Tug O'Neale

Infobox soap character
name = Tug O'Neale
series = Home and Away
portrayer = Tristan Bancks
first = 1992
last = September 7 1994
Episode 1548
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gender = Male
born = 1975?
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parents = Roy O'Neale(father)
siblings =
spouse = Sarah Thompson
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color = Television colour|Home and Away
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Peter "Tug" O'Neale was a fictional character in the Australian soap opera "Home and Away", portrayed by Tristan Bancks.He was introduced in 1992 and made a regular at the beginning of 1993, staying with the show until late 1994.

Character history

Tug was first seen as a school bully at Summer Bay High who was picking on Damian Roberts.Tired of his behaviour, Damian's older friends Blake Dean and Simon Fitzgerald threatened him into not only leaving Damian alone but letting him beat him in a fight.Tug was annoyed when Damian then started lording it over him and ended up challenging him to a second fight, making it clear that whatever Blake and Simon did to him afterwards, he wasn't going to throw this one.Having learned the truth, Damian turned up purely to tell Tug he wasn't going to fight him.However, when Tug grabbed hold of him to stop him leaving, Damian lashed out and broke his nose. [Interestingly, during this appearance Blake made a comment that implied Tug was older than Damian but in later episodes they were in the same class.It is possible Tug was kept down a year but this was never stated.]

Tug was next seen when Damian and his friend Shane Parrish turned up at his father's farm after Shane was injured by a man trap.Tug was initially sympathetic until he learned his father Roy was responsible for setting the illegal traps to keep trespassers off their land.Tug tried to cover for Roy but he was caught and jailed.Tug remained on the farm being looked after by an aunt. [Oddly, it was implied at the time that Tug's story of an aunt was a lie and he was living on his own but she later appeared so clearly did exist.]

Most of Summer Bay was willing to write Tug off as a troublemaker but Bobby Marshall saw something of her younger self in him and took him under her wing.However, Tug still harboured resentment towards Shane over what happened to his father.He robbed a house where Shane had been working as part of his community service over a joyriding incident and planted the items in Shane's locker to frame him.Shane was sent to a juvenile detention centre until Bobby realised Tug knew more about the robbery than he should and informed the police.Shane was released but because it was his first offence Tug escaped a custodial sentence.

In the aftermath of the incident, Tug was placed in foster care but returned some months later to once again stay with his aunt.He soon made the acquaintance of Sarah Thompson, who he became fond of.He still had his rough edges though, as he proved when he found some swimsuit shots of Roxanne Miller, one of his teachers, in a magazine and plastered them around the school.With Sarah extremely unimpressed, Adam Cameron advised Tug to be honest with her.He admitted responsibility and ultimately she forgave him.Soon after, the pair started dating.

They hit a snag when Tug's aunt decided to move away and wanted him to come with her.At Sarah's suggestion, Tug applied to stay with a local family so he could keep attending school but no-one was willing to take him until Sarah moved in with Alf and Ailsa Stewart and Tug was able to take over her old billet with Bobby and her husband Greg.However, Greg wasn't keen on the arrangement and when Tug got into a fight with Shane during football practise he ordered him out.Soon after, Sarah suffered a severe asthma attack while they were in the bush and in order to summon help Tug leapt from a cliff into the sea, the quickest way back to town.Tug was hailed a hero by a local paper and Greg agreed to give him a fair go.

After slashing Alf's tyres in a moment of anger, Tug agreed to work for him to pay off the damage.Alf was so impressed that he gave him a part-time job and became something of a mentor to him.That didn't stop him coming down hard when he caught Shane and Tug playing strip poker with Sarah and her friend Angel Brooks, sending both boys home without their shirts as punishment.

When Sarah was cast in the lead role of the school play, Tug was concerned that she would be acting opposite Shane, his old nemesis. After unsuccessfully auditioning himself, he took a job as a prompt. His jealousy caused him and Sarah to briefly split up and he spent some time with Michelle Carter, a tarty girl from school.Sarah only forgave him after he was so eager to speak to her that he accidentally smashed her bedroom window while trying to attract her attention, meaning he owed Alf more damages.Tug realised he was being possessive and apologised to Shane...only for Shane to reveal he had been right all along and he had only taken the part to wind him up.Tug failed to convince anyone of the truth and on the opening night Shane grabbed a horrified Sarah in an unscripted kiss.Tug leapt on stage and thumped him, ruining the play, and they had to be separated by teacher Luke Cunningham and Shane's brother Nick. Sarah was disgusted with both of them and finished with Tug.

Tug spent the next few weeks violently warning off any boys that took an interest in the newly-single Sarah.Suspecting what was going on, Angel told him Sarah was going out with Shane and when he saw the pair of them talking Tug attacked Shane, who, as well as not being as much of a pushover as Sarah's other suitors, took great delight in telling Sarah.Tug then got Adam to set him up with Michelle to make Sarah jealous but quickly realised Sarah had made him see he didn't want to be with that sort of girl anymore.He and Sarah agreed to be friends.

Tug was upset by Bobby's death and when Greg left town it looked like he would be homeless again until Luke and Roxy moved into the house, effectively taking responsibility for him.Like several others in town, he disapproved of Sarah's relationship with bad boy Nathan Roberts and was also annoyed when Adam let Nathan stay in his spare room, mere weeks after refusing to let Tug live there because he wanted to be alone.He ended up dropping out of school after some bad results and soon after Roy was released from jail and asked Tug to move back to the farm with him.Tug agreed to give him a chance and when an oil source was found on their land they seemed set...until Roy got drunk while celebrating and molested Sarah, forcing Tug to step in and punch him.The next morning, disgusted with himself, Roy left town without saying goodbye.

Tug also considered leaving town and ironically it was Shane that persuaded him to stay, telling him he had friends who would support him.He moved back in with Luke and Roxy but was still uncomfortable and stole Roxy's car to skip town.He was found by the police, charged and sent back.Luke, Alf and even Roxy spoke up for him in court but he was sentenced to three months.However, he didn't serve any time in prison-he was let out on bail until his appeal, where the sentence was overturned.

Tug stayed on at the house after Irene Roberts bought it and, when Luke discovered he was dyslexic(which caused him to fail a driving test because he misheard one of Nick's instructions), he agreed to return to school.He accepted one of his teachers, Beth Armstrong, as a personal tutor but then began to develop feelings for her and her for him.He agreed that nothing could happen while she was his teacher but assumed they would get together after he left school so when she accepted a date with Nick he felt she was cheating on him. Beth then decided to leave town and she and Tug shared an emotional goodbye.

Tug's status as Alf's personal assistant proved more trouble than it was worth when Jack Wilson was employed as his immediate underling.Jack failed to put some sausages in the refrigerator, causing them to go off, then after Tug had gone to get replacements he told Alf they had been stolen.When Alf then found Tug with the replacement sausages, he assumed he was the thief, leaving the pair with a lot of explaining to do.

As the school formal approached, Tug suggested to Sarah that they go as friends, unaware Damian had also asked her.Sarah ended up going with Damian but Tug managed to get a date with Angel, who had recently split with Shane.

When Irene started developing psychic powers, she told Tug he was going to be lucky, so he went out and bought a lottery ticket.Even though he didn't win anything, he managed to score a date with Sonia Johnson, one of the most attractive girls in his class.His luck didn't last however as she soon dumped him for Jack.

When Sarah's father Matthew came to stay with her, he and Tug struck up a close bond which led Matthew to see Tug and Sarah as a perfect match.Sarah persuaded Tug to play up in front of Matthew to try and dissuade him, which annoyed Matthew when he found out.However, he still offered Tug a job helping to run his farm.Tug accepted and left the Bay.Ironically, one of the last people he spoke to was Shane, who he was now on better terms with.

In 2002, Alf reported that Tug had married Sarah and they were now expecting their second child.