Tommy Raudonikis had a big impact in a short time at Wagga Kangaroos, the Group Nine club that helped discover the league legend

Someone should've warned Arthur Summons before the Wagga Magpies coach waltzed into a game against arch-rivals Wagga Kangaroos completely unaware.

Back in 1969, Summons was the big name, a former Australian rugby league captain (and rugby union international). Raudonikis was a little-known halfback with a big attitude, and a hint of something special.

"That was the day he belted Summons in the ear," former Kangaroo Garry Hiscock says.

"I can still hear the noise! And I can still see Summons' face. It went bright red. He just never saw it coming. And he couldn't believe it."

Hiscock was five-eighth outside their new young number seven, whose confidence and character was soon apparent, even to their own former international, coach Graham Kennedy (who had played 21 tests for New Zealand).

"Before the game, Graham sat him down and said, 'Listen Tom, you're playing on the ex-Australian halfback here. You'll have to watch him'," recalls former Kangaroos prop Dave Mulrooney.

"Tommy said, 'F*** him, let him watch me'."

Summons was immortalised in a 1963 grand final photo, 'The Gladiators', that would later inspire the NRL premiership trophy.

Raudonikis was ready to build his own legend: a character who for the next half-century, right up until his death at age 70 last week, personified rugby league.

Mulrooney, 10 years older than Tommy and with plenty of experience, knew they had a livewire from their first game.

"I was prop and Graham said, he's only 18, you'll have to look after him," he says.

"Well, it was only five minutes into the game and I knew I didn't have to look after him. He could look after himself.

"It's amazing, for an 18-year-old to have that much confidence. It was the will to win that stood out most about him. He just wanted to win."

Mulrooney says the fearless attitude was always there but Raudonikis wasn't overconfident.

"The first day he came to training with us, he still had his RAAF sandshoes on. White Dunlop Volleys. He didn't know if he'd get a game. I don't think he knew his own ability at that stage... but after about three or four games, I felt that he wouldn't be with 'Roos for too long."

Coach Kennedy had heard a whisper about a talented kid in the RAAF but fate brought it all together: after Raudonikis was selected to represent Group 13 in a pre-season knockout, their first game was against Kangaroos.

Group 13 got beaten but Kennedy sought out the teenager from Cowra and asked him to join the Group Nine reigning premiers.

If he was a force of nature, Raudonikis could also conquer it. He refused offers of a pair of boots for that first training session on a slopheap of a ground at Staunton Oval. Despite the mud, Tommy was untroubled. He trained on top of the ground in his sandshoes and then showed what he could do with boots on when they played Turvey Park.

"He scored a try in that game, Tommy, from inside our own 25-yard line," Bob Elliott says.

"He touched the ball four or five times, got half-tackled twice, off-loaded, backed up again and he finished up scoring the try. And Turvey Park were running back behind the try line clapping him."

Elliott remembers an ability to drift across field then, bang, dart through a gap and be gone. For Mulrooney, it's the bootlace tackles and the diving passes from the scrum base.

In the end, although Raudonikis shone, he was gone before Kangaroos won another premiership, transferred to Richmond with the RAAF.

Whether it was through Summons or Kennedy, Western Suburbs were worded up and his talent and trademark toughness took him straight to the NSWRL.

Raudonikis played more than 200 first grade games for Wests, more than 30 at Newtown, represented NSW 24 times (including as captain in the first State of Origin game in 1980) and represented Australia in 29 Tests and World Cup games, and at least 30 tour matches.

With the passage of time, Tommy's larrikin-streak has almost overshadowed his football. But his ability certainly made Garry Hiscock sit up and take notice.

"Brilliant. I don't think you could describe him any other way," Hiscock says.

"When I look back now, having him in that team was one of the greatest parts of my football career. Playing with Tommy just for that short period.

"There was a bit of a buzz around that Kennedy's picked this bloke up from the RAAF base. I just didn't care very much because it was just another kid coming into the team.

"The first impression straight away was his character. It stood out like dog's balls. He fitted in straight away, and he loved the club. He loved Kennedy, and all the players.

"The first game he played, I was astounded at his tenacity. He was born to play rugby league, naturally. You didn't have to teach him anything.

"But something I've been thinking about is, he started his career with us in Wagga. If the chain of events hadn't gone the way they did and nobody contacted Sydney, it could be that he might not have gone down there."

Like Raudonikis, Bob Elliott was 18 in 1969 and the two formed a lifelong bond.

Elliott says Raudonikis had a simple mantra. "If you didn't have the attitude, you wouldn't put in the effort. And if you didn't put in the effort, you didn't have the attitude."

But perhaps his greatest quality was generosity. He always answered Elliott's call to front fundraisers or visit to someone in need. On one surprise visit, a Wests fan broke down in tears at the sight of Tommy at his door. By the time the legend left, the old gent said he could die happy, and meant it.

Raudonikis happily spent time with people in need, and enjoyed it.

"Anything you asked he did," Elliott says. "And he'd come down for two or three days."

Mulrooney recalls Raudonikis appearing at his Kooringal home, years after he'd left Wagga and was Australian halfback.

"I can remember him coming back after a tour and knocking on the door one night. My two sons were about seven and five... he went up to the bedroom and woke them up. They couldn't believe it was Tommy Raudonikis! He signed their pillow slips and signed their foreheads," he says.

Gone, but not forgotten, Raudonikis left his mark in Wagga. And the city made an imprint on him.

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