The forgotten players: South Sydney Rabbitohs

This is the 28th and final episode in the series where we look at some of the forgotten players from your favourite club.

The series has covered all of the current clubs, those that disappeared in mergers, those that came and went and those that just disappeared.

It’s amazing how many players have come and gone through the various clubs over the years, how many who had brief careers, how many who had their careers cut short by injury, how many went from club to club like footballing nomads and how many became club stalwarts and legends.

This is the last in the series, so it’s fitting that we end with the South Sydney Rabbitohs, not only one of the two remaining foundation clubs and a club that won the first premiership in 2008 and then went back to back in 2009 but also a club that faced extinction at the end of the 1999 season only to be reborn bigger and better than ever in 2002.

In total 1142 players have proudly represented the Rabbitohs since Arthur Hennessy led the team out for their first-ever match at Birchgrove Oval in April 1908, and the list is littered with both club legends and icons of the game, including Clive Churchill, Ian Moir, Bobby McCarthy, John Sattler, John Sutton, Eric Simms, Michael Cleary, Greg Inglis, Howard Hallett, Elwyn Walters, Harold Horder, Benny Wearing, Ron Coote, Ernie Hammerton, Nathan Merritt, Johnny Graves, Bernie Purcell, Sam Burgess, George Treweek, Jack Rayner, Adam Reynolds – and so the list goes on and on.

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Here is a team made up of some of South Sydney’s lesser lights who represented the club since the mid-60s. How many do you remember?

1. Bronko Djura
Djura had two stints with Souths and a season with St George and ended his career with a cameo with Wests. He was a Newtown junior and a very talented sportsman, representing Australia at schoolboy level in both rugby league and cricket. He made his first-grade debut for Souths in 1984 and had three seasons with the club. After a season with St George he returned to the Rabbitohs in 1988 for another two years. In all he played 79 games for Souths.

2. Bernie Lowther
Lowther was a very fast and powerful outside back with a knack for taking intercepts. He came from the Auckland competition to join Canterbury Bankstown in 1972 and then joined Souths for the 1975 and 1976 seasons, playing 42 first-grade games. He later played and coached in the Brisbane competition. He also played nine Tests for New Zealand.

3. Jacin Sinclair
Sinclair was an exceptional talent but a player whose career was hampered both by injury and the pressure of living up to his early promise and accolades. He made his debut in the top grade with Balmain in 1991 but then headed to Souths in 1994 after a fallout with Balmain coach Alan Jones. He had three years with the Rabbitohs, playing 28 first grade games, before moving on to Easts. Sinclair passed away at the age of just 38.

4. Bob Honan
Honan was a dual international, playing two rugby Tests against the All Blacks and going on to play two league Tests against the Kiwis. Blessed with speed and a great step, he switched from the Brothers Rugby Club in Brisbane to South Sydney in 1967 after being controversially left out of the Wallabies tour side that year, and he went on to play 89 first-grade games with the club, winning premierships in both 1968 and 1970.

(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

5. Henderson Gill
Gill scored nearly 200 tries in his 300-plus-game career over 14 years. A Great Britain international who played 15 Tests, Gill was both quick and elusive, and his only experience in the Australian competition came in 1985 when he joined the Rabbitohs for eight games during the English off-season.

6. Ken Wright
What Wright lacked in size he made up for with both acceleration and great footwork. He first came to notice when playing for the Randwick Rugby Club, and he went on to play nine Tests for the Wallabies and six games for the Waratahs. He switched to league with Eastern Suburbs in 1979 and eventually arrived at Souths in 1982, where he played 36 games for the club over the next two years.

7. Brett Kearney
Kearney was a solid performer who could play anywhere in the spine. He came to Souths in 2003 from the Central Coast via the Bears juniors and played 28 first-grade games for the Rabbitohs over the next three years before having three years with the Sharks. He moved to the UK in 2010 and played 112 top-level games for Bradford over the next five years.

8. Harry Eden
Eden began life a centre and somehow ended up in the front row, and he just loved the physical encounters. After making his first-grade debut with the Roosters in 1969, he had a few seasons with the Dragons and then ended up at Souths in 1974, where he played 38 first-grade games over the next two years. Eden was both super fit and very quick for a front-rower and was a noted try-scorer, running in 27 tries in his 73-game first-grade career.

9. Lee Jackson
Lee Jackson was quite simply one of the best hookers to lace on a boot. He came from the UK to Souths in 1995 and played just eight games for the club before joining the Knights in 1996 and helping them to their first premiership in 1997. The rest of his long and successful career was played in England, and he also played 23 Tests for the Great Britain and English sides.

10. John Burke
John Burke was an old-school English front-rower who was not afraid to push the boundaries on the field, resulting in him being sent off more than 20 times during his 16-year career. He joined Souths in 1976 and played ten first-grade games for the club that year, joining other formidable Souths front-rowers in John O’Neill and George Piggins. Playing against John Burke was not for the faint-hearted.

11. Kane Cleal
Kane Cleal is the son of the legendary Noel Cleal and came from the bush to join Manly, making his first-grade debut for the club in 2004. Cleal joined Souths in 2006 and never really hit top form, playing just nine games for the Rabbitohs that year and being released at the end of the season.

12. Tony Rampling
You always knew what you were going to get when Rampling took the field – hard and straight ball running, kamikaze defence and a large dose of mongrel. Rampling had two stints with Souths. He made his first-grade debut for the club in 1981 and played for the Rabbitohs for the next six seasons, also playing three Origin matches for New South Wales along the way. After stints with both Easts and the Gold Coast during the 1987 and 1988 seasons he returned to Souths in 1989 before spending time with both Salford in the UK and Western Suburbs. In all he played 91 first-grade games for the Rabbitohs.

(Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)

13. Ashley Harrison
A former Australian Schoolboys representative, Harrison was playing in the Brisbane competition when he was called up to first grade by the Broncos in 2000, winning a premiership that year. One of the best lock forwards in the game at the time, he signed with South Sydney in 2003 and went on to play 66 games for the club over the next three years before moving on to the Roosters and then the Titans. He played 277 first-grade games in his 15-year career and 15 Origin matches for Queensland. He was one of the best players never to receive an Australian jersey.

14. Troy Slattery
Slattery was a versatile player and at different times played five-eighth and virtually every position in the pack. He made his first-grade debut with the Bunnies in 1993 and played 46 top-level games between 1993 and 1999 before finishing his career in England.

15. Rick Stone
Rick Stone never really hit the heights as a player – in fact his only three first-grade appearances were off the bench with Souths in 1989. However, since his retirement as a player he has established himself as a quality coach, holding the clipboard for both the Newcastle Knights and the Huddersfield Giants.

16. Paul McNicholas
One of the biggest players going around in his day, McNicholas was another who had two stints with Souths. He made his top-level debut with Souths in 1996 and went on to play 26 games for the club over the next four years. He then had a couple of years with the Sharks before rejoining Souths in 2002, notching up another eight first-grade games. He then headed to the Cowboys in 2003 before finishing his career in England. He also played three Tests for Ireland.

17. Jaiman Lowe
A hard nut by any standard, Lowe was a big and rugged forward who came to the Rabbitohs from the Cowboys in 2006 and played 50 first-grade games for the club over the next five seasons. He then moved on to the Storm and 2012 premiership success.

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