Mr Weyman originally hails from Moruya and on December 28 he paid an impromptu surprise visit to Mr Turnbull’s home in North Narooma.

“It was a surprise visit to which I had no prior knowledge,” he said.

“Michael had heard that I was a passionate Dragons fan and had recently been through a number of operations and was currently being treated for a serious illness.

“I was taken completely by surprise and to say it made my day is an understatement. “You certainly chirped me up. You are a great bloke and a great ambassador for the game. Go the Dragons in 2013.”

The two hung out at his St George Illawarra brag corner in his lounge room filled with memorabilia collected over the years.

Mr Turnbull likes to tell the story of how he and fellow Dragons supporter Jason Hextell had a bit of laugh and a giggle about a signed Dragons jersey given away from a local liquor outlet in a competition.

“The bloke who won it, sold it to Jason and I told this fellow I would have paid him more,” he said.

“Anyway Jason and I had a good old laugh about it and then unbeknown to me, my wife had arranged for another jersey, signed by the Dragons team for my birthday last year. So it was a win-win situation.”

He also has a good story about another Dragons jersey signed by Graeme Langlands, who he describes as absolutely and arguably the greatest St George Legend of all time.

“When my youngest daughter was about eight years old, she attended a session at a rugby league clinic, which was visiting the town we lived in.

“I had recently purchased a brand new Dragons jersey and informed my daughter if any St George Illawarra players were present, to get them to sign the jersey. 

“When she returned home from school, I eagerly asked her whether she had the jersey signed by any players and she said she had. I said who signed it and she said ‘Oh some old bloke by the name Graeme’. 

“I said ‘There's no one by the name of Graeme in the St George side’.” 

“Well with much anxiety and anticipation I watched my daughter slowly unpack her school backpack, removing card board peak caps with Raiders signatures, napkins and scrap pieces of paper with Raiders signatures.

“Running low on patience, I urged her to show me the St George jersey.  Stuffed in the bottom of her backpack, was a crumpled and creased jersey.

“She removed the jersey and passed it to me.  As I shook it out and raised it in front of myself, I saw the autograph of Graeme Langlands across the front of the jersey.

“Well my daughter was treated like royalty for days after.  The jersey is now proudly on display in a frame on the wall.”