Greg Oliphant News Today

He was the warts and all, knock-em down, drag em out straight shooting New South Welshman who championed the cause of a young kid plucked out of local club side Norths to play against the big blokes. That was ballboy-sized Allan Langer or Alfie, who will be among the many die hard Queenslanders mourning the passing on Wednesday of the bloke who once squeezed blood out of a dripping bullocks heart in an Ipswich Jets dressing room to fire his boys up. No doubt Tommy, who was 70 when he died, h...

Rugby league legend Tommy Raudonikis has passed away after a long battle with cancer. Raudonikis died on Wednesday morning aged 70, having led one of the most colourful lives the game has seen. The former Western Suburbs and Newtown halfback represented Australia in 29 Tests and World Cup matches, and NSW on 24 occasions. His last appearance for the Blues saw him lead them in the inaugural State of Origin match in 1980, but he is arguably best remembered for the "cattle dog" cry he coined as NS...

Raudonikis’s NSW side was losing 13-2 when he came off the bench in a match against Queensland in 1977, three years before the birth of State of Origin. Figuring his teammates needed something – anything – to inspire them, Raudonikis launched into a Maroons player who was receiving treatment for an injury near the sideline. He went on to score a crucial second-half try and NSW won the match 14-13. The Tommy Paradox – a devil on the field and an angel off it. Perhaps there ha...

Remembering the 1986 Kangaroos A Set the default text size A Set large text size Replay A Set the default text size A Set large text size A few days ago, as I was aimlessly flicking TV channels, I came across a replay of the first Test of the 1986 ‘Unbeatables’ Kangaroo tour. I was sucked in and enthralled. After 80 minutes that flew by, I left in a much better mood than I arrived. Thirty-five years ago, the once every four years Kangaroo tour of Great Britain was an import...