GPS First XV rugby: Nudgee’s best - past and present
GPS First XV rugby: St Joseph’s Nudgee College’s greatest ever back and forward - plus the Best of the Rest, including past and present players.
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Is there a greater nursery of representative rugby talent than St Joseph’s Nudgee College?
Possibly not.
Before the COVID-19 shutdown, the current crop of Nudgee College First XV players had assumed premiership favouritism after two rounds.
Lock Daniel Maiava was spearheading the pack and outside centre Rob Toia was in a world of his own - two players in a well oiled, 15-man machine.
They are two of several stars of today.
But the college’s honour board is also awash with past giants of the game - including incumbent Wallaby James O’Connor and new Queensland Reds centrte Josh Flook.
So who is the greatest? And who are the best of the rest?
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TERRACE’S GREATEST PLAYER - and the best of the rest
THE GREATEST
MARK LOANE - forward
Mark Loane is without peer.
He was a No. 8 with pace, power and toughness. But Loane’s impact could be sensed before a ball was kicked off, such was the manner in which he strode onto the field for the start of play. He had a presence about him. Teammates loved playing with him, opponents loathed playing against him.
PAUL McLEAN - back
If Loane is Nudgee’s greatest player, McLean is the college’s second best - by a distance.
McLean was class, pure class. With silken hands he could put an teammate away, but his own attacking game sounded alarm bells when he carried the ball. He was quick with rare evasive skills. He could play fullback or fly-half with ease, and was a wonderful toe-poking goalkicker.
BEST OF THE REST
THE ERA - 2000s
JAMES O’CONNOR
O’Connor is so gifted, you get the impression he could twirl a football on the end of his finger, then drop it toward the ground and boot it torpedo style 50m up field. He is a rare talent, and for this reason has been the source of aggravation for rugby fans pining to see his best. A journeyman who has rebounded between provinces, it feel just right to have O’Connor back where it all began here in Queensland.
SEAN McMAHON
Another elite loose forward who, like Richard Brown, Queensland supporters have sadly seen too little of after he broke into the senior representative rugby ranks as a 7s player. He first represented the Wallabies in 2014 - but only after being encouraged to commit more to the code three years earlier by the great Michael O’Connor. O’Connor was a dual international, but also an elite talent scout who spotted McMahon at a Noosa seven-a-side tournament. One thing led to another and eventually McMahon was ushered into the Australian 7s team - at the time the youngest to don that jersey.
JOE TOMANE
Tomane was a thrilling schoolboy player who, playing in the same backline as James O’Connor, thrilled GPS First XV crowds. He was initially lost to the 15-a-side man game, but worked his way back into rugby via the Brumbies where his stunning talent could not be ignored, leading to him winning 17 caps.
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THE GPS FIRST XV SEASON IN PICTURES - SO FAR
RICHARD BROWN
A First XV teammate of Hugh McMeniman and Rocky Elsom, Brown was an elite flanker whose mobility and skill set was initially recognised by seven-a-side representative selectors. Sadly Queensland Reds fans saw too much of Brown playing against them after he was wooed west to Perth
SEAN HARDMAN
A great team man, wonderful technician who served Queensland loyally and who deservedly broke in the Wallaby squad in 2002 - leading to four caps. Can you believe his 14-year provincial career left him the Reds’ most capped player of all-time (148). It is an amazing achievement - particularly playing in the gruelling tight five (hooker). Hats off to him.
HUGH MCMENIMAN
A towering lock, Hugh McMeniman played 22 Tests. He was also an elite schoolboy who was so skilled, he could play lock or blindside flanker. Standing 200cm in height and weighing 114kg, who was a damaging ball runner.
ROCKY ELSOM
A brute of a forward, Rocky Elsom played an amazing 75 Tests - mostly from the NSW Waratahs. A border from Noosa, he was a two season First XV player who first broke into provincial rugby in 2003. He played mainly blindside flanker, but could play No. 8 with ease. He was a Wallaby captain, a two-time World Cup veteran and just one of Nudgee’s greatest ever.
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PLAYERS TO WATCH - SEASON 2021
WILL CHAMBERS
A rough and tumble competitor who boarded at Nudgee from the Top End, Chambers was a fine centre who established an outstanding rugby league career - although he did have a stint with the Reds.
PETER HEWAT
From the rugby rich New England region of country NSW, Hewat was an outstanding utility back with vision, pace and ball skills making him an appealing option at fullback - although he could play a number of position with ease. A teammate of the great Elton Flatley, Hewat had a nice provincial career with New South Wales.
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ROUND 2 - SIX THINGS WE LEARNED
JUNIOR PELESASA
Pelesasa was a schoolboy prodigy who made the Australian schoolboys from Nudgee, and later Australian under 21 and Australia A sides. He swung between league and union, with the best of his rugby form coming with the NSW Waratahs.
THE ERA - 1990s
ELTON FLATLEY
There are many outstanding judges who rate Flatley the best, if not one of the best, First XV schoolboy players of all time. A three season First XV player who could fill No. 10 or No. 12 with ease, Flatley had flair, pace, handling skills and high class goal kicking skills.
But he was also tough and fierceness in defence, a trait which earned the respective of those who were hard to please. He performed with distinction for both Queensland and the Wallabies. His career spanned the mid-1990s well into the 2000s.
GLENN PANOHO
Panoho was a highly skilled prop whose career straddled both the 1990s and 2000. Like the great Tony D’Arcy, Panoho could play both sides of the scrum. He was aprop with great hands and skills who mustered 21 Tests - the last of which was against New Zealand.
ERA - 1975-1989
TONY D’ARCY
D’Arcy’s road into the Firsts - the Wallabies - should be introduced into the school curriculum and cited as an example to children that dreams can come true.
D’Arcy went from a C’s standard fullback at The Southport School in year 10, into a First XV prop at Nudgee College in year 11. In year 12 he established himself as the premier schoolboy prop, touring with the Australian schoolboys alongside Wally Lewis, Mark Ella, Michael O’Connor, Tony Melrose and Michael Hawker.
He was so skilled he played both tight-head and loosehead prop for Queensland, and his crashing ball running frequently gave his team’s forward momentum in phase player. Darcy, who was also an elite premiership winning coach, would have played more than 10 Tests had he not moved to rugby league.
DUNCAN HALL
The son of a gun with explosive leg speed, Hall was an elite lock or No. 8 with great hands and mobility for a big man. He played in a highly competitive era when Mark Loane, David Hillhouse, Tony Shaw and Peter McLean prevailed across the back five, but still etched out a wonderful career for Queensland and Australia. His father, Duncan senior, was a rugby league great.
ROSS HANLEY
A member of the champion Brothers club of the 1970s and early 1980s, Hanley was a lovely winger with all the moves. He may have been slightly in the shadow of the great other Brothers winger of his era, Brendan Moon, but Hanley still remains one of Brothers’ and Nudgee’s finest. A quiet boarder from Nudgee, he was also a startling batsmen in First XI cricket.
PRE-1975s
KEVIN RYAN
St Joseph’s Gregory Terrace had Tony Shaw (1970s), and St Joseph’s Nudgee College had Kevin Ryan (1950s). One senses if those toughmen had ever met on the field, it would have been like two male elk crashing into each other. Ryan could play anywhere from prop to No. 8, but he was best suited in the backrow. He played four Tests for the Wallabies before playing professional rugby league in Sydney with the great St George team of the era.
PETER TWIST
A boarder from Mitchell in Western Queensland, Twist was a midfield young gun who was such a skilled sportsman, he captained the First XI and was a member of the athletics team.
DALLAS O’NEILL
If Mark Loane did not attend Nudgee, the great Dallas O’Neill would be the college’s greatest No.8. Mobile with tremendous skills, he was also a great leader and would surely have played more than two Tests had injury not curtailed him. One of the best.
ADRIAN HOSE
Has there been a better GPS First XV halfback-backrower combination than Hose-Dallas O’Neill? On his own Hose was dangerous enough, but in combination with the mighty Dallas O’Neill, he was even more lethal - and so was Nudgee. Little wonder that combination had premiership success.
MICK VEIVERS
A boarder from the Gold Coast-hinterland/Beaudesert region, Veivers was a mountain of a man with shoulders as wide as Cunningham’s Gap, and hands so big, they could man handle the Beechworth trees from around the region in which he came from. He was a member of a famous footballing family which included one of his cousins, Tom, playing Test cricket, and another cousin, Greg, a Queensland and Australian rugby league captain.
DENNIS FLANNERY
A boarder from Ipswich, Flannery was a First XV sensation as a centre who had a long and distinguished rugby league career, playing 27 matches for Queensland and 15 Tests.
DES McGOVERN
Another league player from the 1940s-50s era, McGovern boarded at Nudgee from Toowoomba. A Kangaroo tourists, he was an elite centre or winger who scored the most tries (27) in the history of the Bulimba Cup (the prestigious regional representative competition of its era)
JOHN FOGARTY
A quick-silver winger who whizzed past opponents in two Tests, before moving to rugby league where he played with the famous Brothers cllub and Balmain Tigers, among others.
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