KEVIN RYAN WAS A rugby union Test forward and an amateur boxer with an ambition to go to the 1960 Rome Olympics before he signed with St George. Injuries at the wrong time meant he didn’t play as much Test football as his ability and reputation deserved, but he was a massive mainstay for the last seven seasons of the Dragons’ winning streak, never more so than in the 1965 grand final, when he was a dominant man of the match against Souths in front of that record 78,065 crowd at the SCG. In Never Before, Never Again, Ryan recalls the influence Harry Bath had on his career, and explains the virtues of one-on-one defence ... ‘I thank Harry Bath for helping me settle into my new code. Apart from the odd bush match, I had never played an organised game of rugby league in my life. Harry had just hung up his boots after the 1959 grand final and he was coaching second grade and working as a cellarman at the club. I’d go sit with him and talk league and learned a lot from him. He blooded me. He taught me how to run onto the ball, which was foreign to me then. And in defence I had to forget about the mauling rugby union style of tackling and learn how to take on an opponent man to man. ‘Bath instilled in me that it was my responsibility, and mine alone, to put my opponent out of business. That’s why I’ve never been an advocate of gang tackling. It’s a waste of time; most of the time you hurt your own teammate, not your opponent. And because no one in a gang tackle has to make the physical and intellectual commitment — that man is mine and he’s hitting the deck ball and all — the attacker often fights through half-hearted defence. ‘Players today across the board are bigger, fitter, faster, more skilful than we were, much more so, but there is not enough ball-and-all tackling. Today, there’s too much pseudo scientific rubbish talked. Like sliding defence. Unless someone makes that intellectual commitment to take his man and stop him in his tracks, the other side will be sliding all right — over for a try!’ BY ALL AVAILABLE EVIDENCE, Billy Wilson was a key figure in Saints’ 11-year premiership run. ‘Billy was the most respected of all the players I played with,’ Norm Provan told Larry Writer in Never Before, Never Again. ‘Not by just a little bit, but by a long way.’ Here are some memories of Wilson, from a trio of Dragons champions … Bob Bugden: ‘In ’55, Bluey was playing second row and his opposite number whacked me when I put the ball into the scrum. And Billy, he stuttered a little bit, he says, “Now, son, d-d-d-on’t worry about that bloke, you just keep doing your job.” Next scrum I heard an almighty crack, the sound of fist on flesh, and the guy who’d been harassing me was unconscious on the ground. Billy protected us, particularly the little fellows.’ Johnny King: ‘In 1960, I was racing to support one of our men who’d made a break and my opposite winger grabbed me from behind to hold me back. I was too small in those days to shake him off. Billy took the bloke quietly aside and said to him, “Friend, lay a hand on young John again and I will flatten you.” The winger took the hint.’ Eddie Lumsden: ‘I saw him knock a man out with his chest, just launched himself chest-first and knocked him down and out. We both played on the right side of the field so I saw him at work. In the third Test on the 1959 Kangaroo tour at Central Park, Wigan, Jack Wilkinson, their prop, was committing mayhem. Jack was a madman and was always getting into scrapes on and off the field. Billy was lining him in the scrum and considered him his responsibility. I said to Bill, “How are you coping with that big bastard, Billy?” And he smiled through a face full of blood and said, “One more scrum and I’ll have his nose right off.”’ THE SEASONS IMMEDIATELY AFTER St George’s 11 straight premierships, 1956–66, were dominated by South Sydney, who won four grand finals in five years. How did these exceptional Souths sides compare with the mighty Saints? In the new epilogue to Never Before, Never Again, Johnny King provides the answer …. ‘As soon as a match is over [these days], players are off to recovery sessions to prepare for next week’s game. We had great times drinking and reliving every try and tackle with the blokes who’d just been trying to decapitate us. We were friends with the Wests and Souths fellows, particularly, who were our greatest rivals. Enemies on the field, mates off it. That’s rugby league. ‘We still see the old Rabbitohs, and the conversation always turns to who was the better team, us or the South Sydney sides that won the comp in 1967, ’68, ’70 and ’71. ‘I cut ’em off quick smart. “Let’s compare man for man, position for position,” I say. “John Sattler and John O’Neill or Bluey Wilson and Kevin Ryan? Elwyn Walters or Ken Kearney or Ian Walsh? Gary Stevens and Bob McCarthy or Norm Provan, Harry Bath and Dick Huddart? Ron Coote or Chook Raper? Bob Grant or Billy Smith? Jimmy Lisle or Pop Clay … Jimmy reckoned Poppa shortened his career … Bob Honan or Reg Gasnier, Michael Cleary and Brian James or Eddie and me? Eric Simms or Changa Langlands?” ‘There were no duds among those Rabbitohs but still, I rest my case. Argument over!’ ONE OF THE MOST important signings St George ever made occurred before the 1957 season, when they convinced Brian Clay to join the club. Known as ‘Pop’ or ‘Poppa’, Clay had played in grand finals with Newtown before spending the 1956 season in Griffith. At Saints, he became a key figure, not least for the way that he, as five-eighth, made life as easy as possible for the backs outside him. Reg Gasnier was eternally grateful … ‘Pop was very much the spirit and focal point of our backline. He would never sell me a dump. He was a physical bloke who knew when to hang onto the ball and take the dump himself. He was so caring and his great concern was ensuring that I was fit and fresh and full of running when the game opened up. ‘Then he’d serve me up dream passes that either put me into a gap or came so fast and so accurately that I had time to take my own attacking options. Pop nurtured and protected me and deserves the credit for so much of what I achieved.’ Brian Clay was the epitome of ‘hard but fair’. In Never Before, Never Again, long-time St George treasurer Glyn Price remembered how Clay hated being punched. ‘He didn’t mind being tackled hard, but if anybody punched him, he’d get square with one of his tackles and they did more damage than any punch I ever saw. He’d say, “Hit me with anything, but don’t punch me. There’s no place for punching in football.” Wests’ Peter Dimond whacked Gasnier at Pratten Park one afternoon, and Pop said, “He’s mine.” Brian chased Peter all over the park and, of course, when he finally caught up with him, he buried him. ‘God, that man could tackle. When rivals threatened to get square, Clay would say, grimfaced, “Any time you like. I’ll be here all day.”’ RUGBY LEAGUE WAS AND remains, in the words of Johnny King, a ‘tough game played by touch men’. Few footballers in the sport’s history embodied this reality more than two great Saints, Ken ‘Killer’ Kearney and Billy ‘Bluey’ Wilson. In Never Before, Never Again, Kearney told author Larry Writer about a day Bluey wanted to get square … ‘Rugby league was tougher then, much more violent, with no video citing and more lenient referees, anything went. And there were no replacements, so we all had to play hurt. I played on for weeks after breaking my jaw and if I had a bung leg, which was often, I’d wrap my good leg in bandages so the opposition would kick the hell out of that and leave my injured one alone. ‘Billy Wilson once broke his forearm stiff-arming some fellow. It was before half-time and at the break he sat down beside me in the dressing sheds and said, “Killer, I think I’ve broken my arm.” I looked, and saw that it was snapped, gone. I told him he couldn’t continue in the second half but he looked at me as if I was mad. The one concession he’d make was to play on the wing. ‘For some reason he held a fierce grudge against the guy on whose head he’d broken his arm, and felt obliged to get square. Though in intense pain, he played out the game, determined, he told me, “to catch up with that bastard and give him some more”. ‘Billy Wilson never backed down in his life, no way in the world. Merv Lees was tough like that, and Raper, too.’ AS THE STATISTICS SECTION in the new edition of Never Before, Never Again, reveals, the worst losing ‘streak’ endured by St George during their 11-year premiership-winning run was two matches, which happened just three times — once in 1956, once in 1960 and once 1966. They were never out of form for long. In the book, the great halfback Bob Bugden, who was a key figure during the first six years before transferring to Parramatta, reflects on what made the Dragons of 1956–66 such a unique force … ‘What struck me as a young fellow suddenly a Saint was the pride in the joint … the great lesson I learned at St George was how to win. We didn’t have hypnotists or psychologists psyching us up, but we didn’t need anybody to tell us that we were good. We knew it. ‘We ran onto the field each week believing that we were not going to be beaten. On the occasions we did get rolled, our attitude and self-belief were strong enough for us to put the defeat out of our minds virtually as soon as the final bell went. All that mattered was next week’s victory. ‘Learning to win is a lesson that has benefited me all my life ... ‘When I joined Parramatta in 1962, my main job was making my new teammates believe in themselves. They weren’t fighters like Saints. They’d come off the field after each beating and they’d have their heads down. Ken Kearney, who was non-playing coach, said to me, “These blokes don’t know how to win.”’ OF ALL THE LEGENDARY Saints, none is more revered than Norm Provan. The man known as 'Sticks' played 256 first-grade games for St George between 1951 and 1965, and was part of 10 grand final winning sides, the first 10 of the winning streak (1956–65). He was captain-coach from 1962 to 1965. In 1994, Provan explained to Never Before, Never Again author Larry Writer what he believed the legacy of the 11 premierships should mean to the Dragons of future generations ... ‘The quietest time in any dressing room is the ten minutes before kickoff. This is when you come to terms with what’s expected of you out on the field, what you must achieve for yourself and your teammates. It’s a personal and very private time. The Saints players used this time in their own ways. Some, like Langlands and Wilson, would be dry retching with nerves. Others would be lost in thought. Others paced ... ‘I always thought it was stupid when I heard Saints coaches of the ’80s and ’90s say that the deeds of the St George premiership-winning sides put unfair pressure on their teams to succeed. I say these coaches didn’t use the great tradition enough. That winning tradition should be a very strong attraction to young players. Saints’ tradition in the ’50s and ’60s attracted players from everywhere to trial with us and be a part of it. ‘That tradition shouldn’t be killed. ‘You’ve only got to put the film up and see how Billy Smith could put a player through a gap, and how Raper could go all day, and the speed and acceleration of Gasnier. You’ve only got to look in the record books and see what we achieved. I guess those [latter-day] coaches just wanted to be judged on their own merits, on what they accomplished on their own.’ RUGBY LEAGUE MAY NEVER have had a better left centre/ left winger combination than Reg Gasnier and Johnny King. The two were a class act for the Dragons from 1960 (King’s debut season) to 1967 (Gasnier’s final year of football). The two had played in the St George juniors — Gasnier for Renown United, King for Arncliffe Scots. In Never Before, Never Again, Gasnier recalled their partnership ... ‘The last thing I expected to do was worry about whether my winger was in position. But with Johnny I never even had to look. I knew he would be out there perfectly positioned. If the defence was coming across and crowding him he’d come inside me and always let me know, “With you, with you, with you, Gaz. I’m inside, I’m inside. I want it. I want it now!” And if he said that he got it, because I knew he would have sized up the situation and decided he was in a better position than me to carry on the movement. If he said, “Hang onto it,” then I’d go myself. I learned to follow his voice and know exactly where he was.’ Now, King remembers Gasnier, and how the two worked together in the days when a try was worth three points ... ‘I relied on my ability to be in the right spot at the right time. Johnny on the Spot, that was me. I could read the play and anticipate what would happen with each movement. If the defence was drifting across I’d hang back then cut inside and take the pass from Reggie running at an angle to wrongfoot the defenders sweeping across. Reg would be full steam ahead for the corner and I’d cut inside and yell, “Now!” and he’d pass the ball back, sometimes over his shoulder, right where I wanted it, and it would be three points. Occasionally we’d work it so when I called “Now!” or “Mine!” he’d keep running and score while all the tacklers who were expecting him to pass swamped me. ‘Reg was tremendous over that first 30 metres, the best acceleration of anyone who’s ever played the game. When he put his head back you knew he was in top gear. ‘Reggie and I on the left side of the field had a competition with Eddie Lumsden and either Johnny Riley, Dave Brown or Billy Smith who played right wing and centre. Whoever scored the least number of tries bought the beers.’ IN 1994, DURING THE making of Never Before, Never Again, Larry Writer asked Johnny Raper why he’d been a special player. In part, this was Raper’s response … ‘I put more importance on being a good team man than on being an individual star. I was an intense competitor who would tackle all day and knew where to be in cover defence. I wasn’t too fast but could make a break and put a man into a gap. I had stamina and energy and hated to be beaten. I could play through pain and knew how to read the game. ‘Being a Saint helped, too. We were one big happy family. I’ve never heard of any other club enjoying the harmony we did. Loyalty to each other and tradition made St George great. The football club, the leagues club, the players and wives, the administrators and the supporters — all were essential elements. Without any one of them, our great era could never have happened. All the elements blended together to make a wonderful club that’s still wonderful today. The name “St George” will always be there at the pinnacle of Australian sport; as important as Dally Messenger, Dawn Fraser and Phar Lap. In my work I travel to out-of-the-way places in the NSW and Queensland bush and the majority of people in these places are St George supporters, and they’ve remained loyal since my day. They followed us then mainly because we were winning, but also because we travelled to the bush on our end-of-season trips. The fathers who followed me passed their allegiance on to their sons ...’ DURING SEPTEMBER, WE WILL feature here some of the opinions and attitudes of the great St George players from 1956–66, as they explained them to author Larry Writer in Never Before, Never Again. First up, Harry Bath — who played his finest football for Warrington in England before returning to Australia to win three premierships with Saints from 1957 to 1959 — explains his philosophy on attacking forward play … ‘In ’57, the Saints side used to drive me mad with some of the bash-and-barge tactics they were using, but they got the hang of what I was telling them ...’ (Which was) ‘Follow me, back me up, run off my passes and you’ll find yourself in open space. League is a collective game. Every man should make it easier for the guy beside him. Draw your man, make the gap, put your teammate through it. Simple. Unless you’re hitting the ball up to settle the play or charging at a much smaller opponent, never try to bust a tackle but get the ball away to a man in a better position. Two-on-one is the way to play. Make the ball do the work, not the body. I could read the opposition defence then position myself to take advantage of any lapses long before I got the ball. Then, when I did, I went into the defence, drew two defenders, created a gap where they’d been, brought the ball out of it and popped the pass for a teammate to run onto ...’ |
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