Gympie Cats coach Jason Bromilow said at the first Gympie Cats game since Rykah's death, both the reserves team and the seniors team gathered prior to their matches and held a minute's silence.
"The reserves wore black armbands and then both teams came to the centre arm in arm and had a minute's silence," Mr Bromilow said.
"When every player went off, the family all gave them cuddle and thanked us very much for our efforts.
"It was obviously a tough day for the footy club, a very hard game emotionally and there were about three or four of his mates that couldn't play because of it."