Special Tribute for David ‘Thirsty’ Morrow | Levy, Big Marn, Gal & Flano share heartfelt memories 18:01

It's with some sadness and regret I announce that my mate and colleague David Morrow has passed away. David Thirsty Morrow has died after a battle with brain cancer. The broadcaster's career spanned more than 50 years covering eight Olympic Games and decades of rugby league.

The Australian Rugby League Commission and the rugby league community pays tribute to one of the most recognisable voices in the game, David Morrow. Martin's out here on the right wing, he gets it back to Edward, Edward's a streaking downfield, a one goes to Crichton, shuts the gate, Crichton scores an absolutely brilliant try.

I've worked with a lot of people over a long period of time in broadcasting. There's no more versatile sports commentator than David Morrow. It's a special day. I still think it's the most special day on the Australian calendar and it's very, very important to everyone. We've lost a mate, a colleague and one of Australia's most versatile sports commentators. We're going to miss you, mate. And I hope you'll be there.

You've got a front row seat for the footy. Thank you for the memories and to pinch one of your favourite lines. Thank you for being such a super block. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to a super Saturday of Rugby League as we celebrate the life of our great mate David Morrow. It has been an emotional week for the continuous call team after we learnt of Davey's passing as we landed in Brisbane on Wednesday ahead of the Origin decider.

The outpouring of grief, the messages of support that we've received over the last few days really emphasises to me the love and respect for one of the best blokes I've ever met. I got to spend plenty of time with Thirsty. He became a father figure to me. His wife, Christine, has asked me to say a few words at his funeral on Thursday morning, which I'll be honoured to do and will raise a glass in honour of Davey.

David Morrow

I'm sure we've got people listening right now who have grown up listening to him. So if you'd like to pay tribute or share your memories of Thirsty, the number to call 131873. You can email us via the websites and you can shoot through a text on 0460 873 873. David will be formally inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame in a few weeks time. I'm so grateful that the NRL fast-tracked his elevation today.

because it was only a week ago that Ray Hadley informed Davey of his induction, and to stand in the hospital room watching those tears stream down his face showed what it meant to him, and I reckon he would have been pretty chuffed knowing that there was a minute's silence prior to the Origin Decider the other night, and I have no doubt he would have been celebrating that Blues victory with the likes of Bob Fulton and Tommy Radonikis. So rest in peace, Davey, as we dedicate today's show to the country boy who moved to the Big Smoke,

and then travelled the world as a sports commentator, and there's no doubt David Morrow's legacy will live on through some of those amazing calls. In the meantime, New South Wales coach Michael Maguire will be a special guest in the second hour of the program after the Blues beat Queensland in one of the most brutal games we've seen at Suncorp to win the State of Origin Series, while in the NRL the run home to the finals is on after Canberra kept its chances unbeaten.

of a top eight finish alive with a 20 points to 18 win over the Warriors at GIO Stadium. Three games today, Damien Cook plays his 200th for South Sydney when the Rabbitohs tackle the West Tigers. Adam Reynolds set to make his return for Brisbane in the match against Newcastle. And in the late game, the Melbourne Storm are at home to the Roosters. Let's welcome the continuous call team, starting with Darrell Broman, who, look, formed a bit of a bromance with David Morrow on this show over...

any number of years since he made the move over from the ABC. Big Mart, good afternoon to you. Levi, good afternoon to you, Gail and Flanno. Yeah, well, it was a sad day, wasn't it, on Wednesday when we got the news of David's passing. I did have a bromance with him. I loved him. He was a lot of fun.

He's pretty easy to pick on. I found that I'm pretty good at that. He did leave a few little gaps in stuff he did, which I must admit I did pounce upon. But on a fair dinkum basis, what a great man he was. It was great to work with him. We were lucky enough to have seven or eight years with him here. I did work with him, I think, one year at the ABC, but...

but that wasn't a fun show. I mean, this is a bit of fun. And we did, you know, take it to the limits. Well, we still take it to the limits, but he was a big part of it. And, you know, when you think about it, I suppose...

The fact that New South Wales won, he would have been so happy with that because he loved the Blues. Well, he loved so many things, but he loved the Blues. And the fact they did win, they deserved to win on Wednesday night. He'd be pretty happy with that had he been there to see it. So, yeah, it's a sad day, a sombre day, but we'll get a chance to listen to some of the stuff we did over the years. And I'm sure there'll be a lot of funny stuff there because he was always...

One thing I found with David was he was one of the great winners. He's one of the best winners I've ever met. And I know there's a lot of people who are good winners, but there's a lot of people who are bad losers as well. And he's right up the list. He was right up the list of a bad loser. No, Gallant's pointing at me. What about him? I mean, but Davey was right up there. He could find an excuse when they lost. I just thought of something else that I don't think we've mentioned this week.

When Ray was hosting the show and Bozo was here and Blocky, we used to get a tray of sandwiches that would come from the old Studio 4 cafe. And Darryl liked to poke and prod Davey, right? So the sandwiches would be sitting there and Davey would come in to call the footy late in the afternoon and there'd be a couple left, a couple of schnitty sandwiches. So what Darryl would do in the earlier in the afternoon, he'd go and get some coffee granules or some chilli and put them on the sandwiches and Davey would walk in and go, yes, yes, g'day, yes, hello everyone, I'm here.

And he'd pick up one of the sandwiches, ooh, leftover sandwich. I don't know. Jeez, this doesn't taste very nice. And then Darrell would say, there's coffee on it, you idiot. He wasn't overly quick at the pick-up on that because he did it for about 12 weeks. I reckon that happened. I'd put extra salt on or coffee or sugar or whatever I could. He'd still eat it. He'd still eat it. He'd love it.

And some of the things that he used to throw into his commentary as well, this is one of those. They need a big kick from Richards, and Richards has done well. He said, I know what's needed here, one of my specials. And he puts in a baller of a kick. It's almost gone the length of the field. What's a baller of a kick?

Doesn't make much difference. Well, I'm saying it too. That was a baller of a kick. I meant to say pooler. It was a baller of a kick. He got a little risque from time to time as well, fellas. Here's an attempt at 40-20 here from McCulloch. It's not a bad attempt. I think it'll hold up. Oh, so close. Gee.

If he hit it with a bit more oomph and the ball went the other way. Well, he should have put forward spin on it. Yeah, should have had foreskin. That's why this is award-winning radio.

Davey, what are your best? Oh, too good. Paul Gallen, I know you said some lovely things last night on Channel 9. Thank you very much for that. A great man and you got to work with him and know him over the last couple of years. Afternoon to you, mate. Yeah, good afternoon, everybody. Good afternoon, all you listeners and the boys are. Yeah, look.

I'm not a man of my word

A bit of a shame, but you know, that's life. That's the way it worked out. But it was great to be involved with him for a short amount of time and great to get to know him. He's a fantastic fella. And yeah, I'm sure we'll be very happy on Wednesday night, as all our spools will. And it was pretty special too, wasn't it, Gal? To have that minute's silence. I'm very, very thankful to Andrew Abdo and Peter Volandis for organising that. But...

To know David's love of the game, to think that a sold-out Suncorp, an origin decider, one of the most watched games and listened to games probably of all time, and everyone stood there in silence to remember David Morrow. Yeah, they did.

And obviously when the Minda silence popped up, I was a little bit concerned because obviously I like David. He's one of mine, so to speak. And I was a little bit concerned about a few Queenslanders carrying on, but no one did. It was really respectful. Everyone was quiet for the moment. And yeah, it was a great night. Great night for the Blues. And I'm sure David would have been up there

watching over and being very, very happy and cheering on. But I used to love coming in and seeing him and Broman go at it. Broman, it was near bullying you sometimes. It was crazy. But you know what? He left himself open a lot. I absolutely agree with you. He left himself open. But when you had the opportunity, you did not miss. And you went in and you just kept going. I used to sit there. I used to actually like him coming in because he wasn't in all the time when I was here. But when he came in,

And Brayman was banged straight into him every time. And I used to just wet myself. It was that good. Yeah, I was thinking too, I was driving to work today and I was thinking about, you know, some of the stories we could tell. And one of the other things I loved was we'd be talking about something and Daryl would just randomly say, what do you think, Dave? And he'd have no idea. Yeah.

But he'd just say something confidently and have an opinion on it. And the other thing, he'd be on his phone. So I'd go, righto, well, let's get your thoughts, boys, on the Dragons' performance last night. Darrell would do his thing. Paul Gallagher. And what about you, Davey? Well, gee, South Sydney last night were fantastic. That wasn't the question, Davey. Because he'd be on his phone having a punt or doing something. Wonderful stuff. Now, Shane Flanagan is with us today.

And Flanno, when you first got that Dragons gig, am I right in saying, as I say good afternoon to you, one of the first phone calls you received was from David Morrow saying, get rid of those bloody red jerseys? Yeah, good afternoon, everyone. It wasn't the first call, but it wasn't very much longer after. You know, and I was lucky enough to, very similar to Gal, come in here two or three years ago and

no of Davey but then to come in here and watch him work for someone that hadn't worked in radio before was you know I've got a really good head start I don't know if I learned that much but he was an outstanding quality man just his knowledge about sport in general was just amazing and I just love sitting there listening to him talk and

And, yeah, watch Darrell take the mickey out of him was enjoyable as well. But, you know, the red jerseys for the Dragons, he always spoke about it. You know, he'd wait to see the team come out of the tunnel and he'd throw his pen down on the table and he goes, not those bloody jerseys again. So, you know, he loved the Red Bee and, yeah, it was a very sad day. But

And it's strange how things happen. On one of our biggest days of rugby league, he passes. And I thought it was great by the NRL to have that minute on so quickly on the day. So it was a testimony of what sort of person he was. And I've got to say thank you to you too, Shane, because I know you've got some Dragons merchandise to give to Daryl to take in. When I saw David in hospital last week,

there on the desk next to him was all that Dragons gear and Christine said that he was wearing it from time to time, keeping his head warm and everything else. So a big thank you to the Dragons for looking after him. No, it was a pleasure. He was a great Dragons supporter and

He didn't like the red jumper, but he was always behind him. He certainly was. If you'd like to pay tribute to our great mate David Morrow, 131873, the number. And speaking of the Dragons, he's thirsty, getting a little upset with his beloved St. George, Illawarra side. Season 2021, the best of the continuous goal team this year. David, you're blaming the Dragons. Poor performances on the jersey they wore yesterday. I'm just telling you, that stupid thing they wore yesterday...

Oh, come on! Has always been drab. Doesn't look like the Dragons. And I reckon that when they put it on... Oh, I've got to wear this today. A dead set looks like Liverpool soccer jersey. Mal has phoned through at Bathurst and I think he's supporting you, Davey. Hello, Mal. Yeah, 100%. Whenever we put that jersey on, it all turns to absolute something else. LAUGHTER

It's a joke. They've only won four games since Anzac Day last year. It didn't matter what jersey they wear. The Red Vs, nothing else. There must have been a mistake for the Dragons. What happened there, Davey? Oh, well, Corey Norman was involved again. I'm not sure who threw the pass. Fair dinkum. Hook, get rid of Corey Norman now. How was he involved in that? He's had two runs again. They've had a set of six on the goal line. He's had two runs on his own. Mate,

Mate, they're just hopeless. When he touches the ball, everything stops. Give the kids a go. For heaven's sake, you're an old man who basically was a never was. How dare you say that about Hook? No.

Corey Norman, for heaven's sake. Anything else you want to get off your chest? Oh, dear. Brad's online at DY. G'day, Brad. How are yous all? Good, mate. Good, Brad. As a depressed Dragons fan, what's happening? We'll be finishing fourth last. Well, I think the barbecue's a very lame excuse.

I think they were going like bastards beforehand. They celebrated because they got an 88th minute field goal to beat the Warriors. They were lucky to be in the eight for most of the year. And your man kicked that field goal, didn't he? I think Norman kicked it, yeah. As I said, he's done a few things since he's been at the Dragons. He's kicked about three or four field goals.

Thank you, Brad. You had to, Daryl, didn't you? You just had to. But you've got to tell the truth, Pete. I mean, he's on $800,000 a year or something. He's worth about $10,000. He was very strong with his opinions. I forgot about Corey Norman. He's been in the past for a while.

Boys, there's some lovely messages coming through. And look, we do want to celebrate his life today. And it is still upsetting for a lot of us. And we'll get our chance to say goodbye on Thursday. Willow's been a regular contributor to this program. He's a lover of the Continuous Call team. And we always see him out there at Penrith. He sent me this this morning and just wanted me to share it with our listeners. He says, Hey, mate, I won't get a chance to text in today. But if you get a chance, could you read this out as a text into the show? Well,

When Davey joined the continuous call team, it was like he'd been there from day one. He fit in beautifully. I've never heard someone go from talking about Usain Bolt winning Olympic gold to then rattling off who won the Gundagai under-18s 100 metres in 1979. His knowledge was elite...

The love for Davey was obvious from yourself, Levy and Big Man, Gal and all the team. Not a weekend has gone by this year that he hasn't got a mention on a Saturday or a Sunday. The boy George and Bart Cummings stories are legendary, but my favourite is when you'd hear a groan and a

mumble of, for God's sake, come through the microphone and it was Davey blowing up, realising the dragons were wearing the red jersey. That's beautiful. Just on the Bart Cummings stories, and Daryl, you can probably share this because...

It's as if he wanted people to know who he was talking about, and we just thought we knew who he was talking about. And when you questioned him, he looked at you and says, how do you not know who I'm talking about? Yeah, well, he was one of the great name droppers of all time, Davo. We could talk about whatever you're talking about, and the next minute he'd bring up

You know, anybody, anyone famous, he knew them. And he knew them for a long time. Since I've known him. Since I've known him. Since he was a boy. I went out to lunch the other day with Bart. Like, we're just sitting here saying, Bart. Bart who? Bart who?

Bart Cummings, the greatest horse trainer of all time. I mean, as if we were supposed to know that. Like, I've never seen a bloke enjoy his life more than him. Like, he'd go out to lunch every day, wouldn't he? Have lunch, a thousand drinks, whatever, and then, you know, he just mixed with the best horse.

drank the best stuff, ate the best food. You know what? In his 71 years, he fitted a fair bit into it. He certainly did. Great life. A great life. Elena's at Illawong. Hello, Elena.

Hi, how are you all, boys? Good, thank you. I just really wanted to convey my sadness in losing such a wonderful bloke. I felt like I knew him, which is weird, but my eldest brother, who passed away many years ago, used to love him religiously and listen to him on ABC Grandstand, and I'm sure he would have been at the Pearly Gates concert

giving him a schooner of rushes as he came through. But I just want to send my love and strength to his family and, of course, all you boys there. And just, yeah, it just really hit me hard that we lost such a special person. We certainly did. Good on you, Elena. That's a lovely call. Thank you so much for ringing in. Frances is in Brisbane. Hello, Frances.

Hello, my name is Hello. Boys, look, I'm a first-time caller, but one thing I want to say to you all, I want to give you... It brings me to tears. I want to give you the best thanks ever in your life for the beautiful, loving way you spoke of thirsty. He loved his reds, and it was wonderful that you visited him while he was in hospital.

That would have made his wife and girls so pleased to think that you took the time to go and see him. That was so lovely. And I hope as time goes by, you boys go and meet him.

because you have such beautiful hearts and souls, and it's so lovely to have a group of men speak the way they do. Thank you very much, Frances. That's very, very kind, and we're going to miss you, and that's for sure and certain, Frances. I thank you so much for your call.