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8 months ago
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NRL legend Billy Slater and his wife Nicole have been spotted together in public for the first time since enduring an unimaginable family tragedy.
The grieving couple took time out to walk the red carpet ahead of the Cirque Du Soleil - LUZIA show on Thursday night at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse.
Earlier this month, Slater's brother-in-law drowned while saving his daughter's life when she fell from their boat in a Queensland dam.
Father-of-four Ryan Craig - who was married to Slater's older sister Sheena - died in Kinchant Dam near Mackay on March 11 when the boat he and his family were on broke down and he went into the water to rescue his daughter.
The youngster, nine, was later pulled safe and well from the dam - but Mr Craig's body was not recovered until two days later.
NRL legend Billy Slater and his wife Nicole have been spotted together in public for the first time since enduring an unimaginable family tragedy (pictured)
The Melbourne Storm star turned Queensland State of Origin coach looked happy and relaxed before taking in a Cirque Du Soleil show in Melbourne
Earlier this month, Slater's brother-in-law drowned while saving his daughter's life when she fell from their boat in a Queensland dam
While the search for Mr Craig was being conducted, Senior Sergeant Trevor Robson said: 'Obviously the family is very upset about what's happened and we can only imagine the trauma they are going through.
'You wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy.'
Cameron Smith, Slater's long-time teammate at the Melbourne Storm as well as for Queensland and Australia, said the champion fullback was rocked by the family tragedy.
Smith revealed the tragedy took place where Mr Craig, his partner and four children used to regularly 'go for family outings'.
'I rang Billy and spoke with him and he just said, 'Look, it's an absolutely tragic [set of] circumstances, given the situation,' he said.
'It's somewhere they spend a lot of time with the kids growing up. They've got four kids. They've got four little girls.
'They were out on the water and just a sequence of events really led to Ryan and his eldest daughter falling in the water and unfortunately, a bit of weather blew up and it blew the boat away from where they'd fallen in the water and the boat couldn't be started.
'It was a heroic effort, really, from Ryan to stay a float as long as he did to save his daughter.
Father-of-four Ryan Craig - who was married to Slater's older sister Sheena (pictured together) - died in Kinchant Dam near Mackay on March 11 when the boat he and his family were on broke down and he went into the water to rescue his daughter
The youngster, nine, was later pulled safe and well from the dam - but Mr Craig's body was not recovered until two days later
'He eventually ran out of energy. Some jet skiers came along a little bit later and I don't know how — it's just a miracle — that the little girl was still afloat.'
Slater grew up with his older sister in Innisfail, about 90km south of Cairns in Queensland.
The 40-year-old all-time footy great - who was also once a promising jockey - played 323 games for the Melbourne Storm during a decorated career.
In addition to his 31 games for Queensland and 30 matches for Australia, Slater starred in seven NRL grand finals, won the Dally M Medal as the NRL's best player in 2011 and took out the Golden Boot award as the top player in the world in 2008.
Since retiring in 2018, he has found success as coach of the Queensland State of Origin side and as a commentator for Channel Nine.
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