Matty Johns looks back on his favourite players, games and moments from rugby league in the ‘90s
WHEN I joined the Knights, rugby league was bubbling with larger than life characters, cigarettes and beers, tall tales and legendary rivalries. Matty Johns remembers the golden decade of the game...
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I LOVE Retro Round and god I loved the 90s. I left school in 1989 and joined the Newcastle Knights, where I would spend the entire decade.
At the beginning of the 90s, players still worked jobs, weights were optional and going to the pub after training compulsory.
By the end of the decade, things had changed dramatically.
We were full-time professionals, expectations rose and the pub was off-limits, except after a win.
Here’s how I remember the decade...
BEST TEAM: CANBERRA RAIDERS, 1994
From the fullback through to the front-row, they were superstars. With the football they were brilliant, but they also had a nasty edge to their defence. They wanted to keep you to zero and they wanted to bash you up.
BEST GAME: 1990 ASHES SERIES, GAME 2, OLD TRAFFORD
In Game 1 of the series, Great Britain beat Australia at Wembley. In Game 2, with the scores tied and only seconds left, Australia scored a length-of-the-field try to save the series. The match had absolutely everything, including a Cliffy Lyons try that was one of the best team tries of all time.
BEST PLAYER: RICKY STUART
In a superstar team, Ricky was the one who made it all work. He changed the game with his brilliant passing, long kicking and ability to control all things around him.
BEST COMBINATION: ALF AND KEVVIE
When you played the Broncos, Alfie Langer and Kevvie Walters just attacked your middle relentlessly. The first players to really play that “flat and fast” style.
BEST RIVALRY: SPUD v CHIEF
Paul Harragon and Mark Carroll genuinely disliked one another. They turned every Knights v Manly game into an event. Phil Gould once roomed them together during an Origin series — they barely looked at one another, let alone talked.
GREATEST WINNER: GLENN LAZARUS
Just edges out Kevin Walters. Wherever he went, his team won. He won at the Raiders, then taught the Broncos how to win, before leading the Storm to the ’99 title.
BEST OLD-SCHOOL PLAYER: CLIFF LYONS
On the field, Cliff Lyons was a magician, off the field he loved a beer, a smoke and a tap on the pokies ... most days.
WORST FASHION: DRAGONS TORPEDO PANTS
They were worn by the St George Dragons players in the early ‘90s to avoid getting corked thighs. Looked particularly bad on Tony Priddle, Ian “Chook” Herron and Matthew “Mullet Man” Elliott.
BEST CULT HERO: JOHN SCHUSTER
Johnny Schuster was a star centre for the New Zealand All Blacks when the Knights signed him in 1991. When he arrived at Newcastle, he was asked by a reporter what he knew about rugby league. He replied, “Not much, I just hope it’s not as tough as it looks on TV.”
After struggling initially, he found his feet and became a sensation for the Knights. Every time he touched the ball, the crowd would scream in unison, “Shu, Shu, Shu...” Enormous right-foot sidestep.
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BIGGEST SURPRISE: MELBOURNE STORM
John Ribot assembled this team essentially with unsigned players from defunct Super League teams the Western Reds and the Hunter Mariners after they were axed from the competition.
They made the finals in Year 1 (1998) and won the comp in Year 2. Incredible.
FUNNIEST PLAYER: DARREN BRITT
Britty had a long career with both Wests and Canterbury. He was a clever ball-playing front-rower whose greatest skill was telling a yarn. One of the joys of representative sides was sitting down, having a beer with Britty and just letting him tell story after story for hours on end.
BEST MASCOT: CAPTAIN CHARGER
The Gold Coast Chargers’ mascot turned into a cult hero through the late ‘90s. Some of his antics were highly questionable, as was his attire, but nonetheless extremely entertaining.
BEST JERSEY: AUCKLAND WARRIORS 1995
When the Auckland Warriors arrived in season ’95, I thought their blue home jersey was an absolute ripper.
WEIRDEST CAT: ADAM MacDOUGALL
He denies them, but all the stories are true. Talked to his legs before big games, had blocks of cheese in his glovebox for protein snacks and was once overheard lamenting “God hates me” after a sub-par performance.
BIGGEST STORY: SUPER LEAGUE
One of the biggest stories in the history of the game. When the headlines hit on April 1, 1995, it was surreal.
BEST SLEDGER: MATTHEW RIDGE
For pure vitriol and relentlessness, Matthew Ridge just edges out Ricky Stuart and Paul Langmack.
WORST ROOMMATE: JASON SMITH
I roomed with Smithy during the 1995 World Cup in England. We walked into our hotel room in Leeds, Smithy immediately grabbed a chair, climbed up and disengaged the smoke alarm, then threw himself on to the bed, lit up and basically smoked for six weeks.
TOUGHEST PLAYER: GEOFF TOOVEY
No player absorbed more punishment than Geoff Toovey and he’d just bounce back to his feet. He aimed up in every moment of his 286-game career.
BEST AWAY GROUND: WIN STADIUM WOLLONGONG
Always a fast track and it was a ground where you got your bearings easily. The crowd were close to the action, and nice and vocal.
BEST MAD MONDAY: 1997 NEWCASTLE
After celebrating the grand final win with more than 100,000 Novocastrians in the city centre, we arrived at Marathon Stadium for Mad Monday, where my brother Joey had hijacked Silverchair’s Daniel Johns and brought him to the party. After looking on silently for an hour or two, the singer declared “You guys are weird” and left.
Originally published as Matty Johns looks back on his favourite players, games and moments from rugby league in the ‘90s
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