{"id":770109,"date":"2026-06-30T15:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T15:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/770109\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T15:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T15:12:12","slug":"nrl-world-in-mourning-after-death-of-former-queensland-player-and-immortals-brother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/770109\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL world in mourning after death of former Queensland player and Immortal’s brother"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NRL<\/a> community is mourning the death of former Bulldogs, Dolphins and Queensland player Ron Raper – the brother of Immortal Johnny Raper<\/a>. Ron played 168 games for Canterbury and 32 for Redcliffe, as well as two for Queensland in 1973.<\/p>\n

He died in Queensland this week at age 80 after what the Queensland Rugby League described as a “long battle with ill health”. The death is being felt in the Maroons’ State of Origin camp<\/a>, with Raper’s son Steve part of Billy Slater’s staff.<\/p>\n

\"Ron<\/p>\n

Ron Raper (second from right) played for Queensland, while his son Steve is a member of the Maroons State of Origin staff (L). Image: Getty\/Ultimate Bulldogs Fan Page<\/p>\n

It’s the third time in the last 12 months that a member of the Queensland Origin set-up has lost their father. Cameron Munster played last year’s decider after the death of his father Steven, while Tino Fa’asuamaleaui lost his dad Fereti<\/a> before Game 2 this year.<\/p>\n

Raper went on to have a legendary coaching career in Queensland, leading Wests Brisbane and Redcliffe. The QRL said in a tribute: “Raper forged a reputation as Queensland’s version of Jack Gibson when he steered Wests to back-to-back Brisbane premierships in 1975-76 after the Panthers had last tasted grand final glory in 1954.”<\/p>\n

\"Ron<\/p>\n

Ron Raper is the brother of NRL Immortal Johnny Raper. Image: Getty<\/p>\n

He played alongside John Sattler, Wayne Bennett, John Lang and John Grant in the interstate series against NSW, before it was known as State of Origin.<\/a> He was said to be unlucky to miss out on being picked for Australia in 1973 after breaking his arm. As a coach he handed Paul ‘Fatty’ Vautin his first-grade debut.<\/p>\n

His brother Johnny is one of 14 NRL ‘Immortals’, while another brother Maurie was a foundation player with Penrith in 1967. Johnny died in 2022, while Maurie died earlier this year. His nephew Aaron played 155 first-grade games across stints with Cronulla, Parramatta and Castleford.<\/p>\n

NRL world mourns death of Ron Raper<\/p>\n

Wests Brisbane Panthers wrote on social media: “We extend our deepest condolences to the Raper family following the passing of Ron ‘Meggsie’ Raper. Ron was a wonderful man who earned the respect and admiration of everyone across the Wests family and all affiliated clubs. His contribution, friendship, and presence will be greatly missed.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur thoughts and heartfelt sympathies are with Steve, Bec, and the entire Raper family during this difficult time. Rest in peace, Meggsie.”<\/p>\n

Wests Old Boys wrote: “We lost one of our greats. Ron was a great man, resected by everyone, especially Wests supporters, he will be missed.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NRL community is mourning the death of former Bulldogs, Dolphins and Queensland player Ron Raper – the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":770110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,11170,366124,366123,158,701,317771,219530,366122,85,6405],"class_list":["post-770109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-billy-slater","tag-brother-johnny","tag-johnny-raper","tag-nrl","tag-queensland","tag-queensland-origin","tag-queensland-rugby-league","tag-ron-raper","tag-sports","tag-state-of-origin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}