FOR FAMILY
HE’S HAD A GREAT CAREER AND I KNOW HE’S GOING TO FINISH ON A HIGH RON SLATER
BILLY Slater is one of the biggest names in Australian sport, living in the capital of Australian sport, yet still makes time to call his dad every day.
There’s a 30-year age gap between father and son, but Ron and Billy are best mates.
This week of all weeks, Billy could have been forgiven for putting away his phone.
There was the judiciary hearing on Tuesday night, plus the circus leading up to it, as well as the preparation for tomorrow’s NRL grand final – his final game of footy.
Yet the Innisfail product still rang his dad every day.
“He rang me from Sydney just before the hearing and then he rang me afterwards as he was on the way back to the airport to catch a plane,” Ron said on Wednesday.
“Then he spoke to me this morning before training.”
When Ron was flown from Innisfail to Cairns Hospital last month, there were fears that he wouldn’t make it.
“I was crook for a good week. I can’t remember the first five days of it,” he said. “I thought I might die.”
Ron said he was battling emphysema after 50 years of smoking. “I was knocking a couple of trees down here and the next thing you know I’m in the chopper on the way to hospital,” he said.
Billy left Melbourne immediately to be by his old man’s side. He missed the Storm’s final round game against Penrith and the two of them watched it from Ron’s hospital room.
“They were getting beat and my blood pressure was going up … you could see it on the machine,” he said. “Billy was threatening to turn the TV off if I didn’t settle down.
“I was filthy that he was missing the match for me but there was no way I was letting him miss any finals.”
Ron and his wife, Judy, will likely avoid heading to the Garradunga Hotel tomorrow, instead preferring to watch at home with a few close friends.
“I still get nervous watching him. It’s better if I can watch at home because I can get carried away,” Ron said.
“I know the whole town is behind him – actually I think all of Queensland is going to be behind him. He’s had a great career and I know he’s going to finish on a high.”