Col McCartney about to tackle Gary Barnett (Valleys) at the Gabba. Ken Booth is the other Easts’ player while number 14 is John ‘Nudgee’ Mulgrew
Col McCartney played for Queensland against New South Wales in the 1958 Inter-State series in Brisbane, coming off the bench in both games at the Brisbane Exhibition Grounds.
The Easts Tigers five eighth came into the squad following the withdrawal of centre Ron Boden for the first of the two games in Brisbane, and retained his spot for the return match. NSW won both games by narrow margins.
McCartney played in a Brisbane Grand Final for Easts in 1953 when he was just 18. He was promoted from under-20s to First Grade to play on the wing against Souths in the major semi-final and scored the winning try to catapult Easts into the decider. Souths defeated Valleys 35-14 in the preliminary final and a record crowd saw the Magpies win their fourth premiership since World War II, beating the Tigers 21-4 in a brutal Grand Final at the Gabba.
McCartney was on the bench at kick-off but came into the match as five eighth when Keith Brown was injured. It was at five eighth where McCartney made his mark in a 10 year First Grade career with the Tigers which encompassed close to 200 games. He never lost his spot in the starting 13 and scored 60 tries. Col was named five eighth in 1983 in Easts’ Team of 50 Years.
In 1960 McCartney and Easts’ halves partner, Stan Neave masterminded one of the upsets of the season, a 36-3 win over Valleys at Lang Park. Easts’ future Test centre, Bob Hagan scored three tries with McCartney doing the groundwork each time.
“McCartney and Neave slashed the sound Valleys’ defence to ribbons with sparkling footwork and strong running,” wrote The Courier-Mail’s Jack Reardon.
McCartney played many games for Brisbane in the inter-city Bulimba Cup competition against Ipswich and Toowoomba as well as representing South Queensland in state trials.
Col and the family were involved in sailing most of their lives and his father, Fred won a 18-footers Australian championship. Fred was a staunch Easts’ man and at various times was president of the Easts Juniors and Seniors.
Col’s son Robert toured Britain with an Emerging Wallabies rugby union squad in 1990. Robert played for a Queensland side dubbed ‘The Baby Reds’ in a 23-9 win over English club, Bath at Ballymore earlier in 1990 when Queensland had 12 players in the Wallaby squad touring New Zealand. Another son, Stephen, played both rugby codes.
Col passed away on June 20, 2026 aged 91 and a celebration of his life was held at the Brisbane 16 Foot Skiff Royal Squadron at Bulimba on August 2.
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