TAREE Red Rovers president Chris Hollis has been named the Gordon Lowrie Memorial Community Volunteer of the Year at the NSW Blues awards night The Star Event Centre in Sydney.
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More than 500 guests attended the function.
Hollis was originally named the East Coast Region volunteer of the year. The award winners for the various regions across NSW were in line for the major honour.
There are more than 26,000 volunteers across the state and the NSWRL Community Awards is the highest accolade an individual and club can receive for their hard work and commitment to the game, the NSWRL said.
"This is an amazing recognition for such a deserving man,'' Group Three Junior Rugby League president Warren Blissett said.
Hollis, 45, has been involved with the Red Rovers club since he was four, playing in the junior grades for 10 years.
He started coaching sides while still playing and continues to do so. He also referees, acts as ground manager, sets up the fields on game day and works in the canteen. Hollis has been heavily involved with building up the number of girls playing rugby league in recent seasons and coached the club's girls' under 17s side this year.
He briefly outlined the club's history on the award night, proudly saying Rovers has a history stretching back 57 years, making it the oldest junior club in this area.
"It's a pretty great club,'' he said.
He mentioned some of the top line players who started out as juniors with Red Rovers - Michael Erickson, Phil and Matt Adamson, Latrell and Shaq Mitchell, Chris Hicks and Danny Buderus - who was at the function - to name some.
"Part of this award goes to mum and dad, who couldn't make it here tonight, they're fantastic people,'' he said.
"When you see the kids out there playing footy and enjoying themselves, that makes it worthwhile, that's why I keep involved,'' he said.
Meanwhile, Holli Wheeler has been named the Harvey Norman NSW Women's Premiership player of the year.
Wheeler, from Old Bar, played with Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NSW competition. She missed the side's historic 1-0 grand final loss to Mounties after suffering a serious knee injury in the semi-final.
A back rower, she recovered in time to play with Cronulla in the club's NRLW debut this year. Wheeler played with St George from 2018 to 2022, missing one season after she ruptured her ACL.
