Tommy Raudonikis dies aged 70

[frank stokes]

Billy Smith and Geoff Toovey would give him a run for his money on the toughness front.

Tommy loved Toovey. I think he saw a bit of himself in Toovey’s style of play.

Haha... Tooves was like a Mr Nice Guy version of Tom 🙂

 

[Shoe1]

‘I’m the phantom biter’: The day Raudonikis sank his teeth into rookie

John Gibbs had the misfortune of marking up on Tommy Raudonikis in his debut, and the legend of the ‘Phantom Biter’ was born.

www.smh.com.au

 

[maxta]

Had a good story from a reputable mate up here, who played some Qld Cup and local bush footy about Tommy...
My mate was playing a reserve grade game and got binned for fighting.
Tommy walked into the shed and asked "Why did you get sent" ?
Mate says " I was protecting my hooker"
Tommy threw him a jersey and says "your on the bench for first grade son"

Just sums up Tommy as a footy player - all about the battle - toughness and not letting that opponent physically get the better of you.

Another thing I recall was an interview where the media say - you were good, but played inan era where Sterling and Mortimer played...most think they were the greatest.
Tom says "you may well be right, but if everyone mentions me in the same breath as them, I must have been pretty good"

 

[BOZO]

Tommy was as tough as nails

Pound for pound Toovey was by far the most punishing defender of All Time

His targets where all the Big Boys like Big Mal and Big Paul Harrogan and they All went down like a Big sack of Potatoes

It is not the size of the dog in the fight
It is the size of the fight and the heart in the Dog that makes the difference

And our team should be ashamed of them selves allowing the opposition to thrash them week after week as every man and his dog can see there has been no resilience or fight in their surrender to every record breaking defeat they have had in their past 12 games

I have never seen a passionate team that plays with heart and resilience get thrashed in any football code professional or amature

Two of the smallest players Toovey and Tommy are the epitome of passion and resilience
and we have players in our current team who are a lot bigger in stature but also a lot smaller at heart on the field

 

[BOZO]

We do not get thrashed . We allow others to trash us !

 

[BOZO]

Shame Manly Shame !

 

[frank stokes]

‘I’m the phantom biter’: The day Raudonikis sank his teeth into rookie

John Gibbs had the misfortune of marking up on Tommy Raudonikis in his debut, and the legend of the ‘Phantom Biter’ was born.

www.smh.com.au

I am not sure that it was your intent but that just typifies Tom to me... no holds barred and never hid from anything he did but was upfront and honest about it...

Certainly no angel though lol...

 

[susan]

RIP to a true legend. Plenty of these modern day muppets could learn a thing or two from him.

 

[Shoe1]

I am not sure that it was your intent but that just typifies Tom to me... no holds barred and never hid from anything he did but was upfront and honest about it...

Certainly no angel though lol...

I guess there are 2 Toms.

I have vivid memories of him spitting in the faces of players, biting, gouging, ripping at cuts, punching guys while they were held by tacklers. Also sooking big time when behind. It is hard to reconcile this dirty, bad sportsman with the latter day “larrikin hero” he became.

I have learned a bit though from reading this thread about him being kind to people, including manly fans, off the field even when he was in his playing days, so I see he had good in him too.

 

[frank stokes]

I guess there are 2 Toms.

I have vivid memories of him spitting in the faces of players, biting, gouging, ripping at cuts, punching guys while they were held by tacklers. Also sooking big time when behind. It is hard to reconcile this dirty, bad sportsman with the latter day “larrikin hero” he became.

I have learned a bit though from reading this thread about him being kind to people, including manly fans, off the field even when he was in his playing days, so I see he had good in him too.

And that's how we should all be remembered @Shoe1...

the good, the bad and, yes, the ugly... reckon Tom wouldn't have wanted it any other way...

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

I do think Tom R and some of his teammates were exploited by Masters at Wests with the Fibros/Silvertails stuff.

The smarter blokes like Warren Boland and Peter Rowles (ironically son of a Manly great) saw through that rubbish.

But Masters probably understood that Tommy had a chip on his shoulder that could be exploited. So could Boyd, Donnelly, Bruce Gibbs and Mick Luibinskas. It worked, up to a point.

 

[Shoe1]

Latrell should have told the judiciary that the multiple kicks and dirty acts in that last game were his tribute to tommy.