These days, rule changes seem to happen every season. But did you know that Eric Simms indirectly caused Rugby League to amend field goal values from two points to one point in 1971? True! Simms had the uncanny ability to pot field goals from all parts and helped the South Sydney juggernaut of the late 1960s / early 1970s win comps on his boot alone.
Eric Simms was graded by South Sydney, where he played his entire career and until 2014 was the 3rd highest game player on 206 games. A barrel chested fullback/centre, he played in four winning and two losing grand final sides and was the fourth indigenous player for Australia, where he played 8 tests. However, it was his prowess as a deadly marksman that paved his way to possessing the all-time point scorers record – retiring with 1,841 – and kicking so many goals (803) and field goals (86), that the game was forced to change the rules. Not only that, he was the competitions leading point scorer for four consecutive seasons and in 1969, broke the record for most points in a season with 265. He twice scored 11 goals in a premiership match and once kicked FIVE field goals in ELEVEN minutes. Not only that, he scored 50 points in four World Cup matches in 1968, which is a record he still holds today.
A quiet, humble man, many of his team-mates laud his training ethic and dedication to improving his skills. Ron Coote and Bob McCarthy both reminisce that they used to watch Simms stand on the half-way line and just pot goal after goal after goal and hardly ever missed. They said Simms had ‘ice water in his veins’, but the goal-kicking sensation dismisses this, saying he always worried about everything when he kicked: the wind, the distance, the mound, the position of the ball.
Alan Whiticker, in his book Glory Days attributes Simms with ‘a beautifully balanced kicking style’. He writes:Head over the ball, both arms outstretched with the grace of a ballet dancer and faultless, right-foot follow through.
A role model in all senses, he humbly admits that the game is different now noting that players like Thurston and El Masri took goal-kicking to a whole other level. And consider this: in 1969, Simms kicked 19 field goals; in 1971, the year of the rule change, he kicked one, in the decider against Saints. Simms just shrugs it off. “It didn’t matter after that,” Simms says [talking of the rule change].
But for collectors of slabs of card, it does matter. Isn’t it high time someone fulfilled the collectors’ goal? After all, Simms was a game changer, and his signature card would definitely be something worth shooting for!
Michael Cronin
Before the 1980’s when the NSWRL expanded to include city teams such as Canberra, Illawarra, Newcastle and Brisbane, many regions in country NSW and QLD had legitimate rugby league competitions in their own right. The South Coast had always been very strong, supplying many ‘star’ players to NSWRL clubs in the ‘big smoke’. And it would be a humble lad from Gerringong that would be one of the last players to qualify for Australia from Country Representation and finally become a Parramatta legend and all time points scorer in the NSWRL as well as a much loved Australian centre.
Michael “The Crow” Cronin was a teenager when he debuted in 1969 and by 1973, had done enough to impress national selectors to make the 1973 Kangaroo Tour from Country reps, much to the chagrin of the Sydney sports press. He finished the tour as top scorer and continually knocked back the overtures of big city clubs until finally coming to terms with Parramatta in 1977 (after securing a ‘release’ from Canterbury’s Peter Moore after a ‘verbal’ agreement to join the Berries some years earlier). By this time he had played 8 seasons for Gerringong and went on to play 10 more for Parramatta.
Cronin was a consummate professional and commuted from Gerringong, where he ran the pub, to train and play for Parramatta. He had speed and strength to bust tackles, and guile to pop a pass to support players whilst he was a magician with the boot, toe-poking his way to 865 goals. A member ofthat star-studded Eels backline, he was there when Parramatta broke through for their maiden premiership in 1981, the three-peat years of 1982 and 1983, as well as being one of the vanquished in the 1977 and 1984 Grand Finals. And along with Ray Price, he bowed out a legend, retiring after his last game once winning the 1986 Premiership.
When he retired, he took with him 1971 points – at that time, the record. One can only imagine how many points he would have if he had played in the NSWRL between 1969-1976. He also represented Australia on 33 occasions, and NSW 29 times [6 Origins], carving himself his own little niche of State of Origin folklore when he and Artie Beetson ‘punched on’ in the inaugural game in 1980.
Today, ‘The Crow’ owns and runs the Gerringong Pub, coaches the local side and if you’re ever in his part of the world, pop in for a bevvy and a chat. Mick Cronin is so laid back and so knowledgeable about the game and how to improve it, it’s worth the price of a few schooners. A humble, genuine man, Cronin has his own stand at Parramatta Stadium. Isn’t it time he had his own signature card too?
Noel Kelly
When the Team of the Century was named in 2008, there was a kerfuffle over Noel Kelly’s selection at hooker. Despite arguments of a ‘Queensland conspiracy’ and controversy that he had shifted mid-career to prop, it was ironic that even in his twilight years, Noel Kelly was still ruffling feathers.
The first forward to make three Kanagroo Tours, Kelly was a roguish character who was sent off 17 times during his career (not all for foul play; many for scrum infringements) and was once sent off TWICE in the same match! A Queensland born player, he finally shifted to the Western Suburbs Magpies for the 1961 season, when they were known as the ‘Millionaire’s Club’. He had the indignity of playing three straight losing Grand Finals between 1961-63, and whilst the 1963 Grand Final is remembered for the Provan/Summons ‘Immortal’ photograph, Kelly has bitter memories of a game that legend has it was fixed by referee Darcy Lawler.
Often duelling with Ian Walsh (St George) for the hooking role, he ended up switching to prop for much personal success. Kelly wasn’t a large man, but he earned a reputation has an aggressive forward and hard man not to be messed with. Playing in an era when scrums were well fought contests, and hooking skills existed (unlike today’s ‘hookers’) and vital statistics printed in the Monday papers, both Kelly and Walsh showed the league fraternity that hookers could run the ball too, setting the competition alight as pioneers with their ‘attacking’ play.
A shock to be selected for the 1967/68 Kangaroos Tour, Kelly was to be the oldest player chosen and coming after weeks of lay-off from injury. It was a long tour, which included bouts of misbehaviour and laziness. At one point in France, Kelly stepped up and promised to whack anyone who didn’t pull up their socks. Everyone was afraid to take him on! A no nonsense bloke on and off the field, after retirement, Noel Kelly coached North Sydney with little success, participated in Rex Mossop’s popular ‘Controversy Corner’ on Channel 7, concentrated on his various business interests and was on the board of Men of League, whilst also remaining quotable in the press when discussions of ‘how the game has gone soft’ crop up from time to time.
For mine, Noel Kelly is a treasure from the ‘era of the biff’. And whilst his views on men being men and the game going soft aren’t to everyone’s tastes, I think it’s high time someone hooked this man in to sign us some cards. A signature card of Noel Kelly? Now that would ruffle collectors’ feathers!
Les Johns
Long before Newcastle produced an Immortal and made the surname ‘Johns’ synonymous with the Hunter, they gifted rugby league a blonde haired player, known fondly as ‘Golden Boy’. That player was none other than Les Johns.
Johns was a fullback of the highest class, equally adept and talented at cricket, who became a pin up during the 1960s along with other dazzling fullbacks of the era such as Langlands, Simms, Thornett and Barnes. A brilliant attacking player who possessed flair by the bucket-load, Johns shifted from the Newcastle competition and joined the Canterbury-Bankstown Berries in 1963 as a baby-faced twenty year old, and even though he played 103 games in nine seasons (due mainly to a recurring knee injury), he is firmly a favourite son out Belmore way.
A fantastic tackler, with extremely safe hands, and swift darting style, Johns wowed crowds in Australia and Britain, often being selected for Australia when the established fullback – Barnes or Langlands – was injured and ultimately playing in some classic test matches that secured Australia the Ashes. And despite being oft injured, he still made two Kangaroo Tours, impressing the British crowds with his skill and demeanour.
Les Johns will long be remembered for his inspirational play in the nail-biting 1967 grand final. Contesting the match against the up & coming Rabbitohs juggernaut, and having knocked Saints out of premiership contention for the first time since 1955, it took the famous Bob McCarthy intercept try for the Berries to be thwarted. Ice cool and giving it his absolute all, in 2008, when Clive Churchill Medals were retrospectively awarded for Grand Finals prior to 1986, Les Johns was selected, despite having played in the losing side, so regarded was his performance on that day.
Injuries curtailed many of Johns’ seasons – in three consecutive winters, he could only play 11 matches – but when he did play, he was simply electric. Crowds responded to his positive play and ability to defend like a bulldog. It seems apt, that in 1978, the Berries rechristened themselves the Bulldogs.
And despite only playing 103 games for the Berries, he retired in 1971 with the most club points (545) and had taken a struggling club and moulded it in to consistent contenders. In 1963, the Berries were in such dire straits, Johns scored 87 of the 170 points for the season; by 1967 they were Grand Finalists. And even today, despite having El Masri, Halligan and Lamb as magnificent goal-kickers, Johns remains fifth on the Bulldogs list of goal-kickers and all-time point scorers.
After retirement, Les Johns worked as an ABC commentator and had a long grade cricket career. An automatic selection in Newcastle Region and Bulldogs ‘best of’ teams, Johns was deservedly selected in the 100 Greatest Players in the Centenary Season.
And sure, there are plenty of Bulldogs ‘legends’ that have, or are waiting in line for, an autograph card. But for mine, you miss a golden opportunity in high-end collecting if you don’t have the man they call ‘Golden Boy’ signing on the dotted line.
John Sattler
Broken jaw. There, said it.
John Sattler was another product of the Newcastle rugby league nursery, signing with the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 1963. In his early days, he earned a reputation for being a firebrand, yet he had the nickname ‘Gentleman John’ for being a polite, soft-spoken gentleman off the field. Along with his young teammates, they took on the all-conquering Saints in the 1965 decider, which they narrowly lost 8-12 before a then record crowd of 78,056.
However, it was the arrival of club legend Clive Churchill as coach in 1967 that saw not only John Sattler blossom as a player, but saw the clubs fortunes rise too. Churchill selected Sattler as captain, despite John’s initial reluctance, and Sattler took Souths to the next five grand finals, winning four during the Rabbitohs last glamour era. He played where he was needed in the pack, but was at his devastating best at front-row. And consider who Sattler’s team-mates were in the pack: Ron Coote, John O’Neill, Elwyn Walters, Bob McCarthy, Gary Stevens – many of which litter ‘best ever’ Souths lists, and are included in ‘best ever’ overall lists.
John Sattler’s biggest regret is the 1969 shock Grand Final loss to Balmain. Despite being red hot, odds on favourites to win their third premiership in a row, Sattler recalls the lackadaisical attitude in the sheds before kick off, whereby he begged his cohorts to remain focussed on the match at hand, noting that the Tigers would be tough opposition. Rejecting the notion the Rabbits only had to ‘turn up and win’, he says they underestimated the Tigers and also knocks on the head the belief the Tigers played within the rules, laying down and slowing the play.
Representing Australia on four occasions, injuries, such as his broken jaw, and suspensions often robbed him of national selection. However, he did captain Australia and would have been captain of the 1970 touring side if it not for that jaw. He also represented Queensland and NSW on a few occasions. And considering he was known as ‘Gentleman John’, Sattler was sent off 15 times in his career and earned 30 weeks suspension. Yet Sattler often played injured, powering forward with brutish ferocity and destroying opponents with his physicality. Contesting 195 club games, he would have easily ended up playing the most games for Souths had it not been for the suspensions, but would have played many less if he had succumbed to injuries.
He moved to Queensland in 1973 and entered the hotel business after retirement. Sattler was part of a distinguished consortium vying to enter a Brisbane team in to the NSWRL in the late 1980’s, ultimately securing a licence to bring the Gold Coast-Tweed Heads Giants in to the competition and that genesis led to today’s successful Gold Coast Titans franchise. A fantastic ambassador for the code, his own son Scott earned his own magic moment in Grand Final history in 2003.
And despite all this, John Sattler is remembered mostly for that courageous Grand Final day in 1970 where Manly-Warringah’s John Bucknall smashed him off the ball. Sattler played that match with that horrendously broken jaw. And consider this: if the ‘Immortals’ photograph defines the ‘sportsmanship’ of rugby league, pictures of John Sattler, smile askew, bloodied lips and rabbit logo torn from his jersey certainly symbolises the ‘physical and mental toughness’ of its combatants – almost single-handedly defining the South Sydney Rabbitohs ethos.
Personally, my own grandfather had business dealings with Sattler in the 1960’s and 1970’s, and despite being a Saints supporter for 80 years he has always regarded John Sattler as an amazing player and the most wonderful person. As a Souths supporter myself, John Sattler evokes memories of past deeds, heroism and the triumph of a proud rugby league club. And whilst I ache for the next Souths premiership, I ache to pluck out his autograph from a packet of footy cards. That would be ‘the one’ for me. And I can see the picture now: yep…that jaw.
The post Legendary players without a signature card (1960-80) – PART 2 appeared first on Australian Sports Card Collector Magazine.
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