A number of rugby league greats roared into Moree on their Harley Davidsons for a quick stop on Thursday as part of the 2017 Hogs for the Homeless tour.
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NSW legend Brad Fittler and his Hogs - Steve Menzies, Ian Schubert, Danny Buderus, Tim Brasher, Paul Sironen and Steve Roach – stopped in at Thomas Lee Motorcycles Moree for a meet and greet with footy fans before continuing on their 10-day tour across the state, all to promote awareness of homelessness and raise money for Father Chris Riley’s Youth Off the Streets campaign.
This is the fifth year of the annual ride which has raised more than $450,000 to help get kids off the streets.
“The trip’s about raising money for guys and girls that are homeless,” Newcastle Knights and State of Origin great Danny Buderus said.
“Father Chris Riley’s Youth Off the Streets program is getting huge at the moment and needs a lot of funding and that’s the main cause of it, to raise a lot of money.
“But the second thing is to reconnect with a lot of people in the country about rugby league and NSW rugby league especially.”
This is the first time the Hogs have made a stop in Moree.
“I’m hugely impressed [with Moree],” Fittler, who began the tour in 2012, said.
With Harley Davidson the major sponsors of the tour, the Hogs make sure to stop into local dealerships along the way, hence the visit to Thomas Lee Motorcycles in Moree.
“We’re in Moree just passing through today,” Buderus said.
“Most of the towns that have got a Harley Davidson we’ve called into and a lot of the guys in the community come down and say hello which is fantastic.”
Thomas Lee Motorcycles co-owner Col Thomas said it’s great to have the NSW rugby league legends visit Moree.
“It’s good for us but it’s more of an opportunity for Moree and rugby league fans to come along and meet them,” he said.
The Hogs rolled into Moree from Walgett where they helped re-turf an entire rugby league pitch.
Fittler and Buderus said that was one of their biggest highlights of the trip so far.
“We were at Walgett yesterday and laid a new oval there at the newly-named Ricky Walfit grounds,” Buderus said.
“It was a really great day; the whole community - policemen, ambulance, everyone pitching in to lay grass.”
“We broke a record,” Fittler added.
“An hour 26 [mins] to lay a footy field. That was pretty good.”
From Moree, the crew had an eight-hour ride ahead of them to Lennox Heads where they will attend a fundraising function.
The tour began on Friday, February 17 and since then the Hogs have visited a number of country towns including Bathurst, Orange, Wagga Wagga and Dubbo.
All up the riders are expected to travel more than 4,000km, making stops in 14 towns where they will hand out roughly 3,000 footballs to young fans.
Port Macquarie is the final stop before the tour ends in Sydney on Monday, February 27.