‘Gentle giant’ someone his coach will never forget

The man with a big frame and bigger heart garnered a ‘cult following’ at Wests Tigers.

Gordon Santo runs the ball for Wests Tigers in the 2017 Shorty Moffat Cup.

GORDON Santo’s first possession as a Wests Tiger was a 40m line break to set up a Liam Taylor try under the posts.

It may have only been a trial match, but on that day in early 2017 Wests coach Craig Menkins knew the club had a special talent on its hands.

What Menkins learned soon after, was that the 6 foot 8 “gentle giant” had a heart even bigger than his considerable football frame.

On Monday, Santo was tragically killed in a two-vehicle head-on crash on the Bruce Hwy near Farleigh.

The one-time Melbourne Storm trialist and former Australian Schoolboys representative was yesterday remembered by Menkins and Wests Reserve Grade coach Gary Edwards as a person who lifted his teammates in the dressing room and made magic happen on the football field.

“He was an absolute giant of a human being. But a gentle giant,” Edwards said.

“Just the nicest bloke. There wasn’t a mean streak in his body. When he was in the dressing room, it made everyone there confident and comfortable.

“We would put him on for short stints and he would just change the game.”

Menkins said Santo developed a “cult following” at Wests in his two seasons at the club.

Work often kept Santo from training and thus the senior squad, but he was a key cog in Edwards’ Reserve Grade sides which went to the grand final in ‘17 and ‘18.

“He was an exceptionally skilled footballer,” Menkins said.

“He couldn’t get to training much. But he was just a natural footballer. He was a crowd favourite at Wests. People would go down just to watch him.

“His stature belied his personality – he was so kind hearteded, so polite and so well spoken. A great family man and a real loss to the community.”

Santo left the club at the end of 2018, but was just a phone call away when Edwards had a hole to fill in the forwards last season.

“I just gave him a ring and he said, ‘yeah no worries Gaz, that’ll be good’,” Edwards said.

“As soon as I saw him walk in and pay his money at the front gate I thought ‘geez, this will be good’ and it was. He was really good.”

Although Santo struggled to make training, Menkins said he never missed son Jamen’s games as an U9 at Wests.

“My young fella plays juniors as well and every time Jamen played, (Santo) was there. Jamen scores plenty of tries as well,” Menkins said.

“As a coach, you coach plenty of players across the years but there’s some you remember. He’s someone I will remember, there’s no doubt about that.”

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