and NOW Then

QRL History Committee

GREG

SHANNON

LAST week I attended the first QRL History meeting of the year in the refurbished QRL offices in Milton, Brisbane. ‘These offices had to be rebuilt after the Brisbane floods when several metres of water swept through them!

One of the items discussed at this meeting was the upcoming “Ross Livermore” lecture. This lecture occurs every year with a different theme and different speakers. We have had coaches and former players like Wayne Bennett, Wally Lewis, John Lang, and rugby league authors like Adrian McGregor and Hugh Lunn speak in the past.

This year the guest speaker will be Tony Currie, and anyone who followed the game in the 1980s and 1990s will know who he is. Tony was an electrifying winger/centre/fullback who played 15 origin games for Qld and seven times for Australia in the 1980s.

Born in Townsville, he grew up in Brisbane, where he debuted in first-grade rugby league with the Wests club in the old Brisbane Rugby league competition in

Shane

Muriata

"WELCOME welcome all, step right up ladies and gentlemen and have a go at trying to unseed the number one NRL team in the country, and if you do, you will be doing us all a favour by finishing off those no-good cheating Penny Panthers from the Blue Mountains of Penrith in the West of Sydney".

With that jealous line that seems to accompany every other supporter in the rugby league universe, it's little wonder Nathan Cleary still has a massive airport.

With the new National Rugby League season on the horizon, the preseason jitters have given us hope for another bumper year of footy madness. Let's start with the Cows. Although small on the recruitment market, they have relied on walking their juniors through the ranks, which has already proved to be a winning formula for this mob.

The world's most outstanding team, the Brisbane Broncos, have shed a few players off the Red Hill shelf and put their faith back in the Q Cup stocks to help us out of this premiership slump. Remembering the Titans of the Gold Coast should be a move up the ladder in 2023, so expect big things from the Glitter Strip team.

1981. That same year, he made his first Qld origin side at 18 years of age and was part of most Qld origin squads until 1989. A speedy and clever player Tony was also an excellent defender.

In 1982 he was voted the best and fairest player for the Brisbane competition (in those days called the Rothmans cup). At the end of the 1983 season, he was one of the first Qld players to move to the UK to play in their season. In those days, the English rugby league season was played in our summer, and Tony joined the Leeds club, becoming a crowd favourite over there.

He had a season with Redcliffe in 1985 before rejoining Wests for the 1986 season, then signed mid-season with Sydney’s Canterbury Bankstown (now Bulldogs) and went on to win the 1986 Sydney premiership with the club who a young Phil Gould coached.

Tony returned to Brisbane in 1989, joining the Broncos in their second year, and stayed until the end of the 1992 season and was a member of the 1992 Broncos premiership squad along with Ingham’s Willie Morganson.

After finishing with the Bronco’s, he played one final season back where it all started, with Wests, this time in the old Qld state league.

Turning to coaching, he went back to the UK in 1996 as the London Bronco’s coach in the English Superleague and stayed for three seasons.

Tony was one of those players who was always there for Qld and could always be relied on to play a

The big talk in the footy world is obviously the New Kids on the Block, who sound like my favourite 90s boy band who covered my walls back in the day.

The Dolphins, coached by the master Jedi himself, Godfather Wayne Bennett, looked better than ok on their first outing. If anything, these guys will not be on the bottom cause any team that the GOAT coaches will take their fair share of Ws.

What an unbelievable weekend (Two weekends ago) it was for the NRL All Stars when for the first time in the game's history, it was taken out of Australia and into the Land of the long white clouds.

If there's anything that this game taught us, it is that the Kiwis have a better understanding of cultural exposure or awareness when it comes to history. I know we have come a fair way through Indigenous Round and those sorts of recognition, but hearing the pride of the Maori side singing their anthem in language is one of the most incredible things you will ever hear.

As Tully is one of the smallest towns in the north to have a full-time A-grade team with a Reserve Grade and 18s team, it makes for a long process to get players to even come to our paradise. With that in mind, Tully has picked up two signings that will significantly boost our sugar and banana belt. Isaac Toby and Alex Smith will bolster an already formidable team that boasts some of the best local talents since, well, yours truly donned the black and gold.

Isaac Toby from the Cape plied his trade in the Townsville Comp under coach Cameron Miller when solid game and did it with style and modesty. he was at the Burdekin Roosters. Toby was also a member of the Townsville Blackhawks system, so that the Doomadgee product will bring a swag of talent to the gumboot town.

He has also run a successful tyre fitting business in Brisbane for many years. He has been a great mentor to many young people, especially young indigenous people in both rugby league and business.

Tony will deliver the next Rios Livermore lecture in Brisbane on April 22.

When I finally caught up with the man, he only had good words for our club "I want to help rebuild this club, be here to see us rise back to the top".

Tully's other major signing hails all the way from England in the Superleague and is looking forward to fitting in with the locals, even if it's hot as "Its very hot, but I think I will love it here. The people are very laid back, and they love their footy. I want to be a part of that, so hopefully I can contribute to the success of this great club once again".

Hopefully, this will be the start of the rise because our town definitely needs another Cinderella story.