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150 combined captains for the Wallabies and Kangaroos

Roar Guru
29th June, 2016
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Stephen Moore is back to the Reds' bench. (Photo: AFP)
Roar Guru
29th June, 2016
52
1277 Reads

Purely by accident, I have discovered that right now, there have been a combined 150 players who have captained the rugby union Wallabies and rugby league Kangaroos.

There have been 83 Wallaby captains and 68 Kangaroo captains, with Chris McKivat the only man to captain both the Wallabies (in 1908-09) and Kangaroos (in 1911-12).

The list of the 83 Wallaby captains is as follows:

1. Frank ‘Banger’ Row 22. Tom ‘Ghost’ Lawton 43. Des Connor 64. Phil Kearns
2. Bob McCowan 23. Arthur ‘Johnnie’ Wallace 44. Charlie ‘Chilla’ Wilson 65. Rod McCall
3. Stan Wickham 24. Sydney Malcolm 45. Peter Fenwicke 66. John Eales
4. Frank Nicholson 25. Bob Loudon 46. Ken Catchpole 67. Tim Horan
5. Peter ‘Emu’ Burge 26. Jimmy Clark 47. Peter Johnson 68. David Wilson
6. Allen ‘Butch’ Oxlade 27. Denis ‘Dave’ Cowper 48. Jim Lenehan 69. Jason Little
7. Herbert ‘Paddy’ Moran 28. Alex Ross 49. John Thornett 70. George Gregan
8. Chris McKivat 29. Ron Walden 50. Greg Davis 71. Chris Whitaker
9. Syd Middleton 30. Cyril Towers 51. Peter Sullivan 72. Nathan Sharpe
10. Ward Prentice 31. Vay Wilson 52. John Hipwell 73. Phil Waugh
11. Ted Fahey 32. Bil McLean 53. Geoff Shaw 74. Stirling Mortlock
12. Larry Dwyer 33. Phil Hardcastle 54. Tony ‘Crazy’ Shaw 75. George Smith
13. Fred ‘Possum’ Wood 34. Trevor Allan 55. Mark Loane 76. Rocky Elsom
14. Jimmy Flynn 35. Nev ‘Notty’ Cottrell 56. Paul McLean 77. James Horwill
15. Bill Watson 36. Keith Winning 57. Mark Ella 78. Will Genia
16. Arthur ‘Wakka’ Walker 37. Col ‘Breeze’ Windon 58. Andy Slack 79. David Pocock
17. Darby Loudon 38. John Solomon 59. Steve Williams 80. Ben Mowen
18. Walter ‘Watty’ Friend 39. Nick Shehadie 60. Simon Poidevin 81. Steve Moore
19. Billy Sheehan 40. Alan Cameron 61. David Codey 82. Michael Hooper
20. Ted Thorn 41. Dick Tooth 62. Michael Lynagh 83. Dean Mumm
21. Charlie Fox 42. Bob Davidson 63. Nick Farr-Jones

The list of 68 Kangaroo captains is as follows:

1. Arthur Hennessy 18. Peter ‘Mick’ Madsen 35. Reg ‘Puff’ Gasnier 52. Bob ‘Bozo’ Fulton
2. Denis ‘Dinny’ Lutge 19. Dave Brown 36. Arthur Summons 53. George Peponis
3. Alex Burdon 20. Wally Prigg 37. Billy Wilson 54. Steve Rogers
4. Herb ‘Dally’ Messenger 21. Joe Jorgenson 38. Ian Walsh 55. Max Krilich
5. Larry O’Malley 22. Ron Bailey 39. Peter Gallagher 56. Wally Lewis
6. Bob Graves 23. Len Smith 40. Johnny Raper 57. Mal Meninga
7. Bill Heidke 24. Col Maxwell 41. Johnny Sattler 58. Laurie Daley
8. Chris McKivat 25. Wally O’Connell 42. Graeme Langlands 59. Brad Fittler
9. Sid Deane 26. Bill Tyquin 43. Phil Hawthorne 60. Paul Harragon
10. Arthur ‘Pony’ Halloway 27. Keith Froome 44. Ron Coote 61. Geoff Toovey
11. Albert ‘Rick’ Johnston 28. Clive Churchill 45. Billy Smith 62. Allan Langer
12. Herb Gilbert 29. Ken ‘Killer’ Kearney 46. Bob McCarthy 63. Gorden Tallis
13. Charles ‘Chook’ Fraser 30. Dick Poole 47.Tom Raudonikis 64. Andrew Johns
14. Jimmy Craig 31. Brian Davies 48. Arthur Beetson 65. Darren Lockyer
15. Tom Gorman 32. Brian Carlson 49. John Brass 66. Danny Buderus
16. Herb Steinohrt 33. Keith Barnes 50. Greg Veivers 67. Craig Gower
17. Frank McMillan 34. Barry Muir 51. Greg Pierce 68. Cameron Smith

There are two players unlucky to not be on the list.

Edwin ‘Dooney’ Hayes captained the Wallabies on a trip to New Zealand in 1936. But due to injury, he only played three matches but no Tests. He would have come between Alex Ross (28) and Ron Walden (29).

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Les Cubitt captained the Kangaroos to great Britain in 1921-22. But due to injury he only played four matches on the entire tour, and no Tests. He would have come between Herb Gilbert (12) and Charles ‘Chook’ Fraser (13).

Of the Wallaby captains, Darby and Bob Loudon are the only brothers to captain Australia in union. Bill and Paul McLean were uncle and nephew.

Geoff and Tony Shaw are unrelated. There are three Wilsons, Vay, Chilla and David, all unrelated, although all are Queenslanders.

The most capped Wallaby captains are:

1. George Gregan – 59
2. John Eales – 55
3. Nick Farr-Jones – 36
4. Stirling Mortlock – 29
5. Rocky Elsom – 24
6. Andy Slack – 19

The most capped Kangaroo captains are:

1. Darren Lockyer – 38
2. Clive Churchill – 27
3. Brad Fittler – 25
4. Wally Lewis – 24
4. Mal Meninga – 24
6. Cameron Smith – 21

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Former Wallabies to also captain the Kangaroos are as follows:

Dinny Lutge, Alex Burdon, Dally Messenger, Chris McKivat, Herb Gilbert, Len Smith, Ken Kearney, Arthur Summons, Phil Hawthorne and John Brass.

There are two gross acts of betrayal against standing captains.

In 1948, Len Smith, who had been selected on the ill-fated Wallabies tour of 1939-40, captained the Kangaroos in two winning Tests against New Zealand. He was sensationally dumped from the 1948-49 Kangaroos touring team.

In 1957, Dick Tooth, a marvellously versatile player, led the Wallabies in two losing Tests against the All Blacks. He was also dumped from the 1957-58 Wallabies touring team.

The great Wally Lewis never played for the Wallabies, which is a crying shame. I would have loved to see him playing inside centre in between Mark Ella and Mick O’Connor.

But he did join those two players and a host of other outstanding players on the 1977-78 Australian Rugby Schoolboys tour of Europe and Japan.

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