Thomas Walter Raudonikis (13 April 1950 – 7 April 2021) was an Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer and coach. He played 40 International games and

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

games as Australia representative and captained his country in two matches of the 1973

Kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

tour.

Background

Raudonikis was born in

Bathurst, New South Wales Bathurst () is a city in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. Bathurst is about 200 kilometres (120 mi) west-northwest of Sydney and is the seat of the Bathurst Regional Council. Bathurst is the oldest inland settlement in ...

, the son of a Lithuanian immigrant father and a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

immigrant mother. He grew up in

Cowra Cowra is a small town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre and the council seat for the Cowra Shire, with a population of 9,863. Cowra is located approximately above sea level, on the ...

. He said, "Mum and Dad migrated over here in 1950. Mum was pregnant with me on the boat, and I was born at the migrant camp." He joined the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

(RAAF) as an engineering apprentice in 1967 and spent three years under training at

RAAF Base Wagga RAAF Base Wagga (formerly RAAF Base Forest Hill) is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base located southeastAeronautical Chart of the town of Wagga Wagga, in the suburb of Forest Hill, New South Wales, Australia. The base is ...

Club playing career

Raudonikis played 201 games for the

Western Suburbs Magpies The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly r ...

between 1969 and 1979. Raudonikis quickly established himself of one of the Leagues top players when in 1972 he won the

Rothmans Medal The Rothmans Medal was the premier individual award in the New South Wales Rugby League and Brisbane Rugby League competitions, and later in the Australian Rugby League, which was given to the player voted by referees as the best and fairest ...

, as judged by the NSWRL referees as the best and fairest player in the competition. Led by Raudonikis and the likes of

Graeme O'Grady Graeme O'Grady is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition. He played for the Western Suburbs Magpies, Newtown Jets and St. George Dragons and one state representative appe ...

Les Boyd Les Boyd (born 17 November 1956) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played representative football for the Australian national side in international matches as well as the New South Wales si ...

, John Donnelly the Magpies enjoyed several finals appearances in the late 70's, including winning the 1977 Amco Cup and the Minor Premiership in 1978. Raudonikis epitomised the "Fibros versus Silvertails" rivalry with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles stoked by Western Suburbs coach Roy Masters. However, Premiership success eluded the Lidcombe based club. Along with fellow Magpies Graeme O'Grady and Steve Blythe, Raudonikis moved from Western Suburbs to the

Newtown Jets The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSW Cup competition, having left the top grade after the 1983 NSWRFL season. The Jets' home ground ...

, playing 37 games in three seasons between 1980 and 1982. He captained the Jets to the 1981 NSWRL Grand Final against Parramatta. He scored a try early in the second half of the match but Newtown would eventually be defeated 20 points to 11. He moved to Queensland in 1983 where he was captain-coach of the Brothers club in Brisbane. In September 2004 he was named in the Western Suburbs Magpies team of the century. Raudonikis was Western Suburbs club captain from 1971 to 1979, and was Newtown club captain from 1980 to 1982.

Representative playing career

Raudonikis was first selected in an Australian squad in 1971 behind Souths halfback Bob Grant and made his run on debut in 1972 against the Kiwis (the same year he won the

for best club player for the season). He was the regular Test halfback for the next six years. He made Test appearances up until 1980 by which time he was being challenged by

Greg Oliphant Greg Oliphant (born 22 June 1950) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, a state and national representative who made one Kangaroo tour. Oliphant played in the New South Wales Rugby League for the two seasons of 1978-197 ...

and

Steve Mortimer Stephen Charles Mortimer (born 15 July 1956), also nicknamed "Turvey", is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played as a . Mortimer played a Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs club record 272 first-grade games between 1976–88, winni ...

. He was the captain of the New South Wales State of Origin team in the inaugural 1980 "Origin" contest. Queensland won 20-10 with Raudonikis, in his one-and-only Origin appearance. Having been knocked out early in the game he would have little impact despite scoring a late try for the losers. *NSW and Australian halfback throughout the 1970s *Coached NSW Blues in 1997 and 1998 Origin Series *NSW Sporting Hall of Fame *Kangaroos captain in 1973 for the deciding Ashes test against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

(won 15–5) and the opening test against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

(won 21–9) *29 Test and World Cup caps

Awards

*Awarded the Medal of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(OAM) in 1982 *Team of the Century with Wests Tigers and Western Suburbs *Wests Magpies # 1 club man in 100 years and Magpie Immortal *Voted Newtown's Greatest Import in 100 years *Men of League's Toughest 12 in last 50 years *ARL's greatest 100 in past 100 years * National Rugby League Hall of Fame (Inductee 75)

Coaching career

Raudonikis' final playing year was in a captain coach role at

Brisbane Brothers The Past Brothers Rugby League Football Club, or Brisbane Brothers Rugby League Football Club nicknamed the Leprechauns, or more commonly known as Brothers, or as The Brethren, was a rugby league club based in the city of Brisbane, Australia, ...

in 1983. From 1985-88, he coached

Ipswich Jets The Ipswich Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Ipswich, Queensland. Their name comes from nearby RAAF Base Amberley, one of the largest airbases in Australia. The Jets compete in the Queensland Cup competition. Originall ...

, guiding the Jets to their first

Brisbane Rugby League The Brisbane Rugby League is a rugby league football competition in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was first held in 1922 and for every year until 1997. The competition was reinstated in 2001, known as the FOGS premiership under the Queen ...

Grand Final appearance in 1988. In 1990, his first season as Brisbane Norths coach, Raudonikis led the club to the 1990

Grand Final, the Devils just falling short 16-17. Returning to Sydney, he was coach of the

from 1995 until the formation of the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a j ...

joint venture with the

Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995–96) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in t ...

at the end of 1999. He had some initial coaching success making the finals in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, but Wests were ultimately unable to build on this and only won six games in their final two seasons. Raudonikis coached the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

in the 1997 and 1998 series. In those series he entered

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Oval ...

folklore when he introduced the "

cattle dog The Australian Cattle Dog (ACD), or simply Cattle Dog, is a breed of herding dog originally developed in Australia for droving cattle over long distances across rough terrain. This breed is a medium-sized, short-Coat (dog), coated dog that occ ...

" call to which NSW players responded by breaking from the scrum with fists flying, resulting in two infamous all-in-brawls.

Media career

Raudonikis was a long-term friend of

2GB 2GB is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia owned by parent company Nine Radio, a division of Nine Entertainment Co., who also own sister station 2UE. 2GB broadcasts on 873 kHz, AM. In 2010, 2GB held 14.7% of the total rad ...

radio station owner

John Singleton John Daniel Singleton (January 6, 1968 April 28, 2019) was an American director, screenwriter, and producer. He made his feature film debut writing and directing ''Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for B ...

. Through this friendship, he also participated as a commentator for the ''

Continuous Call Team The ''Continuous Call Team'' is an Australian radio sports program, covering the news and live games of the National Rugby League. It is produced and broadcast by 2GB Sydney, and is relayed to stations in New South Wales, the ACT, Queensland, Vi ...

'' with

Ray Hadley Raymond Morris Hadley OAM (born 27 September 1954) is an Australian talkback radio broadcaster and a rugby league football commentator for Channel Nine. He presents 2GB Sydney's Monday to Friday morning show, and leads the Continuous Call Te ...

. Raudonikis made an appearance in the 2007 rugby league drama film ''

The Final Winter ''The Final Winter'' is an Australian drama film released in 2007. It was directed by Brian Andrews and Jane Forrest and produced by Anthony Coffee, and Michelle Russell, while independently produced it is being distributed by Paramount Pictur ...

''. Raudonikis at one stage worked as a part of the Channel 9 rugby league commentary team. In February 2008, Raudonikis was named in the list of Australia's ''100 Greatest Players'' (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

and

ARL ARL may refer to: Military * US Navy hull classification symbol for repair ship * Admiralty Research Laboratory, UK * United States Army Research Laboratory * ARL 44, a WWII French tank Organizations * Aero Research Limited, a UK adhesives comp ...

to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. Also in 2008 the Western Suburbs Magpies celebrated their centenary by inducting six inaugural members, including Raudonikis, into the club's Hall of Fame. In 2017, Raudonikis was a weekly guest on ''The Footy Show'' and had his own segment, "The Raudonikis Report".

Personal life

His son Lincoln Raudonikis played two seasons for the Western Suburbs in the

during the late 1990s. In April 2013, Raudonikis's 15-year-old grandson died at a

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggirr ...

hospital following a head knock that occurred during a junior rugby league match.

Health and death

Raudonikis' hospitalisation in August 2006 for a heart bypass operation received national coverage and drew messages of support from a spectrum of famous former players including Wests icon

Arthur Summons Arthur James Summons (13 December 1935 – 16 May 2020) was an Australian representative rugby union and rugby league player, a dual-code rugby international fly-half or five-eighth. He captained the Australian national rugby league team in fiv ...

(the subject of the NRL trophy with

Norm Provan Norman Douglas Somerville Provan (18 December 1932 – 13 October 2021) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach. Also nicknamed "Sticks", he was a second-row forward with the St George Dragons during the first ten of t ...

). Raudonikis was reported to have inoperable cancer in April 2019. Two years later, he died of the disease on the

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nati ...

, six days short of his 71st birthday.

References

External links

*
Tommy Raudonikis, Wests Rugby League Team and the Working Class of Campbelltown, New South Wales
- article in ''Football Studies'' 1998 Vol 1
NRL Hall of Fame Profile

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raudonikis, Tommy 1950 births 2021 deaths Australia national rugby league team captains Australia national rugby league team players Australian people of Lithuanian descent Australian people of Swiss descent Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league commentators Australian rugby league players City New South Wales rugby league team players Ipswich Jets coaches New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin captains New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin coaches New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Newtown Jets players Norths Devils coaches Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Bathurst, New South Wales Western Suburbs Magpies coaches Western Suburbs Magpies players