Mr Osborne said Wolves players and officials were still coming to grips with Mr Fittler’s death last week but the club has offered any support it can provide to Mr Fittler’s grieving family.

 Wolves will likely pay tribute to Mr Fittler once the Group 10 season gets underway, but Mr Osborne said it was too soon to say what form that would take.

“He’s a loss for Lithgow. Everyone at the club is just devastated,” Mr Osborne said.

“What you saw was what you got with Jeremy. No-one had a bad word to say about him and that is a mark of the influence he had.”

The centre and winger, who came through the Wolves juniors and also played for the Lithgow Bears in what is now known as the New Era Cup, was a consistent and pivotal part of the Wolves team between 2010 and 2013.

It included a premiership win in 2012, with Jeremy one of the centres and his brother Scott often in the same role on the other side of the field during that season.

“Along with Scott he was a mainstay of the team for nearly five years. He was a real team person and a larrikin,” he said.

“If there was a joke to be had, Jez was either making it or the centre of it.”

The Workies president said his club was amazed by the support that had been shown by other Group 10 clubs.

“There wasn’t one club that didn’t get in contact with us and offer their condolences and show support so that was excellent and we thank them all for that,” Mr Osborne said. 

The Bears also released a statement that said “Jeremy will always be in be in our hearts and be part of the Bears family for life”.

“Jeremy played a massive part to the Bears having played numerous games and captaining the Bears in 2010. He played with family members and made so many close friends,” it said.

“He had a fun-loving, caring attitude that could never be replaced.”

Mr Fittler’s funeral will be held at Hoskins Memorial Uniting Church on Friday at 2pm. Lithgow’s sporting community has been invited.