Matty Johns has remembered the time the late Terry Hill defended him and brother Andrew in Blues camp, in an ode to one of the ‘good ones’.
Hill sadly died of a suspected heart attack two days ago in the Philippines aged 52. The former NSW Blues and Australian centre was regarded as a cult hero and played 246 first grade games between 1990 and 2005.
As condolences and memories have outpoured since his passing, Johns opened up on The Run Home with Joel and Fletch about the act he’ll never forget.
“I’ll never forget in one camp, one of the things he did for Andrew (Johns) and I… he defended us,” Johns revealed.
“There was a bloke basically having a shot at myself and Andrew and things started to get… a little bit humiliating.
“Terry stepped in and grabbed this player and said, ‘Mate, if you say another word to those two blokes, what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna drag you outside this restaurant and give you a flogging’.
“Once a year, I’d ring Tez (Hill) up and say, ‘Mate, I still haven’t forgotten what you did for me and Andrew’.”
Johns went on to remember the enormous character that Terry Hill was.
“Terry is such a charismatic guy. The first few years, Newcastle and Manly were such arch-rivals… that I didn’t have a lot to do with Terry. It wasn’t until I went into representative camps that I got to know him,” Johns reminisced.
“It was really sad… we’re losing a lot of good ones lately.”
Across his career, Hill played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, where he was a local junior, Sydney Roosters, Western Suburbs Magpies, Wests Tigers, and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, where he won a premiership in 1996. He was also a regular on Nine’s The Footy Show.
Image courtesy of nrl.com