Sonny Fai remembered one year on

SAD LOSS: New Zealand Warriors rugby league player Sonny Fai was remembered at a memorial service at west Auckland's Bethells Beach today.

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 A year after his death, New Zealand Warriors rugby league player Sonny Fai was remembered by family and friends at a memorial service at west Auckland's Bethells Beach today.

The promising player drowned on January 4 last year while saving his younger brother Gillespie who got caught in a rip at the beach.

His body has never been found.

The Fai family held a memorial service and placed a plaque at the beach today.

About 200 people attended the service, including members of the Warriors team.

Warriors head coach Ivan Cleary said it helped provide a sense of closure for the team.

At an inquest earlier this year, coroner Judge Neil MacLean said Fai died "a fit young man in the prime of his life who got into difficulty in the surf."

The inquest heard Fai had been exercising on the beach as part of his pre-season training, before he got into the water with some of his relatives.

Judge MacLean said Fai perished because he put the interests of his 13-year-old brother before himself.

"He was a strong man but he was not a strong swimmer," Mr MacLean said.

- NZPA