Vale Tommy Raudonikis, the larrikin of league

He was considered the toughest pound for pound rugby league player most had ever seen, a throwback to a different era where more blood was spilt on the field than sweat or tears.

NRL legend Tommy Raudonikis has died aged 70. Picture: Jerad Williams

He was considered the toughest pound for pound rugby league player most had seen, a throwback to an era where more blood was spilt on the field than sweat or tears.

Tommy Raudonikis had shaken off testicular cancer and survived a quadruple heart bypass but in the end rugby league’s greatest larrikin succumbed to throat cancer six days short of his 71st birthday.

Known to many simply as Tommy Terrific, Raudonikis emerged from a migrant camp in Cowra to become NSW’s first State of Origin captain and represent his country with a passion few have matched.

He always had a beer in his hand and a cigarette in his mouth and enjoyed each with as much vigour as he played.

Phil Gould, who played alongside Raudonikis for Newtown in the 1981 grand final loss to Parramatta, says the nuggety halfback was the toughest player he’d seen. “He came through a very violent period in rugby league during the 1960s and 70s. To say he was very much at home during this era would be a massive understatement.

“Everyone who knew Tommy, loved him. More importantly, Tommy made everyone he met feel loved. It didn’t matter if it was a punter in the pub wanting two minutes of Tommy’s time, or the prime minister, Tommy treated them all just the same. He made you feel as though he was your mate.”

From 1969, Raudonikis played 238 games for Western Suburbs and the Newtown Jets, 29 Tests for Australia and 24 games for NSW until his retirement in 1982. He coached the Magpies in the 90s and the Blues for six games between 1997 and 1998.

His “cattledog” call as coach of NSW was designed to trigger an all-in brawl against the hated Maroons but even Queenslanders loved the league larrikin.

NRL supercoach Wayne Bennett, his teammate on the 1971 Kangaroo tour, reckons heaven isn’t ready for one of rugby league’s greatest characters “but they’ll have to handle him. He was a wonderful player, as tough as they come, and has done a lot of things as a player that influenced the game today.”

In 2019, Raudonikis revealed just how close he’d come to death. “Six months, a year ago, I was gone. The cancer had spread around my carotid artery,” he told Fox Sports. “I’ve had cancer of the testicles, four bypasses, cancer of the vocal cords, cancer of the throat. But this last one … they couldn’t operate because one miss and I’m dead.”

He died in a Gold Coast Hospital on Wednesday with his partner, Trish Brown, by his side.