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West Coast Eagles star Tom Barrass pays tribute to late father, decorated Perth journalist Tony

Staff writersThe West Australian
VideoLegend of WA media Tony Barrass dies at 58 after cancer battle.

West Coast Eagles star Tom Barrass has made an emotional tribute to his late father, legendary Perth journalist Tony.

The 2018 premiership player posted a series of family photos and shots of Tony during his time as a reporter to Instagram on Wednesday afternoon.

“Rest In Peace to my beautiful father Tony Barrass,” he wrote.

“There is only one man I trust to gracefully put into words the extent of my love and gratitude for my dad and his teachings, but unfortunately he has put down his pen.

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“Love you and miss you mate.”

Tony, the first Australian reporter to be jailed for refusing to reveal a source in court, sadly passed away in his Perth home on Sunday morning after a short battle with throat cancer.

The 58-year-old father of three was diagnosed with cancer a year ago — leading to a tough regime of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

His former editor at The West Australian, Paul Murray, said he would remember him as the quintessential journalist whose skill-set ticked a wide range of boxes in the craft.

“I loved being his editor because as an old reporter, I could live vicariously through Barrass’ exploits,” Mr Murray said.

“He was such a beautiful writer, but he was also such an engaging personality that you knew if you gave him a chance to spend some time with people, Tony was always going to suck the best out of them. He just got people to talk and he had a wonderful news nose.

“He was your archetypal, old-school, gum-shoe reporter and it was combined with a talent for writing really engagingly. He was the full package and we used it to its absolute extent.”

Following his decorated career in journalism, Tony went on to work as the chief media adviser for former WA Liberal Party leader Liza Harvey.

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