Vale George Negus in the Year of the Dragon? 🐉

I heard of the passing of George Negus on radio station Triple M just after having my panther tattoo modified at a tattoo shop and while driving home just after I avoided hitting a kangaroo, which jumped out in front of my car on one of the most dangerous bends on California Creek Road.

It struck me as odd timing, hearing about George's passing on the radio, as I had just avoided a very potentially dangerous road accident with a kangaroo and a car coming the other way on one of the worst corners along that road. 

George and Ernie calling the NRL GF in 2013 in Byron Bay

I only spent one afternoon chatting to George in our lifetime and that was just before he and Ernie Dingo introduced the NRL grand final between Manly and the Roosters being televised live at the Boomerang Festival at Byron Bay that year -

My Boomerang t-shirt

Sunday at Boomerang

George had asked me that afternoon when we were talking all kinds of footy why I didn't follow the Brisbane Broncos and followed the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, since I was born and raised in Brisbane?

I told him (as I tell anyone who asks) that I had been following the Sharks since I was 14 and was a life member of the club long before the Broncos came into the national competition in 1988 (which was also the Year of the Dragon ... and the year I got married).

I've always had a soft spot for The Panthers, but my panther tattoo had nothing to do with them when I got it as a teenager.

My now ex-brother-in-law had got the same panther tattoo a week before I got mine and I decided to get one too when he was going back to get a snake coiling around a dagger on his other shoulder.

I decided to get an Australian flag tattooed on my other shoulder. 

My ex-in-laws are mad keen Bronco supporters, and I grew to hate that club over the years, so when The Panthers played them in the 2023 grand final, I made a vow to a Panther supporter friend of mine that if The Panthers beat The Broncos that I would get the scoreline and year tattooed under my old panther tattoo:-)

The Role of the (Tattoo) Artist?🎭🛸🃏🦈

I had put it off until I realized that I might bump into him in Vegas when our teams clash in March, so I went and had it done, and that was the day I heard on the radio that George had passed away. 

Ironically, The Sharks local foes are The Saint George Dragons, now coached by the same coach who coached The Sharks to their first (and still only) NRL grand final win.

Shane Flanagan as the Sharks coach in 2016, now Dragons coach

I already have my hotel room booked for Vegas, and thank God it's not a Quest hotel, although beating The Panthers in Vegas might just be an impossible dream?-) -

The Quest for a Good Motel Room?