JANUARY, 1973
Manly-Warringah made headlines around the world for reportedly offering banished All Blacks’ Rugby Union forward, Keith Murdoch $20,000 to switch to rugby league.
New Zealand Press Association correspondent, John Brooks, said an Australian League scout was at Twickenham to look over two other All Blacks, in the Test against England, and had told him that Murdoch had been contacted – about a code switch – in Darwin, Australia.
Murdoch was sent home, after an incident in the Angel Hotel, Cardiff, Wales in December, 1972, spending a few days in Singapore, before arriving in the Northern Territory, at least according to news reports of the time.
The Cardiff incident reportedly involved Murdoch and a hotel bouncer, but there are a number of different versions of what happened, and some of Murdoch’s teammates still believe team management acted too harshly.
Brooks, one of New Zealand’s most reputable journalists, wrote, that before leaving England, Murdoch had told some of his teammates he might have a crack at league. He never did try the 13-man code, and, as far as I know, never played rugby union again.
The big news in Brisbane at the time, was the arrival of former Australian skipper, John Sattler to play with Wests Panthers, after Sattler had led Souths to four Sydney premierships in six years.
Sattler had his first run with Wests, at Victoria Park Public Golf Course, on January 4, with fitness expert, Col O’Brien in charge of the session. After a swim at Centenary Pool with his new teammates, Sattler was off to the Paddington Hotel for a few beers, before dinner with his wife, Barbara, at the home of Wests’ president, Jim Orr.
Meanwhile, former Australian Universities rugby league representative, Vince Raleigh signed with Norths, who were to be coached by former Test centre, Bob Hagan. Raleigh, a second rower or lock, toured New Zealand with Australian Unis, in 1969. A product of Townsville’s James Cook University club, Vince is the son of North Queensland league legend, ‘Bluey’ Raleigh.
Bob Hagan formerly coached and played in Townsville, and while there, stayed with the Raleigh family in their hotel. Other new signings for Norths were Steve Calder and Phil Roberts from Canterbury-Bankstown; and Tony Trent and Peter Linde from Sydney second division side, Asquith.
Olympic swim coach, Arthur Cusack, was appointed Redcliffe’s physical fitness coach. Cusack was the lessee of the Redcliffe War Memorial pool. Big things were expected of Redcliffe, who had appointed former Test halfback, Barry Muir as coach and signed Ron Raper (Canterbury-Bankstown), as well as New Zealand Test prop, Robin Orchard.
Fellow bayside club, Wynnum-Manly, boasted three imports from Canterbury-Bankstown – Neville Hornery; Peter Inskip and Queenslander, Johnny Rhodes, who had played for Australia, in 1968.
Former Australian five eighth, Wally O’Connell was invited by the Queensland Rugby League to join a special coaching squad, with the QRL’s ‘Ways and Means Committee’ recommending that the coaching of elite players be extended from a single individual, to a panel of three, with, in this case, O’Connell as the director. The other two men, appointed by the committee, were Bob Bax and Fred ‘Firpo’ Neumann, both former State coaches.
Footnote 1: Keith Murdoch essentially disappeared from public view, living out most of his life in the Australian ‘Outback’. There should be a movie about the man. He died, in Australia, in 2018, aged 74. There was a book – ‘Murdoch The All Black who never returned’, written by Ron Palenski.
Footnote 2: Vince Raleigh went on to become one of Australia’s top swim coaches. I played reserve grade at Brothers in Brisbane, alongside Vince, in the mid-70s. Our kids were part of his swim squad, at Nudgee College.
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