Paul's Memories of Jack

By Paul Sironen from "Sirro!Tales from Tiger Town"
Benny Elias swears Garry holds onto his cash so tightly the Aboriginee on the $2 coin winces.I,however,witnessed Jimmy's generous streak the day a woman from the "Save the Dolphins" fund knocked on his door and asked for a donation.Without a moment's hesitation the Balmain great ran out to his laundry and returned with a huge bucket of water and told the girl,"Here,build the bastards a house!"

Garry Belcher,the former Queensland fullback who roomed with Jimmy on the '86 Kangaroo tour,loves to recall the time he rolled back into their room at about 3am on the morning of the 3rd Test.On our tour most players put their coins in a glass or an ashtray on the dressing table between the beds and don't really worry about it unless they need to buy a newspaper or a block of chocolate.As Belch tiptoed across the room in a valiant attempt not to disturb Jimmy's slumber,he just about crapped his dacks when Jimmy suddenly rolled over and boomed in his foghorn voice, "Badge,I'm missing 3 quid from my glass.Did you take it?That was so much like my mate Jimmy-despite the fact that he had an international to play he spent the entire night tossing and turning because he was determined to get to the bottom of the missing money.

Even that incident paled in comparison to the time when Garry won our Big Spender award at Balmain's annual awards night.The awards are just a bit of fun;we gave the NRMA award to the club's worst driver;the casanova award goes to the fellow with the greatest libido;and there's the club drunk trophey.Anyway,as Jimmy stood on centre stage to accept the Big Spender award all the boys started throwing coins at him and you wouldn't believe it,while he offered his words of thanks he kept bending down to collect the coins!