The date has been set for the final send-off of NRL legend Paul Green

Legendary rugby league player and coach Paul Green will be farewelled with a private service and public memorial, similar to the send-off for his great mate Andrew Symonds.

The date for star rugby league coach Paul Green’s funeral has been set, with plans to replicate the send-off for his great mate cricketer Andrew Symonds, whose death left Green a shattered man.

Green, who guided the North Queensland Cowboys to a historic maiden premiership in 2015, took his own life last Thursday in a tragedy that rocked the league world as well as the wider community.

Family and friends have revealed that Green’s funeral will be held on August 30 at Wynnum’s BMD Kougari Oval, home of the Wynnum-Manly Seagulls, where he first made a name for himself as a player and later a premiership-winning coach.

The service is expected to be modelled on the one held for Symonds at Townsville’s Riverway Stadium in May after the cricketing great died in a car crash.

Symonds’ funeral involved a private service as well as a public memorial and Green’s close friend, Brisbane car dealer Mark Beitz, said the Kougari Oval tribute would be similar.

Coach Paul Green celebrates the Cowboys’ 2015 grand final victory with skipper Johnathan Thurston.

Mr Beitz said an invitation-only marquee would be set up in the middle of the ground for Green’s family and friends, but the service would be livestreamed and beamed on to a big screen for the public to pay their respects.

“In terms of the invited guests, we’re certainly expecting well north of 500 people,” he said.

Mr Beitz said a “who’s who” of rugby league royalty was expected to speak at the service, with mates including Allan Langer, Andrew Gee, Shane Webke and 2015 Cowboys premiership hero Johnathan Thurston in the mix.

Other speakers are expected to include Mick Power, of construction giant BMD with whom Green was very close.

Mr Beitz said the formal service would be followed by the opportunity for friends to reflect on “the real Paul … the larrikin”.

Mr Beitz said an event management company was being brought in to help plan the funeral, with the Queensland Rugby League also involved.

He said Green’s wife Amanda was “still in shock” but was focused on supporting their children, Emerson and Jed.

“The kids are her absolute priority, as well as making sure Paul gets the send-off he deserves,” he said.