Aussie swimming legend Samantha Riley reveals her secret and very risky trip with Paul Green

A memorial date has been set for fallen NRL legend Paul Green and a host of close friends including Australian Olympic swimmer Samantha Riley have come forward to share their experiences with their lost mate. 

Green was found unresponsive in his Wynnum home last Thursday and declared dead at the scene. Police said there were no suspicious circumstances.

It has rocked the tightknit communities of Wynnum and Manly where Green has been stitched into the very fabric since he first signed up to play footy for the local Seagulls side in under-7s.

A private and public memorial will be held at the Wynnum Manly Seagulls home ground of Kougari Oval on August 30.

One of the locals to speak about their time with Green is former Olympian, world record holder and 1994 Female World Swimmer of the Year Samantha Riley.

Green was famous for being highly talented in many fields, including music and getting his pilot’s licence when he was just a teenager. 

Riley revealed she and Green were in their final year of high school in Wynnum when he took them up for a joy flight.  

‘Greeny got his pilot’s licence really early,’ Riley told News Corp.

‘I think he had it before he got his driver’s licence in our last year at school. I remember him coming and picking myself and another friend up and we went to Archerfield, he took us up flying.

‘It was amazing. I remember I did not even tell my mother what my plans were for that day … flying with Greeny. We had the best time.

‘I have teenage kids and I would be furious if they tried that. I mean, just jumping in each other’s cars is nerve-wracking. Imagine if they suddenly jumped in a plane?

‘But we did it. And I also went skydiving with Greeny. We were good mates but there were also a lot of people at school who were much closer to him than me.

‘We all went through a lot together and we remained good mates all these years later which doesn’t always happen with schoolmates. So many of them still live in Wynnum and a lot are still involved in sport.’

Riley revealed that Green had planned a massive 50th birthday celebration this year, a birthday party that will never happen. 

‘This is the year where we are all turning 50 so there were some really great celebrations ahead. I know he planned to fly everyone in for his 50th birthday (on September 12).

‘He was a high achiever at everything he did. He played the violin. He was a contradiction in some ways. He was very athletic, intelligent and funny. This is such a shock because he was surrounded by a lot of people who really loved him.’

‘I did not see much of him after he moved to Townsville to coach the Cowboys but we had some recent nights out with him and Amanda. It’s just so sad.’

Green was also highly intelligent and travelled to the United States to study at Harvard with another Wynnum local, his childhood mate Mark Beitz.

Beitz is the director of the Bartons Car Dealership that has tipped millions into the local economy and community through sponsorships and grants.

He recalled the flack that he and Green copped for heading to university later in life and on foreign shores – and the bloke he was honoured to call his mate. 

‘We did two trips and a few weeks together over a couple of years,’ he told News Corp.

‘We were so proud to be studying at Harvard in later life as two boys from the bay.

‘We copped a lot of flak and banter from our mates about but we didn’t care as we were developing our selves to hopefully make a difference one day with our kids.’

‘Greeny was the most loyal and honest mates anyone could have.

‘He always kept it real and always called it as it was.

‘To the very end he was that person for me that I could tell it the way it was and he didn’t judge – he was a like minded mate and we together had some big dreams for the next chapter in our lives as we entered our 50th year together.

‘As a mate he was tough but that hard tough love was what made him the bloke everyone wanted to be with.

‘He leaves behind for me and many of us – some very special and amazing memories.’

Former Wynnum-Manly Seagulls captain Luke Dalziel-Don also spoke of the way that Green was able to extract the best out his players.

Dalziel-Don was at a stage of his career where most forwards start to wind down when Green inspired him to back-to-back Queensland premierships and an NRL contact with the Brisbane Broncos when he was 29.

‘He was one of the smartest men I’ve ever met, not only in footy but away from it as well.

‘He was just such a determined man, when he put his mind to something, he always succeeded, he was so successful.

‘But he was just a great mentor, especially for me and helped me become the leader I was.

‘He gave us the tools to be better players and better people.’

‘When you think of Wynnum Manly, you think of Greeny,’ he said.

The service for Paul Green at Kougari Oval will be livestreamed and broadcast on a big screen for the public to pay their respects, but an invitation-only marquee would be set up in the middle of the ground for Green’s family and friends.

‘In terms of the invited guests, we’re certainly expecting well north of 500 people,’ Beitz said.

There will be a ‘who’s who’ of rugby league royalty at the service, including Allan Langer, Andrew Gee, Shane Webke and 2015 Cowboys premiership winner Johnathan Thurston.

A number of speakers are expected, including Mick Power, a close friend of Green’s at construction giant BMD.