In what must be the best possible omen for a Blues victory in this years first State of Origin match, NSWs inaugural captain, Tom Raudonikis, has been cleared of cancer.
“Good news, mate. Weve won the battle. Ive beaten it,” a throaty Tommy declared on Friday, after doctors told him scans had shown no evidence of cancer in his neck.
Tommy 3, Cancer 0: Raudonikis relaxes at his Gold Coast home after winning his latest battle with the Big C.
Photo: Paul Harris
The determination the son of European migrants has shown all his life, particularly during the seven months he endured intense sessions of radiotherapy and heavy doses of chemotherapy, should send a message to the Blues who meet Queensland on Wednesday night at the MCG.
“The doctors cant believe it,” he said, although those who know him, knew otherwise.
When, late last year, oncology specialists at the Prince of Wales hospital, Randwick, gave him a one in three chance of surviving, Toms long-term friend, John Singleton, said of the odds on offer, “Id hate to be the other two bastards standing in his way.”
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A determined Tom returned to his Gold Coast home with partner Trish, aptly nicknamed “Tiger” for her similar approach to seemingly impossible challenges, and set about following every protocol of treatment the medical staff in Brisbane laid down.
It was eerily similar to a State of Origin preparation. Never miss a session. No alcohol. Sensible diet. Screen all calls, taking only the positive ones. Afternoon sleep. Regular walks with close ones.
Trish added John Wayne movies to fend off the “why me?” thoughts when sleep eluded Tom.
After all, he was entitled to some self-pitying introspection, having endured testicular cancer, a quadruple bypass, cancer of the throat and severe back pain that forced this proud warrior to use a wheelchair when boarding planes.
Yet what gave him most despair was the sight of people leaving the hospital, crying and cuddling for comfort after having heard news that treatment had failed and death was imminent.
“That really knocked me about,” admitted the man who, simultaneously and paradoxically, has the highest pain threshold and the deepest sense of empathy of anyone I know. Even on Saturday, “Tiger” texted because talk for Tom is still torturous, saying, “I dont think we believed the doctor. Amazing, A very emotional day.”
Tom hopes the Blues have an equally euphoric feeling after Wednesday night, saying the message in Origin, as in his own medical battles, is, “Never give up.”
He recalls that first Origin match in 1980 when he scored the final try in a beaten side.
“I got knocked out early,” he explained. “There was a blue and I came over to it and [Queensland centre] Chris Close got me right behind the earhole. I went down like a bucket of shit. I only came good near the end of the game when I scored the try. I dont remember much of it.
Allowing himself a little self-praise, he said, “I did well to finish the game.”
While he played only one Origin match, he did represent NSW 15 times pre-1980 and coached the Blues for two series during the Super League war.
Asked what defines an Origin player, he eventually contradicts himself, demonstrating the mystery surrounding this annual exercise of bad blood and good football. Despite its near 40-year existence, some still cant get their heads around it.
“Some very good players never fired in Origin,” he began tentatively. “I approached every game the same. A Test match for Australia was no different to a club game … but I did go into those Manly-Wests games with extra and … when I captained Australia against Great Britain on the Kangaroo tour … Im contradicting myself, Im being hypocritical.
“The interstate games back then were a piss-up. Wed go to Brisbane to play up. It was nothing like it is now. The aim of the officials was to change it all around and it worked. It made Wally Lewis into a god.”
The name Raudonikis in his fathers native Lithuanian language means “red mushroom”, a rare delicacy which grows in the forests of the former Soviet Republic.
Tom is the antithesis of mushroom in Australian slang: someone kept in the dark and fed on bullshit. He demanded of doctors late last year to give him the unvarnished truth.
“They tried to make my chances of surviving sound better by saying they were better than NSWs record in State of Origin, winning only one in the last 12,” he recalled.
“So theres a sign for Freddy [Fittler] and his team. When you go to the doctor to get your results, its like an Origin match. You only get two things – a good report, or a f—ing bad one. Theres no halfway.”
Roy Masters is a Sports Columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.
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