BRL FOOTY FLASHBACKS: Brisbane Brothers best team 1970-2021
To celebrate the rugby league season, we start a BRL footy flashback three-part series naming the best Brothers, Wests Panthers and the Valleys teams from 1970 to today. Today, Past Brothers feature.
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Incumbent State of Origin young gun Lindsay Collins and former Australian front rower Dave Shillington would be automatic selections in Brisbane Brothers best team since 1970.
Both Brothers juniors, they spent their formative years playing junior league at Gibson Park while attending near-by Padua College.
Collins was a member of Queensland’s next generation of Origin player who was swept into the state side last November, helping the Maroons to an upset 2-1 series win.
Shillington, also a front rower, played 14 Tests and eight matches for Queensland during an NRL career with the Roosters and Raiders before a farewell season at the Gold Coast.
Both are NRL footballers younger followers of rugby league can relate with.
But long before they were born, Brisbane Brothers were a powerful club in the BRL (Brisbane Rugby League) competition.
Indeed Brothers won the last BRL premiership in 1987 prior to the Brisbane Broncos entry into the then NSWRL which changed the landscape of the BRL forever.
Brothers is Wayne Bennett’s old club, and in the 1970s Bennett, David Wright and Mark Thomas all represented Australia from the club, while another Brothers’ star, Queensland centre Graham Quinn, played for Australia after moving to Sydney (St George).
When selecting the side a decision had to be made as to whether include Brothers stalwarts of three seasons or more, or also pick players like ‘87 grand final stars Mark Coyne, Jim Stafford, Brett Le Man, Tony Rea and Clinton Mohr who were at the club for less than three seasons. Stafford, Rea and Mohr were 1986 Brothers scholarship inductees.
Tough as teak Dan Stains (1985-86) falls into that category as well because he left for Sydney in 1987 - although he left an indelible mark and was attributed to contributing to Brothers’ innovative defensive formation of that era.
And while legends like Wayne Abdy and Col Weiss played their best football for Brothers in the late 1960s, their careers continued into the early 1970s.
It is a side so strong, that Georgie Doniger, a winger and excitement machine, misses out, and so does Bob Kellaway because he was more a Souths and Ipswich player.
Two heart and soul Brothers players who missed selection but who must be recognised were prop Peter McNamara and 1987 premiership winner Jeff Burns.
Burns was part of an exciting crop of juniors like Rob Grogan, Shane McErlean, John McGraw and Trevor Bailey.
McNamara, from Stanthorpe, was the club’s 1974 grand final prop and was a wonderful ball playing prop.
RELATED LINKS
THE BRL’S BEST TEAM OF THE 1980s
And of course post Broncos there were some outstanding Brothers players including Gavin Darwin who must have been a finger nail from being signed by the Broncos, and fellow Queensland Residents players like Rob Cannon, Chris Essex, Brett Green, Matt Fisher, Eric Kennedy, Scott Maguire and Justin Murphy.
Steve Davis was also a powerhouse second rower who played above his weight while McGraw and Steve Telfer were long serving club legends.
Although Mohr misses this year because of our three season rule, he needs to be acknowledged.
In 1987 Mohr had a winter of dreams when he was the best fullback in the BRL. Indeed so hot was his form, he forced Joe Kilroy from No. 1 to the wing.
It was a startling one-off season by a rookie who a year earlier shared the Brothers scholarship house with Jim Stafford, Tony Rea and NRL coach to be Anthony Griffin.
WHAT ABOUT THIS FOR A TEAM?
FULLBACK
JOE KILROY
Smokin’ Joe was a Brothers sensation between 1984 and 1987, a remarkable attacking footballer with X-factor and more X-factor. He has the distinction of being one of the few players to score a try from the start of the match when he caught the ball from the kick-off against his old club of Norths at Bishop Park, and 11 seconds later was placing it between the posts.
IAN DAUTH
A Brothers goalkicking favourite who had a legion of fans mimicking his unusual approach to toe-poking. Dauth would start the approach to the ball by raising his right leg hip height, before moving in to kick the ball. It was effective and he was the champion kicker of his era in the BRL who was eventually rewarded with state selection.
WAYNE BENNETT
The long striding Bennett came from the Darling Downs to Past Brothers where he played wing and fullback. One career highlight came in the 1974 semi-final against Norths when he started a 110m movement, shedding tackles before finding winger Ian Dauth who scored.
He rose to Queensland and Australian honours.
CENTRES
MARK THOMAS
Thomas was a wonderful outside centre with a natural ability to beat a man on the outside. Thomas played his way into the 1977 World Cup when he stood up NSW and Australian champion Steve Rogers during the interstate series. A knee injury curtailed Thomas soon after, but at his peak he was a special talent. He later switched to Easts where he represented Brisbane as the reserve back, but his peak was pre-injury at Brothers.
GRAHAM QUINN
The bigger the match, the better Graham Quinn went. Quinn was primarily a defensive centre who wore his opposite number like a glove. There is no greater compliment for Quinn other than to say Australian and NSW champion Mick Cronin had the highest regard for him. After representing Queensland in 1976, Quinn went to Sydney where he won two premiership with St George and played for Australia (1980). He also owns the hard luck story of State of Origin history because he was going to be named Queensland winger in the historic Origin clash in 1980, but injured himself the afternoon the side was picked while playing for St George.
PETER GILL
Gill was a fantastic utility player from the Darling Downs who could play fullback, five-eight or lock with ease. He was just a footballer, a clever ballplayer who knew when to run and pass. He was just a good footballer and was instrumental in the club’s 1987 premiership win.
HALFBACK
GREG SMITH
A true-blue Brothers’ boy, Smith was a stalwart of the club who deservedly enjoyed premiership success in 1987. He was also one of the BRL’s great cover defenders, playing in the second line and sweeping across the field to bring off try-saving tackles if the front line had been breached.
LOCK
WAYNE ABDY
Abdy was as fit as a fiddle whose endurance and toughness was renowned. He played his best football in the 1960s, but he did play into the 1970s and was such a club champion it was impossible to leave him out.
SECOND ROWERS
DAVID WRIGHT
Wright was Brothers’ forward leader of the early to mid 1970s who just missed premierships in 1974 and 1976. He was also one of the first players chosen in Barry Muir’s Queensland teams, an era when the Maroons were highly competitive against the all-star NSW Blues. Wright also had the distinction of playing for Australia in 1975, setting up an early try with a clever pass to his Queensland teammate Lew Platz while playing against New Zealand. One of the highlights of Wright’s life was playing with Warrington in 1973-74 during the BRL off-season, which included winning the Challenge Cup final in front of a huge crowd.
COL WEISS
Not unlike Abdy, Weiss was a fitness fanatic whose endurance gave him the edge over opponents. A Brothers captain coach, he played for Australia, finishing up with Brisbane Brothers in 1973.
PROPS
DAVE SHILLINGTON
A big, mobile prop, Shillington is a Brothers junior from Gibson Park, Stafford, which qualifies him for this side despite not playing senior league at the club. He had a huge impact on the Roosters and Raiders, and played for Queensland and Australia (14 Tests). When he returned to Queensland to live, Shillington put back into his old junior club by coaching teams.
LEN DITTMAR
Tough as teak Dittmar makes this team in a canter, such is his reputation among his peers. Don’t take my word for it, just ask Brothers champion and former Queensland and Australian second rower Noel Cavanagh who once said: “(Brian) Davies and (Duncan) Hall were the best two forwards to play for Queensland. I’d always have them in my team. And Lenny Dittmar is not far behind them.’’
HOOKER
TREVOR BAILEY
That Bailey beats an Australian player – Brian Fitzsimmons – into the side says everything. A Brothers junior from under 6s, Bailey was a great leader with explosive pace out of dummy half. In a powerful era of hookers which included Greg Conescu, David Green, Billy Johnstone, Steve Walters and Eddie Muller, Bailey held his own. He captained the club to the 1987 premiership.
RESERVES
LINDSAY COLLINS
A modern day marvel who was a member of Queensland’s 2020 State of Origin winning side. A Padua College old boy, Collins learned his junior football at Gibson Park, home of the Brothers juniors, where he played with his brother. His career is really only starting, so watch this space.
BRIAN FITZSIMMONS
An Australian representative, Fitzsimmons was a superlative striker of the ball when hookers needed to fight for the tight head and win possession in the scrum.
CHIPS HARRINGTON
One of the cult heroes of the BRL, big Chippsy Harrington had the crowd roaring when he carried the ball forward. He won the man of the match award when Brothers became the first Queensland team to win an Amco Cup midweek match against Sydney opponents (Penrith).
STEVE CARTER
Carter was a dynamic, mobile front rower who joined Brothers in 1985 from Wests. He played the match of his career in the losing 1986 grand final side and then played a big role in Brothers’ premiership win the following year - the same season he represented Queensland Residents.
BOB COCK
Towering prop or second rower, Cock was one of the impact forwards of the BRL. The 30,000 people who saw his inspired performance against the Test pack while playing for Queensland against NSW in 1979 will never forget his performance. It took him to the brink of Test selection, but unfortunately he injured his shoulder during the Game 1 combat and could not repeat his heroics in the return interstate clash in Sydney.
GARY SMITH
Smith was a mobile second rower from the Sunshine Coast, the type of player master coaches like Wayne Bennett, Jack Gibson and Craig Bellamy would have in their side in a heart beat. Indeed it was under Bennett’s coaching that Smith played his six minutes of State of Origin football after being named in the bench for Game One, 1987. He later had a long career with North Sydney, but he was the cornerstone of Brothers making successive grand finals (1986-87).
In addition, lets take the time to acknowledge some other great pre-1970 players from the club. Brothers had many champions such as Mick Shannon, Barry Kenning, Brian Milburn, Jack Reardon, Tom Gorman, John Gleeson, Eric Gelling, Barry Dowling, Reg Cannon, Barry O’Connor, Noel Cavanagh, Brian Davies, Peter Gallager, Dennis Manteit, John Bourke, John Lohmann, Graham Cronk, Pat Maguire, Frank Melit, Eddie Brosnan, Brian O’Connor, Vince Nicholas, Phil Colman, Bill Law, Jack Little, Vince Hogan, Jack Ryrie, Larry Gillespie and Bill Dall who stood over teams.
TOMORROW
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