JAMES Palmer runs out of ways to describe Andrew Howe when asked how he'll remember the Kendall sports star.
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His best mate.
An all-round champion sports star.
No-one ever had a bad word to say about him - on the touch footy or rugby league field, on the cricket pitch or at the golf tee.
But there is one lasting memory Palmer has - and it only came last week just before the 29-year-old unexpectedly passed away.
"The first time we knew Andrew was crook was at touch footy last Monday when he didn't turn up," Palmer said.
"It was his shout for a carton and even though he was as crook as a dog he still got his old man to drop the carton around.
"He wouldn't miss out on a shout, that's the sort of bloke he was.
"Any other bloke wouldn't have worried about it, but here was his old man dropping a carton off with a bag of ice."
Palmer spent most of his time on the sports field alongside Howe - alternating between cricket, touch football and golf.
But he was also handy around a dart board.
"Everything he did he was good at; he had an x-factor in everything," Palmer said.
"Everything you did, he'd do better."
Howe's first game alongside Palmer came in a game of cricket for Kendall almost 10 years ago and as expected, Howe made an impact.
"Everyone told me how good he was and he came out and hit 124 not out; I captained him that day and he must have hit about 10 sixes," Palmer said.
"A couple of weeks later he took a hat-trick and bowled every single one of them."
Palmer said the local community had been rocked by the news that filtered through last week.
"It's not a big town, but everyone gets along with everyone; the whole town's shocked by it," he said.
"There's not one bloke that had a bad word to say about him, he's never had an enemy and never had a bad bone in his body - that's the hardest part to take."
Andrew’s funeral is on Friday, February 22 at the Kendall Cemetery from 3pm and attendees are invited to the Kendall Citizen and Services Club after the service.
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