By Emily Caulkett-
Shane Warne’s grieving family is preparing for the final farewell of the cricket legend, gathering with two of the men who last saw him alive before his sudden death in Thailand.
Jackson Warne, 23, led the family contingent at St Kilda Football Club at Moorabbin in Melbourne on Thursday afternoon, with a private family funeral for 40 invited guests to be held on Sunday morning.
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Shane Warne’s son Jackson will toss the coin before St Kilda’s first match of the AFL season on Friday night against Collingwood, honouring his late father who was a former Saints junior player and lifelong fan.
Shane, who died suddenly at 52 in Thailand on March 4 of a suspected heart attack, played under-19s with the Saints before dedicating himself to cricket, and was a fanatical supporter of the club.
The cricket ace’s family members have recently paid warm tribute to him on social media.
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4Shortly after his death, Summer shared a gallery of photos to Instagram to pay tribute to her beloved father, who died in Koh Samui, Thailand, in early March from ‘natural causes’.O
On Friday night, Warne’s beloved St Kilda kicked off their 2022 season against the Pies at Marvel Stadium. St Kilda stars commemorated Warne before the bounce, wearing ‘Warne 23’ training tops as they were put through their paces. The footy club tweeted an image of the players in their shirts with the caption: ‘In honour of the king’.
Today, family friends were joined by Warne’s friends Tom Hall and Andrew Neophitou, both of whom were staying with the legendary spin bowler at a resort on the island of Koh Samui on March 4 when he suddenly died from a heart attack.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed he will attend the public service on March 30 – the night after the federal budget is handed down.
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and singer Ed Sheeran are expected to send video messages to be played on big screens.
Warne’s former fiancée, actress Elizabeth Hurley will likely fly out from the UK.
The state memorial will be ticketed and live-streamed for those who can’t attend, with tickets to be made available to the public soon.
Around 100,000 people are expected to attend the twilight service at the MCG; the scene of Warne’s famous Ashes hat-trick in 1994 and 700th Test wicket on Boxing Day in 2006.
People hoping to attend the event will be able to enter a public ballot for one of 50,000 tickets. More tickets may become available, depending on demand.
Warne was found unresponsive in his luxury villa at the Samujana resort on Koh Samui, Thailand, about 5pm on Friday, March 4.
Mr Neophitou performed CPR on Warne for up to 20 minutes before first responders arrived and took over.
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