VALE GARY PRICKETT

Gary Prickett made himself unavailable for representative football in 1981, but went on to make his debut for Queensland that same year.

The Wests Mitchelton junior had moved to the Sunshine Coast hinterland, and was content to play club football for Palmwoods. But when selectors sat down to choose the Wide Bay side they felt they had no choice to pick Prickett given his form and experience.

So Prickett reluctantly played the divisional championships in Townsville and was subsequently chosen for Queensland Country, and then Queensland. State of Origin football had been launched the previous year with a one-off game, and another one-off game was scheduled in 1981, but only if Queensland lost the two inter-state games played on a residential basis.

Future Immortal, Arthur Beetson had moved back to Queensland from Sydney and was playing for Redcliffe in the Brisbane competition. He was named captain-coach of Queenland and was one of the props in Prickett’s two games, with Brad Rowcliffe partnering Beetson in Game 1 which the Blues won 10-2, while Marshall Colwell was the other prop in the 22-9 loss in the return game.

When the stand-alone Origin game was played later in the year, the selectors opted for Brisbane Norths’ youngster, Greg Conescu. Prickett played again for Wide Bay in the inaugural State League in 1982, before stepping back from elite level football for good. Prickett, a member of the star-studded Brisbane Wests’ side of the 1970s, passed away on the Sunshine Coast on Sunday, July 20, 2025, aged 70, after a long period of ill-health.

In the 1970s the standout hooker in Queensland was Johnny Lang from Brisbane Easts with Lang playing Tests for Australia in 1973, ’74, ’75 and ’78 then touring New Zealand with the Australian side in 1980 when he was contracted to Easts Roosters in Sydney. Prickett was seen as his main rival in the late 70s, but Norths’ Nick Geiger was chosen for Australia in 1977 when Lang was out for the season through injury.

As a ‘Mitchy’ junior, Prickett was always going to play for Wests and was part of the Panthers’ squad which claimed the minor premiership in 1975. Sydney import, Kel Brown captained Wests from hooker in the Grand Final win over Redcliffe, but Prickett was the rake – and Man of the Match – when the Panthers claimed back-to-back titles with a 16-1 win over Easts in the 1976 decider. Prickett scored a try himself and played a big role in the Panthers’ other try scored by fellow Wests Mitchy graduate, John Ribot.

Prickett represented South Queensland in 1977 in a win over the touring New South Wales Country side, and was chosen in a Queensland squad of 17 for the inter-state series, but did not take the field in either of the matches. Wests finished second on the Brisbane Premiership ladder but were beaten by eventual premiers, Easts in the preliminary final.

In 1978 Prickett  played for Brisbane against the touring New Zealand side at Lang Park and then played a big role in Wests qualifying for the finals for the fourth year in a row. The Panthers were beaten 17-10 by Valleys in the knock-out final with Wests Mitchelton product, Paul Vautin scoring a memorable long distance try for the Panthers, an effort which saw him snapped up by Manly Warringah.

Prickett remained with Wests, and although they did not make the finals in 1979, he was named Courier-Mail Best and Fairest Player of the Year and also won Rugby League Week’s Queensland Player of the Year award. Future Immortal, Wally Lewis was runner up in the Courier-Mail award. Soon after Prickett announced his retirement at the age of 24, saying he was not willing to travel to and from Brisbane from his new base in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

But he was persuaded to take on the captain-coach job at Palmwoods in the Sunshine Coast league and the rest is a history. Those two inter-state games in 1981 were the last played at the elite level, under residential rules. The first game at Lang Park drew a near capacity crowd, and Queensland were always in the contest. Prickett, the only Country based player chosen for Queensland, was beaten 15-11 in the scrums by Jeff Masterman from Easts in Sydney. (These were the days of contested scrums).

Prickett was in the frame for selection for the First Test against France going into the return match at Sydney’s Leichhardt Oval. He won the first half scrums 3-2 against Masterman, and was the better player in the open. NSW led only 7-4 at the break. While Pricket played just as well in the open in the second half, something went wrong in the scrums with Masterman cementing a Test berth by winning possession 10-1, with the Blues scoring three tries to one to claim a 22-9 victory.

A school teacher for 36 years, at both primary and secondary school level, he told QRL contributor, Michael Nunn in an interview three years ago that he loved the job, but didn’t enjoy hot days on playground duty.

“I  couldn’t be in the sun with my red hair,” he said. “You would find Mr Prickett under a tree.”

One of the last public appearances made by Prickett was a Family of League Foundation lunch at Maroochydore RSL in 2024 when the guest speaker was his former Wests’ teammate, Paul Vautin. There were a host of ex-Panthers players there and the band of brothers were able to relive those glory years of the 1970s.

I interviewed Vautin at that lunch, and spoke briefly to Prickett, who was in a wheel chair, and had a carer by his side. I recall interviewing him when he played for Queensland in 1981, and then for Wide Bay against the touring French side at Nambour.

In fact I spent time in camp with the Queensland side when they assembled in Brisbane in in 1981, and then embarked on a trip to the Gold Coast and Tweed Heads, including a two hour training session at Tweed Seagulls’ impressive ground.

The squad played beach soccer at Surfers Paradise on the way to the Tweed, but the only player to sit out the light hearted session was Prickett who had played 10 rugby league matches in 22 days for Wide Bay, Queensland Country and South Queensland, and was feeling the pinch. It was the first day of an eight day camp, and the team did the State proud in the match at Lang Park, going down 10-2 with both NSW tries scored by Queenslander, John Ribot, who was contracted to Manly-Warringah.

Prickett told me after the game NSW halfback, Steve Mortimer had “got away with murder” feeding the scrums.

Before playing the return inter-state game in Sydney, Prickett backed up for Country in a Tooth Cup (knockout) competition match against Sydney club, Newtown at Lang Park, and scored Country’s only try in a 33-7 loss. Prickett broke even in the scrums with Newtown’s Jim Walters, who was also a school teacher.

In 1979 Prickett had been chosen in the Brisbane representative squad for an Amco Cup (knockout) competition match against Sydney club, St George, but withdrew because of a bout of flu, his place taken by Wally Lewis in what was Lewis’s first senior rugby league representative outing. Prickett and Lewis were both on the reserves bench when the City team was chosen for a match against Queensland Country a few weeks later. Prickett also was named in a Brisbane squad to play the Great Britain touring side, but did not make the final cut, with John Lang starting at hooker despite having been dropped from the Queensland side.

Representative football is the greatest honour for a rugby league player, but winning a premiership is the biggest thrill, so Wests 1976 Grand Final win over Easts always had a special place in Prickett’s heart, especially as he was Man of the Match.

The Courier-Mail’s Chief League writer at the time, Jack Reardon (a former Kangaroo) had this to say: “Without doubt, Wests’ young hooker, Gary Prickett was Man of the Match. He scored Wests’ first try because of his non-stop style of play and alertness; tackled his heart out, and as anticipated, won enough scrums against Johnny Lang to give Wests their attacking opportunities.”

RIP Gary Prickett.

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