Thursday night’s game between the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and the North Queensland Cowboys will culminate with the awarding of the inaugural Paul Green Medal to the man of the match.
It will honour the late Green’s contributions to both clubs during a playing and coaching career that spanned 26-years.
Former Broncos star and friend of Green, Shane Webcke believes it’s a great move to recognise Green and his past playing and coaching achievements.
“It’s a big occasion, hence why they’ve invited a lot of his old teammates and mates down,” Webcke told SENQ Breakfast.
“It’ll be nice, it’s a really nice thing that they’ve done to recognise Paul’s contribution to both of those clubs.”
Green played 95 games for the Sharks from 1994 to 1998, winning a Rothmans Medal in 1995 and was a member of their 1997 Super League final losing side before joining the Cowboys for two seasons.
Most notably, Green became the head coach of the Cowboys in 2014, beginning a seven-year run as coach, highlighted by their inaugural premiership in the incredible 2015 decider.
These achievements will be acknowledged and celebrated on Thursday night, but friends and family will celebrate the man that Green was, Webcke will be among those and often finds himself thinking about his mate.
“It’s very different losing a mate as it is losing a family member,” Webcke added.
“When I get a bit bogged down with the normal things that everybody does and every so often, I’ll find myself just thinking about him and you think nothing we do in life is all that important when you scale it all down to the things that really matter.
“He was an incredibly intelligent man but an incredibly driven bloke… I get inspired by people like Greeny because he’s just such a doer and a short while after that to lose him was devastating.
“I’ll always miss that side of him.”
Thursday night’s clash between the Sharks and the Cowboys begins at 7:50pm at PointsBet Stadium, a night honouring the late Paul Green.