Eddie Fallins
Gold Coast Seagulls’ hooker, Eddie Fallins brought off the tackle of his career to sink Canberra Raiders’ hopes of a last minute win at Cunningham Field, West Tweed Heads.
Fallins, who came into the side after Ray Herring was suspended, heaped praise on skipper, Craig ‘Tugger’ Coleman for his leadership. But it was Fallins, a Runaway Bay junior, who was the toast of the Seagulls’ dressing room after the 8-4 win over the premiership favourites.
Canberra and Australian captain, Mal Meninga produced a magical play in the dying seconds of the match, and it looked as if the Raiders would break the hearts of the home town fans.
As he ran out of room on the right-hand side of the field, ‘big Mal’ threw a 35-metre pass over the defence and Canberra suddenly had numbers and space on the left-hand side. David Boyle charged into the clear, but 30 metres from the Seagulls’ line was tackled by Fallins and lost the ball, with replacement forward, Jason Death in support.
“It was a life threatening situation for me,” said Fallins. “I couldn’t have lived with the looks from the other blokes if they had scored. I was the one who lost us the ball 30 seconds earlier. I must have been a bit light headed at the time. It was a bad pass from dummy half when we had the numbers.”
It was Fallins’ first top grade match for the club since Seagulls sacked the young house painter in 1991, for disciplinary reasons. Seagulls had lost the previous six games before the Canberra result. Second rower, Wayne Bartrim was the best attacking forward on the field, scoring a try and having a hand in the other – by winger, David Bouveng. Bartrim, who was in the sights of Sydney club, St George for the 1995 season, also brought off a tackle on Raiders’ winger, Ken Nagas seven minutes from fulltime when a try seemed certain. Referee, David Manson penalised Nagas for passing off the ground.
One of the first into the Seagulls’ dressing room to congratulate coach, John Harvey was Australian Rugby League chairman, Ken Arthurson, who had been meeting with Seagulls’ officials about the club’s financial situation. The licensed club had been running at a loss for 18 months, with the introduction of poker machines in Queensland hitting hard, and Leagues Club secretary/manager, Vic Folitarik had resigned mid-week. But Seagulls’ officials, headed by Don Furner, declared that the club was getting back on its feet.
Canberra coach, Tim Sheens paid credit to Seagulls, but said his rep. stars had run out of steam, after playing in the City – Country game in Newcastle 48 hours earlier.
Seagulls defeated Canberra 22-19 in reserve grade, with future Qld Origin players, Terry Cook and Jamie Goddard scoring tries for the victors.
Footnote: Wayne Bartrim, originally from Kempsey, went on to play for Queensland, while Bundaberg’s Ken Nagas represented New South Wales. It should have been the other way round, but that is another story.
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Hi Steve – hope you’re well . Eddie was one of my favourite footballers. Incredibly tough , great defender , could pass beautifully both sides and a cunning dummy half could read the game particularly in attack , He rode a Harley Davidson & overcame a very serious road accident to play for MURWILLUMBAH Mustangs in 2000 under ex Charger coach Phil Economidis. The club was about to fold in 1999. An over weight Young prop Anthony Laffranchi played the same year and was picked up by the West Tigers .The club had a few wins in a strong comp just before Burleigh & Seagulls went into the QCup. Similar version of the 70’s Gold Coast Group 18. Eddie floated between Tugun & Murbah but played mostly with MURWILLUMBAH. He was adored here. He was a cult hero & was an a great example of a pro player coming back and helping out country rugby league . Was an understated quiet & likeable chap. He was instrumental in the 2003 GF win over Tugun against all odds to an overflowing Boyd St oval. One of the greatest moments the town supporters would feel. The captain that day was Glenn Weaver who is Porkys son – tough no nonsense second rower & leader . His son Tom is currently with the Titans playing halfback . Glenn has served the game by coaching & managing the Mustangs & coaching juniors at Cudgen for the past 20 years . The Cudgen junior side featured his son Tom & current QCup Seagulls hooker Oskar Bryant. Pretty sure they won every premiership in juniors to U 16’s and then U18’s under Glenn . Great to see Eddie featured he’ll always be held in high esteem around the Tweed . Very sad when he passed . RIP Eddie.