Bruce Sheekey writes: The Roar’s favourite resident journalist, Spiro Zavos, has written some 6 odd books on Rugby. My favourite Spiro book is ‘The Golden Wallabies’, published in 2000 and containing informative, entertaining and interesting vignettes on Australian Rugby’s rich history. So when our Rugby is dull and troubled, like the present, we can always fall back on our rich history.
In this book, Spiro named his ‘Dream Time Team’. In other words, his all-time Wallaby XV.
It was: Matt Burke, David Campese, Trevor Allan, Tim Horan, Mark Ella, Ken Catchpole, Jack Ford, Col Windon, Simon Poidevin, John Eales, Steve Williams, Jon White, Phil Kearns, Topo Rodriguez. What do other Roar readers think?
To help refresh your memory, here’s some other suggestions.
Fullback: Roger Gould, Jim Lenehan, Terry Curley, Alec Ross, Otto Nothling.
Wingers: Ben Tune, Joe Roff, Brendan Moon, Rod Phelps, Charlie Eastes, Jockey Kelaher, Johnnie Wallace, Pup Raymond.
Centres: Jason Little, Dan Herbert, Mick O’Connor, Dick Marks, Beres Ellwood, Cyril Towers, Syd King, Bot Stanley.
Flyhalfs: Steve Larkham, Michael Lynagh, Paul McLean, Phil Hawthorne, Tom Lawton (snr).
Scrumhalfs: George Gregan, Nick Farr-Jones, John Hipwell, Des Connor, Cyril Burke, Syd Malcolm, Chris McKivat.
Eightmen: Toutai Kefu, Tim Gavin, Steve Tuynman, Mark Loane, Bill McLean.
Flankers: George Smith, Phil Waugh, David Wilson, Willie Ofahengaue, Tony Shaw, Greg Cornelsen, Greg Davis, Aub Hodgson, Wylie Breckenridge, Tom Richards.
Locks: David Giffin, Steve Cutler, Dick Thornett, Rob Heming, Graham Cooke, Huck Finlay.
Props: Ewen McKenzie, Andy McIntyre, Tony D’Arcy, John Thornett, Tony Miller, Nick Shehadie, Wild Bill Cerutti, Eddie Thompson.
Hookers: Tom Lawton (jnr), Peter Johnston, Nev Cottrell, Eddie Bonis, Jock Blackwood.
The list is my no means meant to be exhaustive. As for me, I would differ with Spiro in some positions.
I would pick the same backline, but in the forwards, I would have Mark Loane at eightman for Ford, Aub Hodgson at flanker for Poidevin, and Graham Cooke at lock for Williams.
By sharing our thoughts, we might eventually come up with the ultimate Wallaby XV. What do other Roar readers think?
sheek
Roar Guru
It was written 17 years ago, but time to mention the missing winger, accidentally omitted - Dally Messenger.
Mick
Guest
Number 8 would be hard to split for the all time XV. I would suggest Big Bird would justngetnthe nod over Mark Loane. Both were great in attack and defence, but Steve Tuynman had more skill in passing and beating a man to set up the outside supports, plus he had the pace of an Olympic sprinter! Just look at the tapes of the 1984 grand slam games and see how he supports every play, even passing Campo! Not withstanding that, to see Mark Loane in inters tae games at eye level charging like a bull was magic!
Ziggy
Guest
Which means no defense on either side of the field! So all the opposition has to do is run through at will.
Mike
Guest
He's got Campo on both wings.
andy
Guest
did anybody else notice that in spiro's "dream XV" there were only 14 players!!! You're missing a winger, mr. Zavos...
Margaret Cooke
Guest
Noticed the comment about the 1927-1928 Waratahs. Eddie Thompson & Eddie Bonis were QLD reps. I'm the daughter of Eddie Thompson. Found the rest of your page interesting reading.
sheek
Guest
To both Mike & Hayden, No denying Roff was a great attacking player. But he compromised this brilliance in attack by doing a good impersonation of a turnstile cop in defence. Also, like cricketer Mark Waugh, Roff became lazy in his later years, only pulling out the big game when he felt his place in the team was threatened. As for the greatest ABs opnside flanker, I think we can reduce the argument safely to two - Jones or McCaw!
Hayden
Guest
It is too hard to judge players you haven't seen. However, I still believe Joe Roff was one of the Wallaby greats. He always added some excitment to the team even if he did look like he was running at half pace, the turn around he engineered against the Lions in Melbourne was symbolic of his importance to the Wallabies. I find it hard to beat George Smith at openside as well. While he does not quite make the impact he did a few years ago he is without a doubt a very significant member of the Wallaby forwards. Even at a very young age he was singled out by Lions Captain Martin Johnson for special attention by the burly Lions pack in their pre match warm up (watch the official Lions video) as shutting him down was essential to their chances of victory. An even harder choice would be to choose the best All Black openside of all time. Jones, Kronfeld, McCaw?
sheek
Guest
Well Bjorn, Not quite by decades, but eras. How about this: 1899-1919 (fullback to prop): Larry Dwyer; Lonnie Spragg; Larry Wogan; Jimmy Flynn; Dally Messenger; Ward Prentice; Chris McKivat(c); Syd Middleton; Jim Hughes; Tom Richards; Paddy McCue; Doss Wallach; Willie Watson(vc); Tom Griffin; Harry George. Notes: Spragg only member of 1899; Messenger, McKivat & McCue defected to League. Wallach & George killed in WW1; Richards & Watson both won Military Cross; Middleton rowed eights at 1912 Olympics. 1920-39: Alec Ross; Johnnie Wallace; Cyril Towers; Syd King; Jockey Kelaher; Tom Lawton(c); Syd Malcolm; Jack Ford; Wylie Breckenridge(vc); Aub Hodgson; Huck Finlay; Charlie Fox; Bill Cerutti; Eddie Bonis; Eddie Thompson. Notes: All 1927-28 Waratahs except for Kelaher, Hodgson & frontrow. Tom Lawton(snr) grand-father of Tom(jnr) & Rob. 1940-1960: Terry Curley; Charlie Eastes; Trevor Allan(vc); John Solomon; Rod Phelps; Arthur Summons; Des Connor; Arthur Buchan; Col Windon, Bill McLean(c); Alan Cameron; Tony Miller; Eric Tweedale; Nev Cottrell; Nick Shehadie. Notes: Real tossup Connor over Cyril Burke. 1961-1979: Jim Lenehan; Mike Cleary; Dick Marks; Geoff Shaw; Stu Boyce; Paul McLean; Ken Catchpole(vc); Mark Loane; Greg Cornelsen; Tony Shaw; Rob Heming; Dick Thornett; Jon White; Peter Johnson; John Thornett(c). Notes: This requires a bench - John Brass; Phil Hawthorne; John Hipwell; Ray Price; Greg Davis; Ray Prosser; Peter Horton. Russell Fairfax unlucky omission. 1980-1995: Roger Gould; David Campese; Mick O'Connor; Mike Lynagh; Brendan Moon; Mark Ella; Nick Farr-Jones(c); Tim Gavin; Simon Poidevin; Willie Ofahengaue; Steve Cutler; Steve Williams(vc); Andy McIntyre; Tom Lawton; Topo Rodriguez. Notes: This also requires a bench - Andy Slack; Mike Hawker; Phil Cox; Jeff Miller; Rod McCall; Tony D'Arcy; Bill Ross. 1996-2007(professional era): Matt Burke; Ben Tune; Jason Little; Tim Horan; Joe Roff; Steve Larkham; George Gregan(vc); Toutai Kefu; George Smith; David Wilson; John Eales(c); Dan Vickerman; Ewen McKenzie; Phil Kearns; Dan Crowley. Notes: Bench - Chris Latham; Dan Herbert; Matt Giteau; Owen Finegan; David Giffin; Andrew Blades; Brendan Cannon. Enjoy!
Bjorn
Guest
One has to remember that back before the game went professional, the players played with heart and more gusto than today's players. For today's players its all about the money. Only a few of the players deserve to be on the list (Eales, Horan and Kearns) that played in the Amature era and Professional era. I would rather see great teams by decades.
Mike
Guest
Hmmm, the immediate problem I see with trying to find an all-time Wallaby 15 is that there is nobody alive who has seen them all play and even if you managed to get footage going back to the first test ever played (long before TV arrived) then you would also need to understand the subtle differences in the way the game was playde during each era, what the other countries were doing, what the politics behind it all at the time was.... and so on. From my own opinion, I have never seen any live games or footage of old ones that goes earlier than the 80s, so I don't really know how good Tom Richards or Greg Davis et al are except for what someone has told me. Which of course is fraught with inaccuracy. It's a bit like trying to pick the greatest cricket XI too in that the modern professional era has provided much more intesive training and the passing on of shared knowledge for the more "trainable", whereas back in the good ol' days, players would have had to rely much more on natural ability to stand out from the crowd. That said, the only thing I thought of straight away, is that I would want Joe Roff in there and was gutted that he retired so young like so many of the greats. He was so consistent, reliable under pressure, and could outpace anyone when he wanted to. He never showed off anything flashy, but he never made mistakes or had a weakness the opposition could target. And perhaps his greatest attribute is the one that meant he retired early as well as spending a year off in France mid-career. He was never full of himself, over-aspirational or too concerned about winning this or that. He just loved playing rugby and played for himself. Go Roffy!
Ziggy
Guest
I would have Johnson as Hooker.Also agree with you on Hodgson. regards