Moruya chips in for Allard family

Allard, who grew up in Moruya, was diagnosed with leukaemia in August last year. His parents, Rhonda and Paul, have since moved to Sydney to take care of him.

The fundraiser was organised by Graham Scobie, Wayne Harrison, and Mark Southwell, all of whom have connections with the Allard family.

The night was headlined by NRL legends Michael Weyman and Wendell Sailor, and included an auction for those in attendance.

The auction items included signed St George jerseys, Mitchell Johnson memorabilia, and a share in a racehorse.

More than $20,000 was raised for the family through tickets, auctions, and the gofundme page.

The night was capped off by a performance by the Nashberries.

“We’ve been planning this for over two months, because we have to give people at least a month’s notice that it’s on so they can keep the calendar free,” Mr Scobie said.

“The three of us have been the committee organising the event. We’ve got together pretty much every week for two months.”

The majority of support from the night came from the Allard’s history of playing rugby league.

“The majority of people here tonight are associated with the Moruya Sharks, because both Daniel and his dad Paul played for the Sharks at different time,” he said.

“Daniel is a member of the 2005 grand-final winning under 13s team, and some of his teammates from 13 years ago are here tonight.”

Mr Scobie described the turnout as “excellent”.

“In a town like this, if you’ve got something like this, people will help out,” he said. “There’s no exception really.

“It’s a fantastic effort by the local community of Moruya, as you would expect.”

Daniel’s sister Natalie was the family’s representative at the event, and said the turnout was “overwhelming”.

“It was really good to see the amount of people there,” she said. “I didn’t know everybody, but they all obviously knew the family, and it was good to see them all supporting Daniel.”

Natalie said Daniel was still recovering from his bone-marrow transplant.

“He’s doing as good as he could be, but he had a bit of a bad turn last week,” she said.

“We’ve got 100 days to see whether the bone marrow is going to be accepted or not; it’s just a waiting game now.”

Ms Allard said she gets to Sydney to be with her family as much as possible.

“I get there pretty much ever weekend I can, then dad will come down to look after our pets,” she said. “We’re all pretty exhausted, but I guess you just go into fight or flight mode.

“I’ve noticed they’ve (her parents) both lost quite a bit of weight from the stress.”

Moruya local Michael Weyman teamed up with Wendell Sailor to be the entertainment for the night, telling stories and answering questions about their careers.

Weyman said he wasn’t aware that Daniel was ill when asked to be involved, but knew Wendell Sailor would be the man to help him on the night.

“Wendell and I are pretty good mates, so I rang him straight away,” he said. “He was always my first port of call, so we worked together and locked it in.

“It’s great for us to catch up with Wendell, as well as to support a good charity like this. A lot of people will pay good money to come and see a guy like Wendell.”

Weyman was far from surprised at the turnout for the event.

“Moruya is like that,” he said. “You’ve only got to look back through the years. Whenever people are doing it tough, Moruya kicks in.

“It’s just a part of us. I made junior reps as a kid, and it was obviously a lot of money to go away; the town kicked in with raffles and whatnot to get us there. My brother got crook, and Moruya kicked in and helped.

“It’s just a part of the DNA of Moruya people, they love to help out, and that’s what I love about it.”

Weyman said agreeing to help out on the night was an easy decision.

“We’ve got a story to tell from our careers, and it’s easy for us to get a night together like this for such a good cause,” he said.

“If we can use our stories to talk to a group of people for a young guy, I’ve done my job. I’m really excited to be able to do that.

“I’ve got two young kids myself, so to see a young fella like that is heartbreaking. My heart goes out to them, because they really need support. If we can help them in any way, we will.”

Sailor found out about the event two months ago, and know he was going to be a part of it straight away.

“One of my sons is 20 this year, so you want to be there to help the family out,” he said. 

“I would have loved to meet him, and at some stage hopefully I’ll get to.

“I know he’s going through a pretty tough time, but I want him to know that we’re here for him and his family.”

Sailor’s decision was also an easy one, but the logistics made a date hard to 

“We just had to make sure we had the day right, and I said any Friday would be perfect, and this was the first Friday that worked,” he said. 

Sailor was blown away by the support of the local community, and said he’s always willing to be at these kinds of events.

“I just love people,” he said. “When I see 65 to 70 people sitting in there it’s amazing.

“They haven’t flinched at the money, because they know it’s a great cause.

“You know people are there for the right reasons, and it brings the community together. Some of those people in there have kids, nieces, or nephews around that age, and we’ve all been through something.

“That’s why I continue to do it, because at some stage, you may need someone to help you out.”