Matty Johns: From Turvey and Tommy to Spud and Chief, rugby league has had some great feuds
There have been plenty of great feuds in the NRL but when it came to Newcastle legend Andrew Johns, he hated every halfback he played against – and there were two he hated the most, writes MATTY JOHNS.
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Wayne Bennett v Anthony Seibold may be the modern-day feud headline-grabber - but back in the day it was often more than words.
Grudge matches, whether it be personal or professional, create the most interest in rugby league.
In the game’s history, there’s been so many, let’s go back and focus on a select few.
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WESTS V MANLY
One of the most celebrated or infamous grudge matches, depending on how you look at it.
In the late 70s the Fibros vs the Silvertails rivalry was one of the most vicious in rugby league history.
Wests coach Roy Masters built this fixture into class warfare, the battlers of Sydney’s western suburbs against the rich, aristocratic, flash boys of the city’s northern beaches.
How accurate this was didn’t matter, it did the trick.
A number of Wests players told me Roy would give pre-game speeches on historically oppressed people and relate it back to the team. Mix that with a healthy dose of face slapping and the fuse was lit for a game of catch and kill.
TOMMY V TURVEY
Tom Raudonikis and Steve Mortimer were two of the greatest halfbacks of their era, who could not have been more different in styles.
Turvey Mortimer was the young, flamboyant playmaker and the master of the chip-and-chase.
The only chip Tommy ever considered came with battered fish.
Legend has it, on one representative trip, Tommy and Turvey were forced to room together.
In the room sat a comfortable double bed and a narrow rigid single.
Tommy walked into the room to find Mortimer’s bags already placed on the double bed, claiming it without a thought to Raudonikis’ seniority.
Tommy grabbed Turvey’s bags and hurled them out of the 10th storey window, turning to the young understudy with, “Now make me a cup of tea.”
Mortimer replied, “Milk and two sugars?”
JACK V WOK
Jack Gibson and Warren Ryan were the first of rugby league’s ‘Super Coaches’.
These two men formed what some call the family trees of coaches.
The two coaches’ approach to the game were completely contrasting.
Jack Gibson coached the man, he tapped into the human side of the player, getting the best out of him by understanding what made the player tick.
Warren Ryan saw rugby league as a strategic game of chess and the players as pawns. Wok’s approach was scientific and unemotional.
I wouldn’t say their rivalry was personal, it was simply each challenging the other’s philosophies.
Since the 80s, almost every Premiership winning coach’s method and philosophies has stemmed from these two men.
SPUD V CHIEF
Paul Harragon and Mark Carroll’s rivalry is possibly the modern era’s most famous and sparked an intense rivalry between their respective teams.
This rivalry was personal and not a game went by without fists flying.
In the 1995 State of Origin Game I, Phil Gould roomed Spud and Chief together, both men barely spoke a word all week and were barely able to get sleep, such was the room’s intensity.
On the World Cup tour of ’95, one day I shared a joke with Spud on the team bus, only to turn around and see Chief staring a hole right through me. No more jokes…
BENNY ELIAS V MARIO FENECH
The fighting and sledging between Benny and Mario was legendary.
Both were hookers, both vying for the same representative jerseys, both the epicentre of two packs of forwards who, every time a scrum was formed, would punch and headbutt one another for advantage.
During one typically explosive game when a scrum had erupted into chaos, Elias took a bite into his own hand, walked up to the referee and claimed Fenech was the culprit.
Mario was sent from the field.
ANDREW JOHNS V EVERY OTHER HALFBACK
Joey had a sociopathic dislike for every halfback he ever played against.
The only exception was Stacey Jones because someone, somewhere told Joey, “Stacey based his game off you.”
Two halfbacks Andrew had a particular aggression toward was Jason Taylor and Brett Kimmorley.
Joey disliked Taylor because someone, somewhere had said, “Jason Taylor should be in the New South Wales side ahead of you.”
And Brett Kimmorley’s problem was that ‘Noddy’ was a fellow Novocastrian and had at times forced Joey to play hooker in representative sides.
I played a lot of football with Brett, I liked his company and enjoyed playing with him immensely.
This drove Joey insane.
After I’d retired, when Andrew was about to play Noddy, Joey would call me, “Tell me his calls, tell me his pet plays…..”
I’d reply, “Not a chance.”
He’d reply, “f--k off,” and hang up.
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RICKY VS ALF
Like the Wok and Jack Gibson this was a rivalry which wasn’t so much personal, but based on the fact that they were the two great halfbacks of the nineties.
Like Turvey and Tommy, their styles were completely contrasting, in fact even more so.
Ricky’s game was long passing and long kicks.
Alf’s was short passing and short kicks.
During their peak years their respective teams dominated, year in, year out.
They battled each other in State of Origin year in, year out.
And year in, year out they battled for the Australian number seven jersey.
Originally published as Matty Johns: From Turvey and Tommy to Spud and Chief, rugby league has had some great feuds