RIP Tommy Raudonikis

[old_man_tiger]

Gutted to see this. The only man who ever inspired any love of origin in me as a young man. A true inspiration, RIP Tommy - you remain a true legend despite your passing.

 

[Merlot]

God bless you Tommy

 

[Magpie1969]

I can just imagine Tommy and Dallas Donnelly sitting upstairs with a few beers and a smoke laughing at today's so called overprice NRL stars and saying they would have not lasted in our golden era and known what real courage and toughness looks like. RIP LEGEND.

 

[Harvey]

Absolutely great man. I remember him coaching the magpies and being a regular at wests leagues club mingling with everyone and offering greyhound tips.

Him and Ken McGuiness getting into an altercation (I am sure this is half the reason he loved Kenny).

Remember him sitting in the back of a ute at the top of Chilli's with an esky and beers while he had the players running up and down that hill for hours.

 

[hank37w]

Back in the early 80's I used to quite often meet up with a few mates and have a drink at the Lidcombe Railway Hotel on Tuesday nights.

Tommy would have been at Newtown then and was usually there having a few drinks with Dallas Donnelly and a few of his old mates from Wests.

Tommy's old man was a train driver at the old DELEC depot in Cosgrove Road at Enfield/South Strathfield.

When he found out that a couple of us were train drivers, he would always ask how his old man was and would say, "he's a good bloke hey?"

As far as I know he and his old man didn't get on and it was typical of Tommy always trying to get a reaction or stir someone up.

Good fella, and he would always come up and have a chat.

 

[magpie 0]

Just a true champion footy player and person
Everyone needs to stand and appalled for one minute at the 7th minute of the game against the Cowboys in memory

 

[hank37w]

God, I hope we're not appalling.

Need to make a statement for Tommy.

I do understand what you were trying to say.

 

[magpie 0]

My typing is appalling,
stand and applaud

 

[innsaneink]

I absolutely loved this little bloke. Saw his first game for Wests at Lidcombe Oval when he came up from Wagga as a young player who worked for the RAAF.
Met him quite a few times at Wests reunions and he was always happy to have a chat. This is a photo of me and a mate at one of those reunions. I'm totally gutted.


Pictue tells A thousand words... This photo shows just how genuine and real a bloke he was...

 

[weststigerman]

As others have said, champion person and player

RIP Tommy

 

[2005magic]

Oh bugger. The 1970's Magpie teams were my love and passion, I grew up with them. Tommy led them with pride and gave his all.

I hope he has been greeted at the pearly gates by Dallas Donnelly holding a beer for him.

For old times sake now on the weekend I'll have to watch Fibros vs the Silvertails again.

 

[hsvjones]

Terrible news... RIP mate

 

[Newtown]

RIP Tommy, a champion Magpie and champion Bluebag.

 

[Guest]

RIP Tommy - may the WT belt the tripe out of NQ in your honour this weekend.

 

[Fade.To.Black]

Sad news. Hopefully the great man can now rest easy.
For all of his hardness on the field and his rough exterior he really did seem to be an absolute gentleman with a heart of gold off the field. Would've been an honour to meet him and share a laugh and a beer.
RIP Tommy, you were a credit to our game.

 

[Jedi_Tiger]

Was a Balmain fan but always admired Tommy great player
RIP

 

[Tigergoo]

As a proud Balmain boy born and bred, I am so proud that Tommy is forever a part of the great club we all now love and support. He epitomises what our club is all about, a bit rough around the edges, always battling, always fighting but always entertaining. I would have 13 Tommy Raidonikis in our team and come 9th forever before I could support back room paper bag deals and 5k golf holes done by certain other clubs. Our thoughts are with the Raudonikis family . RIP you legend.

 

[Speed2burn]

His playing career was a bit before my time but my dad was a huge fan of him & always spoke highly of him & I always enjoyed watching his highlights

RIP Tommy, you will be missed

 

[Don Kershane]

Put any of us who use the excuse of being too small and slow to be a success at League to shame.

 

[fibrodreaming]

Very sad to hear of Tommy's passing.

I followed the Magpies all around Sydney in the late 60s and 70s and Tommy was the player I admired most. For me, the period when they were coached by Roy Masters was the most amazing, gripping, period of my football-following life. I lived and breathed the Wests Magpies, and Tommy was the heart and soul of the team.

It's ironic that the NRL has a number of glowing tributes to Tommy on its website. Back in the fibro v silvertail days, the NSWRL treated us as public enemy number 1. We copped plenty of bad press for our style of play and it's generally believed that the NSWRL got Greg Hartley to do a number on us to make sure we didn't win the GF.

But all that is forgotten now and Tommy is being lauded by the authorities as the great champion and character that he was.

He truly is a legend of the game. He was a larger than life character and I am sure no-one tougher has ever played the game.

But Tommy's persona as a character, and a hard nut, has tended to obscure an important fact - Tommy was a bloody good footballer. He played for a struggle-street team that rarely had anyone representing. But Tommy was picked to play for Australia in the early 70s, and remained the Australian for most of the decade.

I remember Tommy best as a champion footballer.