Buffaloes mourn loss of premiership star Lawler
TOP END football lost one of its favourite sons yesterday when Buffalo great Tommy Lawler lost a long battle with cancer. He was 61.
A premiership player with the Darwin Buffaloes, Lawler was also a regular representative player with the NTFL side, starring in matches against visiting AFL clubs through the middle to late 1980s.
Former teammate and close friend John Paterson remembers him as a tough, no frills inand-under player.
Paterson first met his great mate during their playing days at West Perth in the WAFL competition and knew he was something special.
“A couple of years later he arrived in Darwin looking for a game of footy and was ‘strong- ly directed’ to the Buffaloes by a series of past players connected with Darwin and West Perth,’’ Paterson said.
“Tommy slotted into the club like a hand in a glove as a utility midfielder. He quickly became well liked and adopted into many Buffalo families with an attitude that said ‘The game ain’t over until the final siren’.’’
Tommy Lawler played 161 league games for the Buffaloes and was a multiple premiership player. He was also a premiership player with South Alice Springs when the Centralian Roos won their inaugural CAFL flag in 1984.
The Buffaloes wore black armbands in last night’s Premier League match against St Mary’s.