Tributes have been paid to Australian rugby league great Kel O'Shea, who lived in Redland Bay before he died in Brisbane on January 22, aged 81.
He is rated among the nation's best players of the 20th century.
O'Shea played 111 matches for Western Suburbs between 1956 and 1963, and represented Australia on 32 occasions.
After his football career, the likable O'Shea bought and ran the Redland Bay Hotel during the 1980s.
The second-rower was named as a member of the Top 100 players of the Century in 2008.
"That alone speaks for the high regard the game had for him," NRL head of football Todd Greenberg said.
"He formed a formidable pairing with Norm Provan for Australia. Many would still say that was Australia's best second-row pairing.
"He was deservedly named in both the Western Suburbs and Wests Tigers Teams of the Century.
"He will be remembered as one of Australia's great forwards."
O'Shea played his earliest football at Mt Carmel College, Charters Towers and was already an established Test player when he joined Western Suburbs in 1956.
He made his premiership debut for the Magpies in 1956 and played in two grand finals for Wests – 1961 and 1963 – both resulting in losses to St George.
O’Shea first represented Queensland and Australia while playing for Ayr in 1954.
He formed a lethal second-row partnership with Norm Provan in eight Test matches (1954, 1956-57).
He played against Great Britain and in the World Cup in 1954 before moving to Wests in 1956.
That year, he represented NSW and, after taking on the Kiwis in the Trans Tasman series, played in Tests against Great Britain and France on the Kangaroo Tour.
O’Shea came out of retirement to captain-coach Maitland in 1965. Playing in the Newcastle grand final, he converted his club’s winning try after the bell as spectators invaded the field.
He was also named in Western Suburbs' and Wests Tigers' Teams of the Century (2003) and the NRL's Team of the 1950s (2007).
O'Shea was born on July 7, 1933 in Ayr, Queensland.
His family still lives in Redland Bay.