NRL great Cameron Smith has opened up about his heartbreaking phone call to former teammate Billy Slater after the iconic fullback suffered a family tragedy last weekend.
Slater’s brother-in-law Ryan Craig drowned while saving his daughter’s life when she fell from their boat into a Queensland dam last Saturday.
The father-of-four – who is married to Slater’s older sister Sheena – died at Kinchant Dam near Mackay on Saturday when he and his nine-year-old daughter fell from their boat and he went into the water to rescue her some time after 11am.
Smith (left) has described the heartbreaking phone call he had to his great friend Billy Slater (right) after the ex-winger’s brother-in-law died a hero last Saturday
The two Melbourne Storm legends formed an incredibly close bond as they dominated the NRL during their playing careers, and remain close today
The nine-year-old was later recovered safely from the dam, but Craig’s body was not found until Monday morning.
Smith revealed the tragedy happened when Craig, his partner and children regularly went on ‘family outings’, when he spoke out on his SEN radio show on Wednesday.
‘I called Billy and spoke to him and he just said, ‘Look, it’s an absolutely tragic (combination of) circumstances, given the situation.’
‘It is a place where they spend a lot of time with the growing children. They have four children. They have four little girls.
‘They were on the water and just a sequence of events led to Ryan and his eldest daughter falling into the water and unfortunately a bit of weather came up and blew the boat away from where they had fallen into the water and the boat couldn’t be started.
‘It was actually a heroic effort by Ryan to keep sailing as a float for as long as he did to save his daughter.
Slater (pictured with wife Nicole) has so far refused to comment on the news that his brother-in-law drowned in a heroic act in a Queensland dam
The Craig family is ‘devastated’ by their loss, said Queensland Police Inspector Glenn Cameron (pictured, Ryan Craig, his wife Sheena – Billy Slater’s sister – and their children)
Pictured from left to right: Nicole Slater, Billy Slater, Ryan Craig and Slater’s sister Sheena
‘Eventually he had no energy left. A little while later some jet skiers came by and I don’t know how – it’s just a miracle – the little girl was still floating.”
Queensland Police have not yet released the full circumstances of what happened, but Inspector Glenn Cameron said preliminary investigations showed “the actions of the now deceased man saved the life of his young daughter.”
He added that the Craig family are ‘devastated’ by the incident, which saw Sheena, 42, and their three other children reach shore safely at around 12.30pm on Saturday.
Craig, 40, from North Eton, just west of Mackay, went missing after he and his daughter fell from a broken down boat.
As the search for Craig was carried out, Senior Sergeant Trevor Robson said: ‘Obviously (the family) are very upset about what has happened and we can only imagine the trauma they are going through.
“You wouldn’t wish that on your worst enemy.”
Football legend Ryan Craig’s relative (pictured with his family) is credited with saving his nine-year-old daughter’s life
Pictured: Rescue boats search for Craig after he went missing on Saturday at Kinchant Dam, about 35km west of the Queensland town of Mackay
An RACQ rescue helicopter was involved in the search for the father of four (pictured)
She was later pulled from the water but water police and specialist divers launched a desperate search for her father, including seven boats armed with sonar equipment, but were unable to find any trace until his body was recovered on Monday.
Inspector Cameron said the girl was pulled to safety by a jet ski rider and taken to Mackay Base Hospital as a precaution. Seven news.
Cameron added that whether Craig and his daughter were wearing life jackets will be part of the police investigation.
“Our thoughts are with the family who have lost a loved one in these tragic circumstances,” he said.
“We never want to see something like that happen.”
Queensland Police will now prepare a report for the coroner.
Slater grew up with his older sister in Innisfail, about 90km south of Cairns in Queensland.
At the time of writing, neither had commented on the tragedy.
In his autobiography, Slater (pictured with wife Nicole at the 2018 Dally M Medal ceremony) reminisces about his time growing up with sister Sheena in Innisfail, Queensland.
The 40-year-old all-time footballer made 323 appearances for the Melbourne Storm during a career that saw him reach the pinnacle of rugby league.
In addition to his 31 appearances for Queensland and 30 appearances for Australia, Slater played in seven grand finals, won the Dally M Medal as the NRL’s best player in 2011 and won the Golden Boot as the world’s best player in 2008.
Since retiring in 2018, he has found success as coach of Queensland State of Origin and as a commentator for Channel Nine.
In his 2017 autobiography, he reminisced about his younger days at Sheena, saying he and his sister “learned to appreciate what we were given” as the family struggled to make ends meet – but added that they “never felt poor felt’.