Maroons coach Billy Slater opens up on tragic death of his father

Maroons coach Billy Slater opens up on the death of his father and the lifelong lessons that underpin the Queensland spirit, as he prepares for his first Origin game without his best mate there to support him.

Maroons coach Billy Slater has opened up about the death of his dad and recalled the lifelong lessons that will underpin Queensland’s quest for Origin glory on Wednesday night.

In a heartfelt interview with this masthead, Slater paid tribute to his father Ron as he prepares for his first Origin game as coach without his best mate there to support him.

The Queensland coach also provided a rare insight into his family album with an assortment of wonderful images that showcase the Slater clan’s love of the bush, each other and rugby league.

“I miss dad every day,” Slater said ahead of the 2025 Origin opener at Suncorp Stadium.

Billy Slater back home in Eubenangee with his mum Judy and father Ronnie.

It’s been an emotional and traumatic past year for Slater and his extended family.

In late January, Ronald James Slater passed away in Cairns hospital, aged 72, after a lengthy battle with emphysema, a chronic lung disease.

It was a fight Slater senior had waged since 2018, when Billy, then in his final season as a player at Melbourne, raced to be by his father’s bedside three weeks before the NRL grand final after his old man collapsed while cutting down trees.

A heavy smoker for 50 years, Ron was placed in an induced coma.

He survived that ordeal and gave up smoking, but seven years on, Ron, who had a double lung transplant in 2021, will not be around to watch his son attempt to mastermind a Queensland victory on Wednesday night.

Ronnie Slater, with Billy during his time at the Melbourne Storm.

The loss of Slater, himself a bush football legend, came 10 months after another heartbreaking family tragedy.

In March last year, Slater’s brother-in-law, Ryan Craig, drowned while saving his daughter’s life when she fell from their boat at Kinchant Dam near Mackay in north Queensland.

Craig was the husband of Slater’s older sister Sheena, who is bravely soldiering on as the widowed mother of their four children.

Against that tear-jerking backdrop, Slater spearheads Queensland’s plan to reclaim the Origin shield from New South Wales, fortified by the spirit of one of the toughest men he knew.

Whenever he sat down to pick his Queensland teams, Slater had another trusted, silent selector. Now that sounding board is gone.

Slater always bounced ideas off his dad when picking the Maroons team. Now that sounding board is gone. Picture: Getty Images

“I used to run the Queensland team by dad every game. I can’t do that anymore,” says Slater, who juggles a busy workload as a Channel 9 media commentator and horse breeder.

“I do a lot of travelling in the car, going to the airport, and dad was the No.1 number on my phone that I would hit.

“I can’t make that call anymore for a chat, so they are the times I really miss him.

“He kicked on for another three-and-a-half years and it (his lung condition) finally got him.

“You try to think about the good times you did have and be grateful for that.”

The seeds for Slater’s love for rugby league were sown by Ron.

Nicknamed ‘Mophead’, Slater senior was the antithesis of flying fullback Billy - a tough-as-nails lock from Innisfail who was considered one of the best forwards in country Queensland rugby league.

Like Billy, Ron was a winner.

Ronald James Slater was once considered one of the best forwards in country Queensland rugby league.

He claimed two titles in the famous Foley Shield competition, first with Innisfail in 1975 (still their last victory) before another triumph with Mt Isa, where he moved for work, in 1979.

Long-time Mount Isa sports broadcaster John Moran recalled Slater Sr as a “larrikin lock with outstanding movement on the field”.

“He was a top player. Ronnie was mainly a forward, and a very good tackler,” Moran told the North-West Weekly following Slater’s death.

“He wasn’t exceptionally fast, but he had a great swerve and he was very elusive.

“When you saw his son Billy play, you could see the same swerve and athletic ability.”

Billy was born four years later and is widely regarded as the greatest fullback in NRL history, fusing blinding speed with his father’s competitive fire.

The antithesis of flying fullback Billy, Ron was a tough-as-nails lock from Innisfail.

“That’s where I got my passion for the game. He played and coached throughout my childhood,” Slater said.

“Ever since I can remember, I was going training with dad and going to games with him on the bus. He tackled a bit better than me, that’s one thing I know.

“In the end, he had pneumonia, but dad said, ‘I’m living life to the end’.

“He said, ‘That’s it, no more hospitals’.

“He was out of fight.

“The saving grace for me is that dad was fully there (with his mental faculties) until the end.

“You see people with dementia, but my old man was with it. He watched footy.

“He spoke to us. He didn’t have an enemy in the world.

“He went on his terms and that’s one thing I am grateful for.”

When Slater did a lap of honour after starring in Melbourne’s 2012 grand-final win, Ron was by his side. The Maroons coach shares a picture of him shaking hands with his old man on the field at Homebush.

Ronnie with Billy during his lap of honour after the 2012 NRL grans final. Picture: Supplied

“Ron was a wonderful man,” says long-serving Storm football boss Frank Ponissi.

“He was a real character who loved a laugh.

“Everyone at the Storm loved Ronnie, he always greeted you with a smile.

“I particularly used to talk about his time at Manly as a lower-grade player and the people we knew in common through our experiences, albeit in different eras.

“He will be sadly missed.”

Slater’s family images are a window to the soul of a Queensland footballing family.

Early photos show a young Billy and well-built Ron in his playing days sporting a flourishing moustache, looking every bit like American actor Tom Selleck from Magnum PI.

But it’s one photo that stands out above all.

Ron is holding Slater’s sister as a baby. He is wearing a white shirt emblazoned with six words: “You can count on a Queenslander.”

Four decades on, it’s still the very motto that permeates the Queensland team ... and drives Slater in his mission to bring down the Blues.

“Dad would say, ‘When you lose, say nothing. When you win, say less’,” Slater recalls.

“He was a pretty humble, hard-working guy.

“He would have little sayings like, ‘Don’t talk about yourself, let someone else talk about you’. They are probably the things I take away most from the old fella.”