The last NRL players from the Bears, Magpies and Jets: Rugby league’s final survivors

EVER wonder who was the last of the final Bears, Jets or Magpies teams to have retired? Or who was the last player from the 1990s? Look no further.

Gary Larson (ball) looks for support during North Sydney Bears v Balmain Tigers NRL game at North Sydney Oval, 30/05/1999.

EVER wondered who was the last player from the 1990s to retire?

Or who was the last North Sydney Bear, or the last Illawarra Steeler, or even the last Hunter Mariner?

Look no further. We’ve dug into the record books to find the last of the last, the ultimate rugby league survivors from one of the game’s golden eras and some of its most far flung outposts.

Who was the last NRL player from the:

South Queensland Crushers: Matt Bickerstaff was their last NRL player after he retired in 2007 after a season with Canberra, but Clinton Schifkofske was their last active first grade. Schifkofske returned from a stint in rugby union to play two seasons with Welsh club Crusaders in 2010 and 2011.

Western Reds: Matt Geyer played six matches for the Reds in 1997 before going on to a long and decorated career with Melbourne. He retired after the 2008 grand final defeat to Manly.

Mariners: The most unloved team in rugby league history, the poor old Mariners were something of a strong breeding ground with Scott Hill, Robbie Ross and Richard Swain all playing for the club in their only season of football in 1997. Brett Kimmorley was the last Mariner after he retired at the end of 2010.

Illawarra Steelers: Luke Patten, the first NRL player to be born in the 1980s, was also the last of the tribe for the Illawarra Steelers following his debut with the club in 1998. He finished in the NRL in 2010 after a decade with the Bulldogs before playing two years for Salford in Super League

North Sydney Bears: The perennially battling Bears were represented for many years by their last son, brutish prop Mark O’Meley, who was just 17 when he debuted for the club in early 1999. O’Meley was the last active North Sydney player in the NRL, which he left in 2009 before a four season stint with Hull FC. “Shrek” kept flying the flag for the foundation club when he turned out for the Wyong Roos in the NSW Cup in 2014.

Balmain Tigers: Luke O’Donnell played three matches for the Tigers in 1999 and was the last Balmain player to appear in the NRL after he retired following the Roosters premiership win in 2013, but Kylie Leuluai only called time on his long career last week after playing in Leeds Super League grand final win over Wigan at the grand old age of 37.

Western Suburbs Magpies: Brett Hodgson was the last Magpies player to run around in the top grade after he retired following a terrific five year stint in Super League in 2013, but the last of the old Wests boys to play in the NRL was towering prop Ray Cashmere. Cashmere played just one match for the Magpies in 1999, but managed to last the longest and was plucked out of reserve grade by the Tigers in 2012 to fill in for half a season. The 35-year old is still running around in local footy with the mighty Camden Rams in the Group 6 competition.

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Gold Coast Chargers: Preston Campbell was the last of the players from the first incarnation of the Gold Coast to appear in the NRL, calling time on his career after the 2011 season. Campbell was also one of just two players to play for both the Gold Coast Chargers and the Gold Coast Titans, alongside journeyman utility back David Myles.

Adelaide Rams: Adam Peek and Luke Williamson were the last Adelaide Rams players to appear in the NRL, with Peek outlasting Williamson by a few weeks in 2008. Peek, who played for six clubs in a long and varied career, ended up outlasting Williamson in Super League, where retired for good at the end of 2011 after a season with Crusaders.

Newtown Jets: The fiercely proud Newtown Jets exited first grade after the 1983 season, but kept a presence in the top grade until 1995 when Michael Speechley, who played 17 matches for the Jets in their first grade season.

Who was the last player from the 1990s to retire?

Lote Tuqiri

After making his NRL debut in 1999, leaving for rugby union in 2003 and coming back in 2010, the long, strange career of Lote Tuqiri came to an end after the 2014 grand final, where he gained the unique distinction of surpassing Steve Menzies record for longest gap between premierships as he added to his 2000 premiership with Brisbane. Tuqiri also gained the honour of being the last player who debuted in the 1990s to appear in the NRL, beating out Timana Tahu, who played two matches for the Knights at the back end of the season.

Who was the last player from the 1980s to retire?

Brad Fittler

In a quirky coincidence, the last active player from the 1980s called time on his career 10 years to the day before Tuqiri. Brad Fittler was consistently one of the game’s very best since he debuted as a 17-year old in 1989 for the Panthers against the Magpies in a mudheap at Orana Park. Fittler beat out the second last son of the 80s, Brisbane prop Andrew Gee, who retired a year earlier.

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Who will be the last player from the 00s to retire?

With players succumbing to injury, chasing their NFL dreams and the thousand and one other ways a players career can be derailed, trying to predict who will be the last active player from the 2000s is nearly impossible. However, we’re going to give it a shot and if 2024 comes around and we’re wrong, so be it.

The four youngest players in 2009 were Wade Graham (who, quite remarkably, just completed his 8th season of first grade at age 24), Dale Copley, Luke Kelly and Matthew Wright. Of those four, Graham seems the best bet to stay around long term, but the wear and tear he’s accumulate from battering around in the forwards could ruin his chances.

Jarrod Croker, Ben Hunt and Kieran Foran are all a year older than Graham, but may outlast him due to the fact they play out wide. Foran’s kamikaze style of play could rule him out, but Hunt and Croker both seem like good bets. They both have a relatively good history with injury (touch wood) and Hunt’s case is boosted by the early years of his career where he came off the bench and saw minimal action.

Who was the last player from 1908 to retire?

Ed Courtney

If you haven’t heard of Ed “Tedda” Courtney, prepare to have your mind blown. A true hard-ass of the game’s early years, Courtney was one of the pioneers of rugby league in this country, playing against the famous New Zealand “All Golds” in 1907. He was a foundation player for the Jets in 1908 before switching to Wests in 1909, Norths in 1910 and back to Wests in 1911. Courtney played 38 matches for New South Wales from 1907 to 1919, which is still the all time record for the Blues in both Interstate and Origin matches. He also managed to squeeze in 11 Tests for Australia and toured Britain twice.

But what makes Courtney stand out is his incredible longevity. Long before sports science and Gatorade and active recovery, Courtney played for an unheard of 16 seasons. By the time he hung up the boots in 1924, he was the last active player from the code’s foundation year and had the unique achievement of playing in a couple of matches with his son, Ed Jr, before retiring at 39. He remains the second oldest first grade player of all time, behind just St George and North Sydney legend and fellow badass Billy Wilson.

Who was the last player from Super League to retire?

Craig Gower

The last survivor from the 1997 rebel league in the NRL was Craig Gower, who made a brief return to Australian rugby league with the Knights in 2012. Gower was also the last pre-Super League player to play in the NRL, as he debuted in 1995 for the Panthers. One of Gower’s Panthers teammates from that season, Tony Puletua, also played in Super League and just completed his 19th season of top flight football with Hull KR and is the last active first grade player who took part in the breakaway competition. Puletua is reportedly chasing a swan song in the NRL.

Who was the last player from the inaugural season of the NRL to retire?

Scott Prince

Puletua and Craig Wing are still running around overseas, but the last player from the NRL’s inaugural year to play in that competition was clever halfback Scott Prince. Prince hung up the boots after a one-year swan song with the Brisbane Broncos in 2013 and was the only player to play in each of the NRL’s first 16 seasons. He also holds the dubious record of having played in the most losses of any player in premiership history with 166, ahead of Mark Minichiello (159) and John Morris (158).

Originally published as The last NRL players from the Bears, Magpies and Jets: Rugby league’s final survivors