- Great played for Manly, NSW and Australia
- Rose to the top of the sport in 274-game career
- Colourful cult hero died in the Philippines
The footy world is in a state of shock and mourning after Manly, NSW and Kangaroos great Terry Hill died aged just 52.
The Sea Eagles legend suffered a heart attack in the Philippines, where he had been spending more time in recent years as he worked with a charity, News Corp reported.
Hill was married to a woman from the Philippines and lived in Homebush in Sydney’s west at the time of his death, according to the publication.
Terry Hill (pictured playing for Manly in 2005) rose to the very top of the game in a long and highly successful career
Born in Newtown, Hill (pictured running the ball for Manly) was one of the top players in the world at his peak and represented NSW and Australia on multiple occasions
Hill played 246 games in a club career that saw him run out for Souths, Easts, Wests, Manly and the Wests Tigers, as well as playing 14 matches for NSW and another nine for his country.
Born in the inner-west Sydney suburb of Newtown, he made his first-grade debut for Souths in 1990, shifted to Easts in 1991, then to Western Suburbs in 1992 before finding his footy home with Manly in 1994.
He excelled in the centres for the Sea Eagles for six seasons, helping guide them to premiership glory in 1996, then returning to the club to finish his career in 2005 after playing 49 games for the Wests Tigers across four years.
Known as one of the game’s most colourful characters, he was a regular on Channel Nine’s The Footy Show during its most successful years and will also be remembered by fans for his star turns in ads for Lowes menswear.
Nicknamed ‘Tezza’, Hill was one of footy’s most colourful characters and became a regular on The Footy Show (pictured) at the peak of its popularity, as well as starring in well-known TV commercials for the Lowes menswear chain (below)
Hill was at the centre of one of the modern game’s defining dramas when he was drafted to play for Easts in 1991 despite previously signing to join Wests.
He and other players mounted legal action against the game’s then-governing body, the NSWRL, and won their case in the High Court after a long battle.
‘Those players were very brave men because they had no financial support and they all put their name on the line, which meant they put their homes on the line, because if they had lost the League would have come after them for costs,’ footy great turned barrister Kevin Ryan said of Hill and his fellow stars.
Hill – nicknamed ‘Tezza’ – made his representative debut for City in 1993, the same year he broke into the Blues State of Origin team for the first time.
Two years later he was selected for the Kangaroos for the first time and scored a try on debut against New Zealand.
More to come…
