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Born | New South Wales, Australia | 29 April 1947||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Position | Halfback | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Johnny Mayes (born 29 April 1947) is an Australian former rugby league halfback who represented Australia in the 1975 World Cup. He also played in three consecutive premiership-winning teams from 1973 to 1975, the first for Manly-Warringah and the latter two for Eastern Suburbs. His feat of playing in three consecutive premiership sides for different clubs is comparable only with Glenn Lazarus in the early 1990s for Canberra and the Brisbane Broncos, who played in four premiership sides between 1989 and 1993 and with Cooper Cronk who won three premierships with the Melbourne Storm and the Sydney Roosters from 2017 to 2019.
Mayes had a slow start to his career with Eastern Suburbs owing to competition from established 1967–68 Kangaroo tour half Kevin Junee. He first played first grade in 1968, but was still mostly in reserve grade for several years. When Junee was injured in the years after winning the Rothmans Medal in 1970, Mayes spent a considerable amount of time in first grade and for part of 1972 actually relegated Junee to the reserves - though by finals time Junee had displaced him again, playing in the club's 19–14 Grand Final loss to Manly-Warringah.
Being a similar type of halfback to Junee, Mayes naturally sought another club to be sure of a first grade berth and Manly, with Dennis Ward dropping out, picked him up for the 1973 season. Mayes' growth as a player that year was remarkable. He scored sixteen tries - four in one match against Penrith - and won Rugby League Week's Player of the Year award. He was freely tipped to go on the 1973 Kangaroo tour but was not chosen, and was, remarkably, swapped for Junee so he could return to Easts the following year.
This rather unusual swap was surprisingly beneficial for Mayes. Junee was the 1974 season's leading try-scorer, whilst Mayes' courageous defence and frequent darting runs helped Easts develop a powerful attack and solid defence that ensured the team dropped only seven games under coach Jack Gibson in 1974 and 1975. In the 1975 Grand Final Mayes scored a brilliant try after an arcing run cross-field by winger Bruce Pickett and another one after running through a gaping hole, whilst he scored four tries for the second time against Canterbury-Bankstown.
However, with Junee's return to Easts and the unexpected emergence of the relatively unknown Kevin Hastings, Mayes spent much of 1976 in reserve grade again despite actually being the incumbent Australian test halfback. During the 1976 season, Mayes played in Easts victory in their unofficial 1976 World Club Challenge match against reigning British champions St. Helens at the Sydney Cricket Ground. With Junee gone for good, he fought with Hastings for a first grade spot in 1977 before returning to Newcastle where he captained the Newcastle representative team to a win over New Zealand in 1978.
In all Mayes played 134 first grade games for 71 tries and three field goals (two two-point and one one-point). In 1975 he was the season's leading try-scorer with sixteen. [3]
At the end of the 1975 season, Mayes was selected to represent Australia in that year's Rugby League World Cup, playing in the 24–8 win over New Zealand at Carlaw Park in Auckland and the 18–6 win over Wales at the St Helens Ground in Swansea. His final game for Australia came in a 16–13 loss to England at Central Park in Wigan. [4]
Christopher Anderson is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1990s and 2000s. An Australian Kangaroos and New South Wales Blues representative winger, he featured in Canterbury-Bankstown's third grand final win and captained Halifax to both League and Cup success.
Terry Hill is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a centre in the 1990s and 2000s. He played in the NRL for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Eastern Suburbs, Western Suburbs Magpies, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and the Wests Tigers as well as representative football for New South Wales and Australia. He is also well known for his promotional television work with Lowes Menswear.
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Graham "Wombat" Eadie, is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He has been named amongst Australia's finest of the 20th century. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australian international representative fullback, he played in Australia during Manly-Warringah's dominance of the NSWRFL competition during the 1970s. He won four premierships with them and his 1,917 points in first grade and 2,070 points in all grades were both records at the time of his retirement. Eadie also played in England for Halifax, winning the Challenge Cup Final of 1987 with them. He also won World Cups with Australia and collected awards such as the Rothmans Medal and Lance Todd Trophy.
Dennis Ward was an Australian professional rugby league footballer. He was a halfback who played first grade in the NSWRFL Premiership for Canterbury-Bankstown and Manly-Warringah from 1965 to 1972, winning the 1972 Grand Final with Manly. He also played for City Firsts, New South Wales and Australia in representative football.
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The 1972 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 65th season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Twelve teams, including six of 1908's foundation clubs and another six from across Sydney, competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in a grand final match between the Manly-Warringah and Eastern Suburbs clubs.
Geoff Gerard is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. An Australia international and New South Wales State of Origin representative forward, he played his club football with Sydney clubs Parramatta, Manly Warringah and Penrith, and also spent time with English clubs Wakefield Trinity and Hull FC. From the time of his retirement in early 1989 to mid-1994 he held the record for the most career New South Wales Rugby League premiership first-grade games until overtaken by Terry Lamb. He holds the distinction of playing in the most first-grade grand finals (five) without ever winning one.
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The history of the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles dates back to 1932 when the Manly-Warringah Junior Rugby Football League was founded. In 1947 the New South Wales Rugby Football League included two additional teams: Manly-Warringah DRLFC and Parramatta DRLFC. The new club adopted the nickname "Sea Eagles" and went on to compete in every season of top-level rugby league until merging with the nearby North Sydney Bears to form the Northern Eagles club at the end of 1999. After three years the joint-venture team was disbanded with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles returning as a sole entity once more to the National Rugby League.
The 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the fortieth season of Sydney’s top-level rugby league competition, Australia’s first. For the first time, the number of clubs in the league reached double digits due to the admission of Manly-Warringah and Parramatta to the first grade competition. The season culminated in a grand final between the Balmain and Canterbury-Bankstown clubs.
Frank Stanton, also known by the nickname of "Biscuits", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, and was a successful club and national representative coach in the 1970s and 1980s. He was educated at North Sydney Boys High School. Both his playing and his club coaching careers were with the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, although he later also went on to coach the Balmain Tigers and North Sydney Bears. He enjoyed success as coach of the Australian national side from 1978 to 1984, being at the helm in the period when the Kangaroos began to consistently dominate the other rugby league playing nations. Since the death of Norm Provan on 13 October 2021, Stanton is both the oldest and earliest winning of all the living premiership winning coaches.
Mike Anthony Eden is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s. The slightly built Eden played for Manly-Warringah, Eastern Suburbs, Parramatta and the Gold Coast in the NSWRL premiership. Originally appearing in the halves, he later played at fullback.
Alan Thompson is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach. He played for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition from 1973 to 1984 and coached the club in 1989. He primarily played at Five-eighth.
Russel Gartner, also known by the nickname of "Frog eyes", is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. An international representative three-quarter, He played for Manly, Balmain and Easts in the NSWRFL premiership.
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