Rugby League in the 1980s

Dedication

For our good friend Dale Berry (1959–2023). The Eighties were his heyday, with his Parramatta Eels flying high! (Alan Whiticker)

In loving memory of my beautiful nana Agnes Anne Thomas, my mother Agnes Collis and my father Joseph Collis. (Ian Collis)

Canterbury centre Greg Brentnall rises above the pack to defuse a bomb from St George pair Brian Johnson (left) and Rod Reddy at Kogarah Oval during the decade.

In the opening round match at Leichhardt Oval in 1980, an Eels fan jumped the fence to argue with controversial referee Greg Hartley. Four decades later, the incident is still talked about.

Introduction

It was a time of rock star hair, designer shoulder pads, the much-imitated moonwalk and superstar Tina Turner promoting the greatest game of all!

Rugby league went through a tumultuous decade in the 1980s – from a highly watchable, but brutal spectacle that was poorly run from the game’s Phillip Street headquarters to a multi-million-dollar sport embraced and celebrated at home and internationally.

At club level, the ‘awesome eighties’ also saw the inclusion of teams from outside the Sydney basin with the promotion of Canberra and Illawarra for the 1982 season. In 1988, the Sydney-run league expanded interstate with the promotion of Brisbane and the Gold Coast, along with NSW Country heavyweights Newcastle. Not that there wasn’t some pain along the way, with proud foundation club Newtown axed and the Wests Magpies fighting their way through the courts to stay in the competition.

But the decade belonged to champion Parramatta and Canterbury teams who won four premierships each and battled out the 1984 and 1986 grand finals (the result was one win apiece). Manly and Canberra also captured hard-earned titles late in the decade which unearthed a new generation of champions – Sterling, Meninga, Kenny, Lamb, Pearce, Miller, O’Connor and, of course, Wally Lewis.

The birth of State of Origin took the Australian game to a whole new level. After providing Arthur Beetson with a fitting finale to his extraordinary career in 1980, Origin’s success rode on the back of the brilliance of Wally Lewis and a host of Queensland greats. It took some time for New South Wales to catch up to what was happening – the centre of the rugby league world had shifted north to Brisbane – but when the Blues finally won the series in 1985, the contest was more akin to rugby league warfare. It has remained that way ever since.

As a result of the competitiveness of the domestic game and the cauldron that Origin had quickly become, Australia was almost unbeatable at Test and World Cup level during the decade. The Kangaroos returned from England and France unbeaten following the 1982 and 1986 tours; defended the Ashes at home in 1984 and 1988 and beat New Zealand in a memorable 1988 World Cup final.

The Power and the Passion captures the essence of the 1980s with all the stories, classic games and essential stats illustrated with hundreds of photos of the era. We trust that it brings back many great memories of a wonderful decade of rugby league.

Alan Whiticker and Ian Collis

Canberra teammates Sam Backo (left) and Peter Jackson celebrate Australia’s win in the 100th Anglo-Australian Test match in Sydney in 1988.

Canterbury winger Chris Anderson sprints away from Easts’ Steve McFarlane to score the opening try of the 1980 grand final.

01

‘You Shook Me All Night Long’

The 1980 season in review

1980 PREMIERSHIP TABLE

The 1980s produced an earthshaking, bone-jarring and ultimately concept-shifting decade of rugby league. As the decade began, however, the NSWRL was conducting market research to find out why the crowds were staying away from the game. Speculation mounted that the impact of radio and TV coverage, the poor facilities at tired suburban football grounds or even the advent of video games(!) which were popular with a new generation of kids was responsible but there was no escaping the obvious: on-field violence displayed on colour television during Sunday night replays in houses all over the east coast was turning people off the game.

A mid-season survey of Group 7 parents of junior teams on the NSW south coast found that parents, especially women, were ‘sickened by league violence’ but the league was slow to stamp out the thuggery and foul play that had marred the game for so long. News that boom Brisbane Valleys star Wally Lewis had his jaw smashed in a trial match against Norths Brisbane was another sobering start to the season.

For too long, the NSWRL under Kevin Humphreys’ autocratic leadership had buried its head in the sand when it came to on-field violence or off-field misbehaviour for that matter. All that changed with the appointment of solicitor Jim Comans as chairman of the NSWRL Judiciary. It was the first time in the history of the code that an appointment was made from outside the league’s general committee. The era of standard, four-week bans for kicking, kneeing, gouging, elbowing and head-high tackles was over. ‘Jawbreakers will be given 12 months,’ Comans declared at the time. The Sydney lawyer was going to shake things up a little.

In March, North Sydney’s Keith Harris became the first player banned under Jim Comans’ new regime. The tough-tackling centre was suspended for seven weeks after being found guilty on a head-high tackle charge in the pre-season match against Balmain. When Newtown players Bill Noonan and Mick Pitman were sent for an early shower in the 38-17 loss against their old club Canterbury at Henson Park in a fiery Round 1 clash, they copped six weeks each. Champion Bulldogs halfback Steve Mortimer was taken from the field unconscious after some heavy-handed treatment in that match, so it was clear that something drastic had to be done to protect players.

Wests prop John Donnelly does everything possible to win the ball as St George halfback Steve Morris scoots off on another attacking raid at Kogarah Oval. Saints won 22-3.

The Craven Mild Cup

Coached by former international forward Allan Thomson, Manly captured the Craven Mild Cup with a 21-12 win against Balmain in the pre-season final at the SCG. Not surprisingly, the stars of that early-season success were a trio of former Wests players – Les Boyd, John Dorahy and Ray Brown. The new-look Sea Eagles won the first three games of the season, having lost Boyd for five matches when he was sent off on a kneeing charge in the season opening 25-20 win against the Panthers. Manly had to do without tackling machine Terry Randall and livewire halfback Johnny Gibbs, who were both on the injured list, as well as having Boyd and former Great Britain international John Gray suspended for long stretches.

The Balmain club was intent on focusing on youth: local junior Wayne Pearce signed a four-year contract after impressing in two pre-season matches while Bill Kain, captain of the Australian Schoolboys, and 16-year-old schoolboy Ben Elias were also on long-term scholarships. Despite making the final of midweek Tooth Cup that year, the Tigers lost the opening three matches and their year was effectively over at the halfway mark of the season. Having lost Dennis Bendall (following a career-ending neck injury suffered during the summer), Neil Pringle (virus) and David Grant (knee), new coach Dennis Tutty replaced Queensland Test halfback Greg Oliphant as captain with Allan McMahon. While the form of matchwinners Percy Knight, Larry Corowa and Kiwi international Olsen Filipaina was largely inconsistent, winger Wayne Wigham was the league’s leading try scorer that season with 16 tries.

Balmain’s Wayne Pearce evades the tackle of Cronulla’s Gary Stares to score at Leichhardt Oval. The 20-year-old lock made a huge impact when he debuted that season.

With Bob Fulton taking on full-time coaching duties at the Roosters, Easts placed their players on incentive contracts and promised to fine anyone sent from the field. Fulton named Royce Ayliffe as captain – Ayliffe had led the first Australian Schoolboys team on their groundbreaking 1972 tour and was already a veteran at age 24. In April, the club signed Queensland Test rake John Lang on a one-year contract after regular hooker Arthur Mountier badly injured his hand in his work as a carpenter. The club struggled early in the season – the 34-7 loss to Manly at Brookvale in Round 3 was particularly difficult for Fulton to watch – before their season gained momentum with narrow wins over Souths (12-4) and Wests (14-7), both at the Sports Ground.

Defending premiers St George suffered big losses to Souths (26-12) and Cronulla (32-7) in the first three rounds of competition. Amazingly, the Dragons then won five straight matches and drew 10-all against Easts to be competition co-leaders with Wests. The Magpies were expected to struggle after losing five key players at the end of 1979, but coach Roy Masters still had some magic up his sleeve. Winger Warren Boland was the surprise choice as captain, ‘mainly because Roy couldn’t find anyone else’, Boland later admitted.

Masters adopted a more skill-based approach with his young squad but still had hard hitters John ‘Dallas’ Donnelly, John McLeod, Tom Arber, Bruce Clark and Bob Cooper. Former Tamworth lock Jim Leis scored four tries in Wests’ 27-24 win over Penrith early in the season and went on to play for NSW and Australia. Canterbury junior Terry Lamb made his first-grade debut with the Magpies in Round 8 against Balmain, scoring two tries in the 26-4 win, and never left the top team. Some things didn’t change, however; the Wests–Manly war erupted again when former teammates ‘Bruiser’ Clarke and Ray Brown were sent off in the Sea Eagles’ 11-8 win at Brookvale Oval.

Here come the underdogs!

In April, Tom Raudonikis celebrated his 30th birthday by leading Newtown to a 23-9 win against Balmain at Henson Park. With their full quota of 13 imported players filled, the Jets boasted four sets of brothers – Phil and Ron Sigsworth, Geoff and Mark Bugden, Craig and Grant Ellis and Peter and Mick Ryan. After an unsteady start to the season, the club’s rebuild started to pay dividends with wins against Parramatta (17-14), Souths (12-10) and Easts (22-6). Phil Sigsworth, readily tipped as a future Test player, played only nine games that year after breaking his jaw twice during the season.

Norths had 1952–53 Kangaroo teammates Ron Willey (coach) and Ken McCaffery (club secretary) in charge of the club’s fortunes. There were no superstars at the Bears – the big signing that year was Queensland rep Alan Smith from Ipswich – although Paul McCaffery (son of Ken) emerged as a promising halfback. Former Easts international Mark Harris formed a good centre partnership with John Adam, while forwards Don McKinnon (son of former club president Harry McKinnon) and Bruce Foye both represented City Seconds that year.

Cronulla welcomed the return of coach Tommy Bishop after his disastrous stint at Norths but, after a good start, the club struggled in the second half of the season. By May, the Sharks had Rowland Beckett, Dave Chamberlin, Steve Hansard, John Glossop, Paul Khan, Martin Rafferty, Greg Pierce and Steve Rogers who were all out injured. International forwards Kurt Sorensen and Steve Kneen did not play in the same match all season, which reflected in the club’s disjointed efforts that year.

Newtown’s star signing Tommy Raudonikis instigates an all-in brawl against his former club Wests at Lidcombe Oval.

Coached by former club great John Peard, Parramatta won their first three games and then fell into an early season slump with just two wins and a 19-all draw against last-placed Penrith in their next seven matches. With Ray Price suspended at the beginning of the season – a carryover from the club’s loss to Canterbury in the 1979 final – Arthur Beetson was being touted as the new club captain before Peard settled on Ron Hilditch. Peard missed an obvious choice: former St George premiership-winning captain Steve Edge joined the Eels that year and would go on to lead the club to three successive premierships (1981–83).

But the club’s on-going battles with referee Greg Hartley refused to go away. During the first-round match between Parramatta and Balmain at Leichhardt Oval, a female Eels supporter ran onto the field and argued with Hartley – the Eels won easily, 37-10, so whatever the actual issue was is now lost in time. Journalist Peter Peters wrote that Hartley was being ‘protected’ by the league because he wasn’t given a match at Cumberland Oval all year. Two years later, Peters and Hartley would be calling matches together on radio 2GB.

Given the Rabbitohs’ financial pressures, few envied coach Bill Anderson’s task taking over from the great Jack Gibson. Described as a ‘spare parts’ team, Souths settled on the winning front row combination of Peter Tunks, Ken Stewart and Gary Hambly, and had unearthed a matchwinner in five-eighth ‘Rocky’ Laurie. Captained by Nathan Gibbs, the Rabbitohs were undefeated in nine games during the second half of the season including wins against top-five teams Parramatta (28-12), Easts (7-5), Manly (26-17) and Wests (21-15). The ‘Spirit of ’55’, when the club came from an impossible position to win the premiership, was alive again at Souths 25 years later.

The Bulldogs were off the pace of the top teams when the club suffered successive losses against Wests (24-8), Easts (20-5) and St George (19-12) early in the season. Some fans blamed Ted Glossop’s role as ‘rep’ coach that year (the amiable Glossop coached City Firsts and NSW), but it should be pointed out that Canterbury did not play a home match until Round 8 due to renovations to Belmore Sports Ground. Playmaker Graeme Hughes had his jaw broken in the 40-14 thrashing of Penrith when he was sucker punched after passing the ball. With halves Steve Mortimer and Garry Hughes leading the way, Canterbury then won six out of seven straight matches played at Belmore in the middle of the season – three of them narrowly: 13-10 against Cronulla, 14-10 against Penrith and 11-10 against Manly – and carried that new-found momentum into the finals.

The rep season causes havoc

The rep season once again proved to be a major disruption for many clubs; City Firsts won 55-2 against Country, scoring 11 tries to nil, each converted by Parramatta’s Mick Cronin, although John Dorahy suffered a potentially dangerous neck injury that sidelined him for two months. The looming interstate series, including the inaugural State of Origin match, and Australia’s tour of New Zealand at least gave many young players their opportunity in first grade. In June, Manly lower grade halfback Rick Chisholm scored all his team’s points in the 17-14 win over Cronulla at Brookvale Oval with two tries, five goals and a field goal, and was quickly hailed as a star of the future.

Midway through the season, the Sharks were clinging to a top five position but couldn’t sustain the effort. Four straight losses and successive draws – 6-all against Souths and 11-all with Newtown – saw the club bow out of finals contention. Cronulla saved their best win until the last round of the season proper when they thrashed a tired Manly team 35-12 at Endeavour Field to deny the Sea Eagles a place in the top five.

Newtown also finished the season strongly to just miss the finals. Veteran Jets halfback Ken Wilson was the season’s top-scorer with 197 points, although Canterbury’s Steve Gearin overtook this total in the finals. Norths showed that they could trouble the top teams when they upset Manly 10-9 at North Sydney Oval in Round 14 but slumped to second last on the ladder after winning just one of their last nine games. In the final round of the season they fell to wooden spooners Penrith, 15-7, in a soulless display.

Penrith’s last-minute 24-20 loss to St George at Penrith Park in July after Saints centre Brian Johnston scored a 95 metre try from an intercept summed up the club’s fortunes – bad luck piled atop calamity and a poor club culture. When the Panthers overspent its $500,000 Leagues Club allocation by some $100,000 that year, the NSWRL blocked attempts by the wealthy Penrith Leagues Club to take over the running of the football club and installed former South Sydney secretary Charlie Gibson there.

In a thrilling finish to the 1980 season, the makeup of the finals was not decided until the last round of competition. The Roosters turned ‘fully professional’ as they kept their unbeaten record intact in the last seven rounds of the season by paying their players to train full time. Kevin Hastings, RLW’s Player of the Year, was in superlative form as Easts captured the minor premiership on just 30 points – tied at the top of the table with a resurgent Canterbury, the Roosters claimed top place with a superior ‘for and against’ record.

After leading the competition at one stage of the season, Wests lost their last two matches, against Souths (21-15) and Newtown (23-20), which appeared to sap the club’s confidence leading into the finals. Thrown a lifeline after a disastrous couple of seasons with Newtown, veteran Ted Goodwin was in great form with the Magpies before injury and a six-week suspension ruled him out for the season.

Parramatta’s Peter Wynn surges past younger brother Graeme in the match against St George at the old Cumberland Oval in 1980. The Dragons won 20-11.

Cronulla second rower and captain Greg Pierce looks for support in the match against Balmain at Leichhardt Oval. The Tigers won 27-10.

With Wests and St George assured a place in the top five, Souths held onto fifth place despite being beaten by Canterbury, 27-18, in their last game. One-time premiership favourites St George should have finished much higher than fourth – the club’s 19-all draw with Manly at Kogarah in late July was a lost opportunity while coach Harry Bath’s job was not made any easier with stars Craig Young, Rod Reddy, Graham Quinn and Graeme Wynn touring New Zealand with the Kangaroos. Saints rallied to beat Parramatta in the final round, 20-11, at Cumberland Oval, which was also Arthur Beetson’s unofficial farewell to Sydney after 15 seasons.

The Eels had a good enough ‘for and against’ differential to finish in the top five but couldn’t close out the tough matches. Following the 22-all draw with Manly at Cumberland Oval in August, both clubs lost their last three games to miss out on the finals altogether. Club champions and midweek Tooth Cup winners, Parramatta had some great young talent coming through – Eric Grothe, Neil Hunt, Steve Ella, Brett Kenny and Peter Sterling. The missing piece in the premiership jigsaw fell into place when John Peard was replaced by ‘supercoach’ Jack Gibson