Melissa Hernaman pays tribute to her son Lockie, 20, on two-year anniversary of his tragic, unexpected death

It has been exactly two years today since 20-year-old Lockie Hernaman collapsed on a football field and never woke up. The Harvey man — who is remembered as being an all-round athlete beloved by his entire community — was training with his Bulls teammates hours after returning home from a Melbourne trip when he suddenly died on April 30, 2019. His tragic death sent shock waves through the South West, with almost 1000 family members, friends and residents turning up to his funeral. His heartbroken mother Melissa — who had only recently won her battle with breast cancer — is still yet to be given any answers as to what to happened to her son, who she described as being her “rock.” A letter from the coroner in August 2019 stated the man’s death was “unascertainable” and a post mortem conducted on him came back “indefinitive.” Two years on, Ms Hernaman said she and her 10-year-old daughter Kailee missed Lockie each day and struggled without having closure. She said the thing she missed most about her boy was that he was never afraid to show her affection in front of anyone. “He would give me a hug and a kiss in front of everyone and he wasn’t ashamed,” she said. “We also had this whistle that we used to do to each other, from when he was a very young age I’d be at one end of the house and I’d do this particular whistle and he’d be at the other end and he’d whistle back. “It was just our little thing between each other that we had forever.” Reflecting on where she thinks her son would have been now, Ms Hernaman said Lockie was happy living his life in Harvey and getting involved in the community. “He loved plumbing and he just finished his apprenticeship,” she said. “He still would have been playing heaps of sport, I don’t know whether he would have gone to that next step of playing at a higher level, but he was quite happy being the Harvey local boy, working local, playing local. “Lockie was good at every sport he played, he could play basketball, football, cricket, mixed netball, handball and badminton.” The Harvey Basketball Association has honoured Lockie by naming its highest goal scorer award across its junior and senior divisions after him. An annual tribute match is also played between Harvey Bulls and Collie Eagles in the South West Football League each year. Ms Hernaman, said she was touched by the outpouring support she still received from the public. “The Harvey community and surrounding communities have been absolutely amazing,” she said. “If I didn’t have that support it’d be very hard to get through life, they’ve been amazing.” A memorial was due to be held for Lockie at the Harvey Recreation Ground tonight.