Pete, could i please get you to give me a bit of a run down as to how Gair, Toohey, Pickup, Pattison, Melrose and Hallas played. Who they may have been comparable to in playing style etc as i didn't see any of them. I remember seeing Mares at the end of his career which i believe wasn't that long. I also remember Leeds, who tried hard every game.
Cheers.
I will. Maybe not for a couple of days. Robin Gair was the 7 in the late fifties and early sixties when the Eels (weren't Eels in those days though) struggled to get a win. He was regularly the best on ground. He was elusive and had speed, ran with his head in the air, much like Johnny Gibbs.
He played a bit at five eight when Bob Bugden came in 1962. But suffered a leg injury which put an end to his career. He missed the 1963 season, and came back briefly in 1964, but his speed was gone...In all played 57 games for the Club.
Leo Toohey came to Parra in 1962, transferred from Souths on a Fifty Pound transfer fee. ($100)..He was great value..Only played in 62/63 before transferring to Canterbury. Leo had bullet like pace, and was slightly built. Had a great combination with Bugden and Ken Thornett. Leo played 31 games for Parra and over 70 for the Berries. Parra recruitted Ivor Lingard from England. Ivor was a five eight also and he went OK, but IN MY OPINION was not as good a player as Leo.
My old business partner (who was an international) played with Leo at Canterbury and he too rates Leo very highly.
Fred Pickup came to Parra from Manly. He was a Pommy and was one tough player. Fred and Ivor Lingard were the first players to introduce the controversial "Cumberland Throw" to the NSW RL competition, later copied by Ray Price and Alf Langer.
Mick Pattison could have been anything. He started out as a lock, but switched to five eight. He would have played in the 1979 semi finals but was hospitalised with a serious knee infection.
He went to Souths in 1981 and was selected to play for NSW but had to pull out with an ear infection on the morning of the match. He came back to Parra in 1983, and was selected as City Firsts five eight, but broke BOTH collarbones and missed the rest of the season. Unlucky player who could have been ANYTHING if he had remained fit and healthy. Would have been mentioned along the same lines as the brilliant backs of that era, again IN MY OPINION.
Paul Mares was another who looked to have the world at his feet, until he suffered a neck injury that ended his effectiveness.
He scored a mighty try in the 1983 Grand Final off a bomb. Speaking of bombs, he wasn't bad a lobbing one himself. :lol:
