South Sydney part-owner and histrion Russell Crowe volition honour retiring hooker Issac Luke by handing the erstwhile Rabbitoh the duties of ringing the iconic instauration doorbell earlier Sunday's expansive final.
Luke, who from 2007-2015 played 188 NRL games for South Sydney, volition officially discontinue from rugby league having racked up 286 games for the Rabbitohs, Dragons, Warriors and Broncos.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Crowe personally asked Luke to instrumentality connected the honour of ringing the bell.
Crowe famously purchased the doorbell for $42,000 backmost successful 1999.
The doorbell is iconic to the club's past owed to it being rung astatine the archetypal crippled of rugby league betwixt the Rabbitohs and Roosters astatine Birchgrove Oval successful 1908.
It's understood the nine has taken retired an security argumentation to guarantee the doorbell arrives safely from Crowe's spot connected NSW's mid-north seashore to Queensland's Suncorp Stadium.
The past clip the doorbell was rung was earlier South Sydney's 2014 expansive last by Rabbitohs fable Bob McCarthy. The nine famously defeated the Bulldogs connected that day.
The 2014 NRL expansive last unluckily for Luke brings backmost atrocious memories aft the hooker was sidelined for that lucifer owed to suspension for a tackle connected Sonny Bill Williams successful the preliminary final. Panthers hooker Apisai Koroisau took Luke's spot successful the No.9 jersey connected that day.
"It is conscionable a regularisation with that bell. The doorbell gets nary use, it doesn't adjacent get seen by anybody, unless it's a concern wherever South Sydney is successful a expansive final," Crowe said connected NITV past night.
"Issac volition correspond each of the past players, the John Suttons and everyone other who can't marque it to Queensland.
"There wouldn't beryllium a azygous South Sydney player, whether they played with him oregon not, who wouldn't recognize and admit and enactment the enactment of Issac Luke arsenic the antheral to ringing the instauration bell."
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