Massie's Maulers: The men that shaped Maroochydore Swans
100 YEAR FEATURE: A ragtag bunch of "misfits and rebels” they were known, thrown together at a minute's notice, one handshake and they were off.
Sunshine Coast
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A RAGTAG bunch of "misfits and rebels” they were known, thrown together at a minute's notice, one handshake and they were off.
Maroochydore Swans of 1973, the Sunshine Coast Rugby League's new kids on the block.
Going into a competition dominated by Nambour's All Whites and Souths, they were expected to crash and burn.
This is the team that shaped a generation of talents, before the Swans went on to win nine premierships.
Sunshine Coast A-grade in the 70s was not bush footy, these were hardened players, Queenslanders and Australians full.
At the time "supercoach” Ray Laird was the captain of Queensland, Lee Hutchinson his halfback, the mighty John Reddy was in full flight while Syd Clarke and Peter Somerville were all running around.
Captain coach Ian Massie said the talk of the town had the Swans at "100s and 1000s” (to do well).
"Being captain coach, it was a nice challenge,” Massie said.
"I was still living in Brisbane at the time travelling up and down.
"It took a fair bit of gelling to start with and a few sherbets after game day.
"Scrums were scrums back then, the hooker had to hook, whether it was with his feet or fists, a different time.”
But with Massie - the Brisbane champion who played a record eight grand finals with Norths - they had a leader.
The Green Boys became Massie's Maulers - the reserve grade team coached by Horrie Robinson became Horrie's Horrors.
A-grade hooker Sid Page remembers those years well.
He said Maroochydore wouldn't have been the force it was without Massie - the toughest player he laced up alongside.
"I'm glad he was on our team, he didn't give an inch,” Page said.
"In the dressing room, he was always pacing up and down, all the time. Telling us to stick together, one in all in type.
"He was a good coach and a great man.
"He had this block of land on Jones Road and for pre season we would all run up those bloody hills at Buderim.
"But you couldn't complain cause he was doing it too. It was pretty rugged.”
Lock forward and Olympic boxer Benny Pike slotted in at lock - playing at 11 stone (70kgs) wringing wet.
"When we first started, we basically shook hands on the training ground and that was it,” Pike said.
"We played our first trial at Maroochydore High School, it was a bit strange not really knowing anyone.
"But we were lucky in that Mass blended us well together. Even the games we lost were close.”
While the A-grade side made it to the big dance in 73, they lost the grand final to Souths.
But the mighty black Swans weren't just a club of strangers - they became a family club too. Something they still are today.
"I had just moved up from Sydney, with my young family, I heard this new team had started up so I came along and met Mass,” Page said.
"A weird thing was, we actually had three sets of brothers playing.
"We had Glen and Greg Rogerson, Geoff and Billy Bunter and Noel and Peter Law.
"It was a commentator's nightmare.”
Don't miss our special 100th centenary feature magazine celebrating Sunshine Coast and Gympie Rugby League.
It features every club and their history. It's included in the Daily on Friday, March 29.
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