FATHER AND SON – QUEENSLAND HEROES

There was no fanfare when Greg Quinn was presented with his first Queensland jersey in 1979, even though it was a special moment, with Greg’s father, Colin ‘Curly’ Quinn also having represented the State.

Today, a father/son scenario of this magnitude would be a headline story, and there would be great ceremony around Greg joining the illustrious Maroons’ club, with a former player, most likely his dad, enlisted to make the official jersey presentation. There was nothing like that in 1979, with the team manager handing out the jerseys to the newcomers, and wishing them luck.

“Obviously it was a great honour, but it is more a big deal now, looking back at my selection,” Greg says. “I suppose in those days you played footy for the love of it, and if a rep. jumper came your way, it was a bonus. There was no-one to make a special presentation. You just turned up, trained, and ran out.”

Footy was important to Greg Quinn, but it wasn’t the be-all and end-all, with the Ipswich Brothers’ product giving the game away, aged 24, to devote his time to family and business. He has no regrets, given he and his wife, Anne, have five adult children and nine grandchildren, while Greg is one of Queensland’s most respected business figures.

One of eight children, Greg and his four brothers played junior league for Brothers, back in the days of weight divisions. He represented Ipswich and then Queensland Country in 1978, and attracted the interest of Brisbane Brothers, with president Frank Dolan snaring Quinn’s signature for the 1979 season. 

Brothers finished second from the bottom, but it was Quinn’s break-through season on the representative front, with the then 21-year-old playing all three inter-state games for Queensland, as well as helping Combined Brisbane to the final of the mid-week Amco Cup knock-out competition, only to be beaten by Cronulla at Leichhardt Oval.

Quinn’s Queensland debut saw him playing in the second row alongside skipper, Des Morris, against a New South Wales’ pack which included Rockhampton product, Rod Reddy and dual international, Ray Price.

“We were soundly beaten (30-5), but we put up a better show than the score indicates,” Quinn recalls. “It was a great honour to play alongside ‘DJ’ (Morris), especially as he also came from Ipswich, and he had been such a great servant of the game.

“My father was thrilled at my selection. He hadn’t really talked about his time playing for the State, although I heard plenty of stories when he caught up with (former Test winger) Denis Flannery, and his wife, Norma at the Ulster Hotel in Ipswich. Dad and Denis were best mates, and played together against New South Wales.”

Greg was relegated to the bench for the return clash against New South Wales in 1979 – again at Lang Park – but was back in the starting side for the third match at Sydney’s Leichhardt Oval. Game 3 marked the debut for Queensland of future ‘Immortal’, Wally Lewis, who was named on the bench.

“Even then, Wally was cocky,” Quinn said. “He was good, and he knew it. I don’t mean that in a bad way. In fact, it was good to have his chatter on the training paddock and during games. He was always encouraging teammates, and he would help with things like getting gear from sponsors.”

Queensland lost the Leichhardt Oval match 35-20, but Toowoomba centre, Allan Smith finished with a four try haul on the losing side, and was signed by North Sydney for the 1980 season.

Quinn attracted interest from several Sydney clubs, with Canterbury-Bankstown chief executive, Peter ‘Bullfrog’ Moore flying to Brisbane to talk to him about a move south. St George and Eastern Suburbs almost made approaches, but Quinn was happy to remain in Queensland.

Wayne Bennett took over from Reg Cannon as Brothers’ coach in 1980, and steered the side into the finals, with Quinn retaining his place in the Brisbane rep. side but failing to keep his State spot.

Bennett appointed Quinn captain at Brothers, and he led the ‘Fighting Irish’ onto the field for 1980 knock-out semi-final against a Norths side captained by future Test halfback, Mark Murray. Brothers were favourites, but Norths won 24-17, with Kiwi international, Mark Graham scoring two tries for the Devils. Norths went on to beat Souths in the Grand Final.

Quinn trained hard in the off-season, but by the time the 1981 premiership kicked-off, he knew that football was more of a past-time than a career, and he was looking to make his way in business, and to start a family.

“I didn’t perform there for a while, and Wayne dropped me, and deservedly so,” Quinn said. “We finished last, which was a major disappointment, because people rated us title contenders, after the progress we made in 1980.”

Quinn returned to Ipswich in 1982, as captain-coach of the Jets, the region’s representative side, which was to contest the inaugural Winfield State League.

“I was young to be a captain-coach, in such a high-profile competition,” Quinn said. “I pretty much tried to be a copycat of Bennett, and I made sure we were fit and ready to go, when things kicked off.”

Ipswich had the honour of playing the first match of the state-wide competition, and the North Ipswich Reserve was packed for the visit of Brisbane Brothers, who still had Bennett at the helm. Brothers won 13-7 in a hard-fought contest, with Quinn scoring the Jets’ only try.

“We always gave 100 percent, and the Ipswich fans got right behind us,” Quinn said. “As it turned out we didn’t win a game, but most of the games could have gone either way.”

After the State League finished, Greg played the remainder of 1982 in the Ipswich and West Moreton Competition with Ipswich Brothers, but then hung up the boots. He was non-playing coach of the Jets in 1983, but after that, family and a career took precedence.

He had run his own building company for two years, and while he was a skilled tradesman, and proud of his work, he didn’t know how to run the business side of things. So, he went to the Master Builders’ Association to learn the ropes, and worked his way through the ranks to the executive director’s role. He was there 17 years, before the owner of Hutchinson Builders, Jack Hutchinson Snr., hand-picked Quinn for the company, in 2001, making him the first person, outside the Hutchinson family, to hold the position. When Quinn stepped down from his fulltime post in October, 2022, he was able to look back at successfully managing a dynamic family business, with a national imprint. In July 2025, Quinn was awarded Life Membership of the Master Builders’ Association.

Hutchinson Builders, who have been strong supporters of the Family of League Foundation, built the Centres of Excellence for the Broncos, Cowboys and Titans. Quinn puts down the success of the company to way it is able to engender loyalty from sub-contractors and clients, and also because of the emphasis on personal contact.

Quinn admires the professionalism and athleticism of NRL players, but doesn’t get as much enjoyment from the game as he did, when the likes of Ron Coote, Bob Fulton, Mick Cronin and Steve Rogers were running around.

While he may have hung up the boots at an early age, Quinn has remained a proud Brothers and Ipswich supporter, and was devastated when Brisbane Brothers effectively went to the wall, after winning the 1987 BRL premiership. Town houses, built by Hutchinson’s, now stand on the land where Brothers Leagues Club once traded.

When Quinn talks about rugby league personalities from Ipswich, the Langer, Walters, Beattie and Parcell families spring readily to mind.

“Rugby league is great for networking, and you never forget the blokes you played with or against,” he said. “Just recently I was in Stanley, in Tasmania, when I bumped into (former Jet) Chris Blohm. It was almost like we had been together only the day before.

“Kevin Langer played under me at the Jets, and was no slouch as a halfback. His brother, Cliff works for Hutchinson. (Younger brother) Allan Langer is not only the best halfback to play the game, he is also the best bloke. He is the same cheeky little ‘feller’ who would come into the Jets’ dressing rooms in 1982 and undo the laces of the players after games. The Langer’s mum (Rita) still works in the canteen at (Ipswich) Norths. Chris Beattie, who played Origin for Queensland and is a former Jet, works for Hutchinson’s.”

Greg’s brother-in-law was former Queensland halfback, the late Johnny White, who played for West End in the Ipswich competition, and then captained Wests in Brisbane. White retired in 1975, after he broke his jaw playing for Ipswich against the Welsh rugby league side, at North Ipswich Reserve. Greg’s brother, Dan also represented Ipswich – in 1975-76 – the first to follow in the footsteps of Colin ‘Curly’ Quinn.

‘Curly’, a Life Member of Ipswich Brothers, died on July 10, 2022, with Greg delivering the eulogy at the funeral. (See Vale Colin ‘Curly’ Quinn this website). Colin, a centre, played four games for Queensland, including a famous win over the 1950 Great Britain Lions’ touring side. Greg was selected to play for Queensland against Great Britain in 1979, but injury ruled him out late in the week, forcing him to watch from the bench. As it turned out, Colin and Greg both retired from football, aged 24, to devote themselves to family and a career. But in their short time in rugby league, they left an indelible mark.

Footnote: This is a story I wrote for Family of League magazine, although there are minor changes to bring it up to date (in September, 2025) when I submitted the piece for this website.

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