Lauded Wallaby and Queensland sporting great John Eales has never forgot his humble start

When John Eales was speaking with Wally Lewis at the unveiling of his statue outside of Suncorp Stadium on Monday, Eales uttered the word “humbling’’. Eales did not just mouth the word, he would have meant it.

When John Eales was speaking with Wally Lewis at the unveiling of his statue outside of Suncorp Stadium on Monday, Eales uttered the word “humbling’’.

Eales did not just mouth the word, he would have meant it.

The ex-Wallaby, Queensland and Brothers captain, may now live in Sydney and mix with the rich corporate heavyweights, but he has not forgot his past.

$1 FOR 28 DAYS: SUBSCRIBE TO CITY NORTH NEWS & THE COURIER MAIL

Eales grew up in working class Keperra and while he did not live in a Housing Commission home, there were plenty of them just across Dawson Pde from where he went to school at St William’s Catholic School.

Humble were his parents, Jack and Rosa, and so to was his cherished Nona.

John Eales and Australian scrum-half George Gregan. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)

Through his secondary schooling at Marist College Ashgrove and beyond, Eales never had the strut of being the star footballer.

Marist may have been a private school, but when Eales went through the college there were more sons of policemen, painters and plumbers than lawyers.

He played club rugby at Brothers and it was not long before then state coach John Connolly had him in the Queensland Reds.

John Eales kicking a winning goal against New Zealand. Credit: Scott Barbour/ALLSPORT

The Reds were an environment where being a good person was just as important as being a good player.

It was an atmosphere generated from the top of the tree courtesy of Connolly and his succession of offsiders like John Brass, Andrew Slack, Grant Batty, Bill Ross and two late managers, John Breen and Lou Sorensen.

Eales and the Marist College Asdhgrove rugby dream team

Eales fitted into that culture like a glove, all the while being a sublime player, the complete international forward and a goal kicker.

His old neighbours from Keperra, or his Ashgrove and Brothers mates would not be surprised Eales used word “humble’’ on Monday around the unveiling of his statue.

They know exactly what he is like and how he will always be. Humble.