A canterbury-bankstown bulldogs star player and his family died in the damaged home due to fire.
SAD NEWS: A Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs top player and his family died in a fire-damaged home.
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs forward Adam Elliott considers representing Tathra to be his proudest achievement as the rugby league community rallies around the little South Coast town devastated by bushfires.
Tathra’s 1600 residents are still prohibited from a number of streets owing to safety concerns, but they are starting to pick up the pieces after 69 homes were destroyed in a terrible fire on Sunday.
Among those to lose their homes are Tathra’s coach, former Manly Warringah Sea Eagles winger Mitch Creary, whose wife Alexis is also the secretary of Group 16’s junior rugby league competition.
Elliott’s family home in Tathra’s main street was one of the lucky ones spared by the flames, as was that of his grandparents a few hundred metres away.
The Bulldogs back-rower is fiercely proud of his upbringing in the sleepy fishing town, to the point that Des Hasler let him play in last year’s City-Country Origin fixture when he had ruled out the majority of his Canterbury teammates on welfare grounds.
Elliott, who turned heads in a breakout 2017 Telstra Premiership campaign, will wear messages of support on his wrist tape in Friday’s crunch clash with the Penrith Panthers, acknowledging the hurting town that still drives his burgeoning career.
“I know how proud people are in that town of me and it’s probably the biggest achievement of my life, knowing how proud they are every time I run out onto the field,” Elliott told NRL.com.
“I think about it every single game I play, how that place made me who I am and I wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for Tathra, so I’ll be thinking about that just that little bit extra.
“A part of me is going to be playing for the town on Friday, but it would be selfish to say I’m taking it on myself to play for the town, it’s a much bigger thing than that.
“If I can just put a smile on someone’s face who is going through absolute hell at the moment, that’s the smallest and simplest way I can try and help people.”
The NRL and the Bulldogs are exploring fundraising avenues as the rebuild of Elliott’s hometown begins. The Country Rugby League has announced it will donate all gate takings from this weekend’s Andrew Johns and Laurie Daley Cup matches to the official Mayoral Appeal Fund for the Tathra bushfire victims and recovery efforts.
His junior club Tathra Sea Eagles, which has registered junior, women’s and reserve grade teams in the Far South Coast competition, has lost a number of uniforms in the fire, but is still planning a juniors relief match against local rivals Bega Roosters on Wednesday.
