Two of rugby league's greats were in Cobargo on Wednesday, with the aim of bringing whatever support they could to the bushfire-devastated region.
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Wendell Sailor and Dean Young were part of the St George Illawarra Dragons team that has been on a tour of the South Coast in recent days.
On Wednesday, they stopped at the Jessop family's farm outside Cobargo, which was impacted by the New Year's Eve blaze, to bring helping hands to assist with tasks such as fencing on the property.
"For us, we've seen what's happened with the bushfires and what the devastation is, so we thought we'd try and come down and lend a hand, come to some schools, and sort of put a bit of - I know there's always a positive spirit in the community - but hopefully put a few smiles on faces," Sailor said.
Young said the whole club had come south down the coast and had tried to spread themselves out over all the country towns.
They were supposed to be in Bermagui on Tuesday night, but Young said a crash at Bodalla in which two people died, which was "another tragedy in this part of the world", had prevented them from reaching their destination.
He said he was shocked by the drive south from Wollongong, seeing the devastation left by fires across the coast.
"To the left and to the right just the burning trees, and then you see some of the houses that survived and you just take your hat off to all the firefighters and the people that have been fighting their own fires and keeping their properties away from the fire and keeping their families safe," he said.
They had caught up with their friend and former Dragon Michael Weyman who lives in Moruya and had spent a month of being under threat.
While his property was still standing, Young said they could see the toll it had taken on him.
He said they did not want to tell the community how to stay strong, as they had not experienced the fires themselves.
"We don't want to be standing here giving advice when we don't know what it's like," Young said.
"We're from Wollongong and we haven't had to deal with too much of that.
"So we're just here to show our support."
"We can't come here and say we're here for you and that sort of stuff," Sailor added.
"We're here; we can take your mind off it and talk a bit about footy.
"But I think it's a two-way street, I think it gives us a lot of gratitude for what we have too.
"We know it's just not going to be about today, it's going to be about the future."
Albert McKnight
Journalist at Bega District News.
Journalist at Bega District News.
