“He was a pioneer”: Kemp pays tribute to late Kiwi icon Olsen Filipaina

New Zealand rugby league legend Olsen Filipaina has passed away aged 64.

Filipaina died after being admitted to hospital in Sydney fortnight ago for kidney failure.

Filipaina could play in both the centres and halves, and will be remembered as a Balmain Tigers great playing for the club 77 times between 1980 and 1984.

He’d then move on to play one season with Easts before finishing his professional career with the North Sydney Bears.

While he had a stellar club career, the international game was where he truly dominated, going to another level for the Kiwis where he’ll be remembered as perhaps the nation’s best international player.

One who believes Filipaina holds that title is former Kiwi and ex-Warriors coach Tony Kemp, who paid tribute to his friend on SENZ Breakfast.

“He is arguably, I wrote about it, our best Kiwi,” Kemp said.

“At the time I said he should’ve been put in the Immortals, they haven’t got a Kiwi Immortal.

“If you look at Olsen’s career, he is the only bloke Wally Lewis struggled with, every game they faced each other.

“Wally Lewis is an Immortal, but Olsen got the upper hand and everyone knows that.

“If there was a person that needed to be immortalised as a rugby league player in New Zealand, it had to be Olsen in my eyes.

Kemp praised Filipaina for trailblazing the route to the NRL for future generations of Maori and Pacific Islanders who came after him.

“He was a pioneer, he was one of the few that made it in Sydney and played in the NRL,” Kemp said.

“He came through a system in a time where racism in Australia was massive, and he wore the brunt of it.

“He continued to play at that level and showed to Pacific Islanders and Maoris that it was possible to make it in the NRL.”