Armidale-raised Daniel Ferris, the Gold Coast Titans’ head strength and conditioning coach, was taken aback by a warm gesture by the NRL players last week when they elected to wear armbands during their big win against the Broncos, in honour of his grandfather and well-known local league identity, Don Ferris.
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Rugby league has always run richly through the veins of the Ferris family with Don a life member of YCW, who contributed far wider than his role as groundsman for many years.
Dan’s father Des, also a YCW life member, started the Armidale YCW Leagues Club in the 1980s, was president of Group 19 and Northern Division Rugby League for many years, a NSW Country team manager and was widely respected throughout the game.
Daniel has been with the Titans as head conditioner since late 2009 and has continued to generate widespread respect. He is renowned for his dedicated work and close relationship with some of the NRL’s biggest names like Greg Bird, Nate Myles and Ashley Harrison.
The Titans players knew of the family history in Armidale league circles and how special Don was in Daniel’s eyes, and as a mark of respect they volunteered to wear black arm bands for last Friday’s derby clash against the Broncos.
Yet, in a special gesture, they didn’t relay it to Daniel, who only returned from Armidale that morning after attending the funeral, until just before the game.
“I saw a couple of the boys putting black tape on their sleeves and asked Ash Harrison who that was for,” said Daniel. “He said ‘for your pop’.”
“I was quite taken back and very appreciative, because I was away for two days and they only found out then.
“The boys knew how highly I regarded Pop and how close we were, and also what he had put into the community.
“I was very appreciative of the support. The way the game went too, with the boys showing a lot of great qualities to win, made it a very special night.”
Hundreds of thousands of Channel 9 viewers would have noticed the arm bands but not been aware of who they were for. Now Armidale people do.
Harrison, the Queensland State of Origin lock, was succinct but genuine when he explained, “Dan is a very big part of the family here and that’s what you do for family.”