “incredible”.

Menkins recalled stepping down as coach of Wests as a significant moment for him in his journey.

“I just couldn’t do it, I went to a couple of training sessions and thought, ‘geez what is going on here’.”

“I’ve been off work since July last year and late last year it was affecting me as well.

“I wasn’t that bad, but all of a sudden at the start of this year I got a lot worse.”

Menkins had led the A-Grade Wests side to five grand finals in five straight years, where they won two premierships in what is “the most successful” period of the club’s history.

The stint at Wests came after a decade-long tenure at Moranbah where he won three premierships and helped turn the club around.

Craig Menkins spent the better part of a decade as Moranbah Miners’ A-Grade coach. Photo Contributed.

Mr Theiber said Menkins’ “massive impact” at Wests extended well beyond the team’s on-field performance.

“Our club is a small little country club with a massive family feel, where everyone knows everyone who is involved with the club,” he said.

“It is devastating news for everyone from the football club to the leagues club, to everyone that is associated with the club.

“Having that warmth and the support that we have as a club, everyone has rallied together to support him.”

While they knew the significance of his diagnosis within their community, the impact beyond did not sink in until tickets for the dinner went live.

The 200 tickets were released last Thursday and sold out within hours.

Mr Theiber said there would likely be another release of tickets on the way later this week.

“Logistically we face some issues it being such a small club but we’ve managed to probably allocate another 100 seats,” he said.

Matty Johns is the special guest of Wests’ Craig Menkins Sportsman’s Dinner. Picture: Supplied/Foxtel

League greats including his former roommate and NRL legend Matty Johns, Tony Butterfield, Stephen Crowe, Brad Godden, Peter Jones, Martin Locke, Steven Holmes, Dallas Hannay, Michael Hogue and Glen Murphy will be in attendance.

Menkins was just as surprised as anyone at how quickly tickets were sold.

“I thought they’d sell quick but not in one day,” he said.

“It would have to be a record for Mackay there is no doubt about that, but I’m sure Matty Johns has a fair bit to do with that.”

All proceeds will go towards helping Menkins in his brain cancer battle and the Mackay Fire Special Olympics squad.