Rugby league great Tommy Raudonikis has passed away at age 70 after a long cancer battle.
Raudonikis played halfback for both Wests and Newtown, featuring in 24 matches for the NSW Blues and 20 Tests for Australia.
He also captained his country twice during the the 1973 Kangaroo tour and was the skipper of the first ever NSW Origin team in 1980.
Raudonikis, who was born in a migrant camp in Bathurst in 1950, suffered from both testicular cancer and throat cancer in his later years and was also forced to have quadruple heart surgery.
The NRL Hall of Fame inductee came frighteningly close to passing away in 2019 as cancer spread around his body the year prior, however he battled through the disease in typically dogged style.
“Six months, a year ago, I was gone. The cancer had spread and got around my carotid artery,” he told Fox Sports in 2019.
“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 have any more radiation or chemotherapy.
“And they couldn’t operate because one miss and I’m dead.”
He said he was grateful that a ‘special drug’ had given him a few more months to live and allowed him to watch his beloved Blues compete in one more Origin series.
Raudonikis famously made the ‘cattledog’ call part of Origin folklore during his time as Blues coach in 1997 and 1998.
The call, which Tommy often yelled from the sidelines, was an instruction for players to initiate a fight in order to swing momentum during a match.
“I wanted a name for us to come to arms, to put a blue (fight) on,” the former Blues coach recalled in 2017.
“Would we call it ANZAC? Would we call it Gallipoli? Jimmy Dymock put his hand up and said ‘coach, let’s call it the Cattledog’.”
“What it meant was to put a stink on when we’re in trouble.”
Raudonikis spoke to 7NEWS in 2019 about his cancer battle and his ongoing hatred of the Queensland Maroons, as you can see in the video at the top of the page.
“I hate them with a passion, I Iive here (in Queensland), lived here for years. I love the place but when it comes to State of Origin they’re the enemy,” he told 7NEWS.
The rugby league world was remembering Raudonikis as a legend of the game on Wednesday, with ARLC Chairman Peter V’landys saying there will never be another like him.
“Tommy was one of a kind. There will never be another Tommy Raudonikis,’’ Mr V’landys said.
“Tommy was everything that makes rugby league the greatest game of all. He grew up in a migrant camp in Cowra and went on to become NSW’s first Origin captain.
“As a player there were none tougher. He was a brilliant halfback, what he lacked in stature he more than made up for in smarts and courage to become one of the best players of his era.”
V’landys also acknowledged Raudonikis’ unique personality and contribution to promoting rugby league.
“Few did more to promote our game than Tommy, whether it was at a luncheon on television or radio, Tommy was always there to talk up the game he loved.
“He made people laugh as one of the game’s great larrikins and epitomised the passion and tribalism that is unique to rugby league.”
“On behalf of the entire rugby league community, I send my deepest condolences to Tommy’s family and friends.”
Wests Ashfield CEO Simon Cook also mourned the loss of the club legend on Wednesday.
“The club is in deep mourning,” Cook said.
“He will always be a legend of the Magpies.”
Raudonikis was inducted into the NRL Hall of Fame in 2008.