Wallaby prop, 71, mourned

ONLY Stan Pilecki’s giant heart gave him an extra 14 years of life and all those who called him a teammate, laughed with him or enjoyed his generosity knew how big it really was.

The Australian rugby community is morning the loss of the former Wallaby and Queensland prop, a true oneof-a-kind character who died yesterday at 70 at his Brisbane home.

When “The Pole” spent three weeks in intensive care with acute septicemia in 2003, many thought they’d lost him then when less than 10 per cent survive from those levels.

Pilecki defied the odds as he so often did in his rugby career.

He didn’t play the first of his 18 Tests until he was 31, was 35 when he became the first to play 100 games for Queensland and was still helping out his beloved Wests in the top grade at 39.