1984 QUEENSLAND BECOMES BIG BROTHER

There was every reason for optimism in Queensland at the start of the 1984 Rugby League season, but what unfolded exceeded the wildest dreams of even the most ardent Maroon, Wally Lewis included.

Queensland had won the 1983 State of Origin series 2-1, but Australia, coached by Queensland legend, Arthur Beetson had lost a Test to the Kiwis for the first time in 13 years, with nine Maroons in the starting side. Crowds had fallen away in the Brisbane club competition, and the city’s representative side had been eliminated by Manly in the semi-finals of the KB Cup competition, which they had been widely tipped to win.

A Queensland side, coached by Beetson, had made an historic, three match tour of England, with big wins over Wigan and Leeds, but a loss to Hull Kingston Rovers.

Frank Stanton returned as coach of Australia in 1984, after stepping down following the Kangaroos’ historic undefeated tour of Britain and France in 1982. Wally Lewis was relegated to the bench for the Tests in Britain, and Queensland fans wondered what sort of a deal Lewis would get under ‘Cranky Franky’, when Great Britain toured in ’84.

Max Krilich stepped down as Australian skipper after the 1983 loss to the Kiwis, and there was a push south of the border for Ray Price or Wayne Pearce to be the new leader. Lewis had spent part of the 1983-84 off-season playing club football in England for Wakefield Trinity, getting paid 1,000 pounds a game for his eight appearances, a lot of money in those days. When he arrived back in Brisbane in February, 1984, it was to begin training with a new club, Wynnum-Manly, after his first six years in First Grade had been spent with the Fortitude Valley Diehards.

In March, Lewis was named captain of an Oceania side to play a Northern Hemisphere selection in Paris, as part of French Rugby League’s Golden Anniversary celebrations. The Oceania team also contained Pearce, Price, Craig Young and Steve Mortimer, so the choice of Lewis as skipper was a sure sign he would be Test captain later in the year. Oceania won 54-4 in a farcical match, with former Australian Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam one of the VIPs in attendance.

The Brisbane representative side, coached by the great Bob McCarthy, started its campaign with an eventful 25-18 win over Macca’s old club, South Sydney at Lang Park, with controversial State of Origin referee, Barry ‘The Grasshopper’ Gomersall, calmly letting play flow in the first quarter, while fights raged around him. The players eventually settled down and the remainder of the match was almost incident free.

Queensland won the First State of Origin match in even more convincing fashion, scoring six tries to one in a 29-12 result, in front of a baying crowd of 33,000 at Lang Park, with winger, Kerry Boustead crossing three times, one of his tries set-up by a lovely chip kick from debutant lock, Bob Lindner. The margin would have been even greater had Meninga not had a an off-night with the boot, landing two goals from eight shots.

Lewis was Man of the Match against a side rated more formidable than the 1983 Blues, with Peter Sterling and Steve Ella joining fellow Parramatta stars Ray Price, Brett Kenny and Eric Grothe.

“Make sure you give Artie a wrap. He’s a super coach and should be in charge of the Australian team,” winger, Chris Close told the Queensland media contingent, (of which I was part), in a not-so-subtle jab at Stanton, who also coached NSW.

“That was one of the things we had going for us. We all felt Artie was unlucky to be overlooked,” said Lewis, the darling of the fans, who regularly chanted ‘Wally Wally, Wally’.

Nine Queenslanders were named in the 15-man Australian squad for the First Test against the Frank Myler coached Great Britain side, with Meninga the shock omission, his place going to NSW goal kicking ace, Ross Conlon, who had been a neighbour of mine at Bray Park, Murwillumbah.

With Test players not considered, Meninga captained a Queensland Residents’ side against the Graham Lowe coached Kiwis in a night match at Lang Park, with the home side winning 18-14, Meninga’s boot proving the difference, as the tourists scored three tries to two.

The Kiwis, under Lowe, were popular tourists. Not so the British, with SCG fans booing the side from the field after their 25-8 loss to Australia in the First Test. The crowd turned nasty, after Conescu was flattened by Featherstone Rovers’ forward, David Hobbs, who hit him with an elbow to the jaw, with one of Conescu’s front teeth flying through the air into the mud of the cricket pitch area. Hobbs was sent from the field; banned for three games and fined $1,000. Wally Lewis was named Man of the Match, and deservedly so, given his clever kicking game; robust running and brutal defence.

“Les Boyd got 12 months for doing a similar thing to Darryl Brohman, and I don’t reckon Hobbs should be allowed to play again on tour,” said former Australian hooker, Johnny Lang, of the Conescu incident.

I was in Sydney for the First Test, and met for the first time, British photographer, Andrew Varley, who remains a close friend to this day. I remember when he had his first beer in Australia, he was shocked that the glass was icy cold, like the beer inside it. “Excuse me love. Could you put this in the micro wave,” he said to the stunned barmaid. And he was only half joking.

The tourists moved to Queensland, where the media focus was on the return State of Origin match, the Blues’ selectors giving Terry Lamb his long awaited second chance to have a crack at Lewis, after Lamb had made his Origin debut in the one-off, 1981 match. Once again Lewis was voted Man of the Match as Queensland triumphed 14-2 on a SCG mud heap, the match entering folklore for an early brawl which saw Chris Close’s jersey ripped from his back, as he traded punches with rivals; and for the freakish try scored by Queensland prop, Greg Dowling who showed the skills of a slips fieldsman to collect a Lewis kick which had hit the cross bar, and then plunge over for the try, with television commentator, Darrell Eastlake yelling: ‘That has to be luck’.

The following day in Toowoomba, the local Clydesdales’ representative team humbled the touring British, winning 18-16, with the likes of future Sydney first graders, Dan Stains, Peter Gill, Mark Hohn and Rob Tew paving the way for a win, which marked the 60^th anniversary of Toowoomba’s historic first ever win over a touring British side.

Britain showed plenty of character in the Second Test at Brisbane’s Lang Park, going down 18-6 in a match remembered for a magnificent team try by Lions’ centre, Garry Schofield; and the blatant assaults on dangerman Lewis, who was bashed from pillar to post.

Australia made a clean sweep of the series with a 20-7 win in the Third Test in Sydney, where fans had reason to hang their heads in shame for booing Lewis, as he accepted the Ashes Trophy. Queenslander are noted for their parochialism, but even back in the days when all-New South Wales Australian teams graced Lang Park, the fans did not boo the Australian skipper.

By the end of the series, 11 Queenslanders had played their role in retaining the Ashes – debutants Bryan Niebling, Greg Dowling and Greg Conescu as well as skipper Lewis; Gene Miles, Kerry Boustead, Mark Murray, Dave Brown, Mal Meninga, Paul Vautin and Wally Fullerton Smith, with only Boustead, Brown and Vautin chosen from the Sydney premiership.

The ‘dead rubber’ Third Origin game was played back at Lang Park, with NSW gaining some solace from their failed campaign, with halfback Steve Mortimer the star, giving a hint of what was to come in 1985, when he would lead the Blues to their first series win. Queensland had gone into the Game 3 without injured Test stars, Murray, Niebling and Miles and lost Conescu mid-way through the first half.

Miles was back for the Panasonic Cup Final against Easts Roosters, at Leichhardt Oval on August 15, but former Penrith star, Henry Foster was preferred at halfback, ahead of Murray. The Brisbane side contained two other New South Welshmen – Richie Poulsen and Brian Walsh.

Brisbane had accounted for the Warren Ryan coached Canterbury-Bankstown in the quarter finals and John Monie’s Parramatta in the semis. Laurie Freier, a former Brisbane Souths and Gold Coast Tigers’ player, was coach of the Roosters, but had already been told his services would not be required in 1985. (Arthur Beetson, who had been awarded Life Membership of the QRL before the Origin series began, was appointed to succeed Freier).

The Roosters were out of finals contention in the Sydney Premiership, but with likes of Dane Sorensen, Paul Dunn, Kevin ‘Horrie’ Hastings, John ‘Chicka’ Ferguson, Robert ‘Truck’ Simpkins and Gavin Miller in their line-up, they were not to be under-estimated.

Brisbane won 12-11 but were forced to defend desperately in an unbelievably tense final few minutes when Easts hurled themselves at the tryline. Lewis, whose ball-and-all tackles were a feature, was named Man of the Match for the fourth successive time in Cup matches and won the $20,000 1984 Superstar award.

If social media had been around then, one can only imagine the response from Sydney fans to Lewis picking up all those awards. The judges were the journalists covering the games, and there was a school of thought that the Brisbane Media were so one-eyed, they voted for Lewis every time. The truth is that the Brisbane Media contingent did not have enough members to get Lewis the required number of votes, and, if anything, scribes north of the border were often keen to see another Queenslander recognised, other than Lewis. It is more likely that the Sydney scribes, once they realised the ‘best player’ should come from the winning side, automatically focused on Lewis.

In the finals of the Brisbane Club Premiership, Valleys defeated Redcliffe 18-16 in the knockout semi, with the man touted as Wally Lewis’s successor – Grant Rix – scoring two tries and kicking three goals for the victors. Redcliffe had advanced to the finals after defeating Brothers 22-11 in a play-off for fourth spot.

Lewis scored three tries in Wynnum’s 46-22 win over Souths in the major semi-final, with the Seagulls completely demoralising their rivals, even though they were reduced to 12 men after 18 minutes, when fullback, Colin Scott hit his Magpies’ rival, Phil Veivers with a high shot, and was sent from the field.

Souths’ coach, Wayne Bennett did a remarkable job to lift his men for the preliminary final, with the Magpies winning 14-8 against Valleys, with Veivers scoring two tries. In a sign of things to come, Bennett furnished officials with the incorrect team, and the club was fined $250.

Valleys’ loss signalled the end of coach, Ross Strudwick’s six-year reign at the Foundation club, and he moved to Brothers to replace another former Test halfback, Tom Raudonikis, who had been sacked, after falling out with officials. Former State five eighth, Peter McWhirter succeeded Strudwick, and lured future Test winger, Les Kiss to the club from Bundaberg, where he had become a local hero because of his achievement for Wide Bay in the State League. (Kiss is now coach of the Queensland Reds Rugby Union side).

Bob Lindner was back from injury for Souths in the Grand Final, but not even his brilliance could prevent a 42-8 loss to Wynnum, the 34-point margin a record. Souths’ only try was scored by centre, Hubie Abbott, in the 79^th minute.

Utility star, Brian Walsh – a Murwillumbah Brothers’ product – played fullback for Wynnum, with Colin Scott failing in his appeal to overturn his ban. One of the unsung heroes of Wynnum’s season was second rower, Mal Green from Toowoomba, who Lewis still rates the best tackler he has ever seen.

Bennett described the loss as the lowest point of his coaching career.

“Leaving the ground, I lay down in the back seat of Jack’s car (father-in-law, Jack Veivers) because I didn’t want anyone to see me,” Bennett recalled.

Wynnum, who had also won the State League earlier in the year, were looking to play Sydney Premiers, Canterbury-Bankstown in a winner-take-all challenge match at Lang Park, a concept supported by QRL supremo, Ron McAuliffe. But the match never eventuated, despite the backing of influential media people in Brisbane and Sydney.

Wynnum were coached by Brisbane club league legend, and former State forward, Des Morris, who was appointed to succeed Beetson in the Origin arena for the 1985 campaign. Wynnum’s top squad included Test players Lewis, Miles, Dowling and Scott; Origin reps, Brad Backer, Ian French, Brett French and Terry Butler; Brisbane reps Mark Zillman, Mal Green, Brian Walsh, Tony Kajewski and Peter Dawes; and future international, Gary Coyne.

It was a privilege to cover the 1984 season for the ‘Telegraph’, and to be able to report on the achievements of Queensland’s best footballers. My year was not without drama.

I was banned from the Brothers’ dressing room by president, Frank Melit who was upset by a story I had written, in which former Brothers’ star, Johnny Gleeson described the 1984 outfit as a mob of thugs, after he watched a wild State League match against Toowoomba Clydesdales, at Dalby. Gleeson, a former Test five eighth, was a Toowoomba selector at the time. Melit blew up when he arrived at Brothers’ Leagues Club, Grange, the day after the match, to be greeted by ‘BROTHERS THUGS’ on a newspaper poster, in the reception area.

I was also served with a writ for defamation from Sydney Easts’ boss, Ron Jones, over a story I had written about the Roosters’ approaching Gene Miles. QRL boss, Ron McAuliffe was quoted in the story, and also was served with a writ. Nothing came of it.

Finally: Who would have won a Challenge match between Wynnum and Canterbury? If Wynnum had fielded their strongest side, they were a good chance of winning a one-off game. But Wynnum may not have had the depth to stay at the top in the Sydney Premiership, and might have struggled to make the finals down there. 

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