Mighty Changa Langlands

[jak]

Walsh got the job done in 1966. Everyone knew Saints were nearing the end that amazing run. To Walsh's credit he brought in a heavy training schedule over the off season to make sure the players were ready, it didn't go down well with some. As you say, it was ageing roster. The fact that we won that year was in no small part due to Walsh's leadership.

I disagree that we weren't ready for the 4 tackle rule in 1967. Some say that it was introduced to stop Saints, but I'm calling that a myth.

The facts are...
Firstly, the limited tackle rule was originally an English modification, it was well telegraphed to Australia, so everyone knew it was coming.
The other fact is clear-cut proof that that the 4 tackle rule didn't stop us, Saints were minor premiers in '67 and score more tries than anyone else. Sure, not all players in the League liked the 4 tackle rule (including some of our own), but Saints seem to handle it than better than the rest.
Equally, I don't believe the introduction of Cronulla and Penrith in 1967 had a major bearing - that being another belief as to why our premiership run ended. The fact is both these teams, Cronulla in particular, struggled in their first years.

The core reasons why we couldn't go all the way in 1967:
1. A lessening of our player depth, particularly in the forwards, and not being able to cover well enough for injuries during the semi-finals. The recruitment and player retention that the Club was famous for had slipped.
2. The rise of South Sydney as premiership contenders. They were highly rated team of young players in 1966 and now they were another year older.
3. Losing Kevin Ryan to Canterbury.

we will agree to disagree but i must admit you make some very good points.

 

[ouryears]

If you start from the position that Grand Final winners are like a coin toss, our biggest drought was between 2000-2009 (i.e., at least we made it to the 'big dance' to be in with a 50/50 shot of being Premiers).

With the current coach things also don't look too promising for the 2011-2020 time period either.

Interesting that all this is occurring when: (i) the Doust tenure began, and (ii) the joint venture began.

f**king sad really...

Doust was the beginning of this lousy period we are suffering now, if it wasn’t for Wayne, we would now be 40 years without a premiership. That’s almost HALF A CENTURY.

Doust got Wayne here for 3 yrs fair enough, but he fell into his lap... AND the idiot wouldn’t give Bennett 5 years.

Why....what was Doust thinking might go wrong?

 

[ouryears]

The five years you posted major hartache for me....if we could have won a couple....even one, but to lose them all and go right off the radar for years bar a couple of finals....makes me appreciate what Bennett did for us.

85 and 99 were the two we should have won, best team, but we let both GFs slip away

 

[ouryears]

I really don't agree! We had a squad suited to the unlimited tackle rule and locked in past 1967. The change in rules was sudden and not planned for by the Dragons. The admission of the Sharks Club into the competition was another blow and possibly the straw that broke the camels back.

Possum I think the fact we were minor premiers in 67 plus we scored the most tries .....and had the biggest points differential at +170 that year, says we did handle the rule change, the prelim final vs grubs went down to the wire, 12-11 from memory, just lacked the brilliance from our time at the very top to get us home

 

[Old Timer]

Walsh got the job done in 1966. Everyone knew Saints were nearing the end that amazing run. To Walsh's credit he brought in a heavy training schedule over the off season to make sure the players were ready, it didn't go down well with some. As you say, it was ageing roster. The fact that we won that year was in no small part due to Walsh's leadership.

I disagree that we weren't ready for the 4 tackle rule in 1967. Some say that it was introduced to stop Saints, but I'm calling that a myth.

The facts are...
Firstly, the limited tackle rule was originally an English modification, it was well telegraphed to Australia, so everyone knew it was coming.
The other fact is clear-cut proof that that the 4 tackle rule didn't stop us, Saints were minor premiers in '67 and score more tries than anyone else. Sure, not all players in the League liked the 4 tackle rule (including some of our own), but Saints seem to handle it than better than the rest.
Equally, I don't believe the introduction of Cronulla and Penrith in 1967 had a major bearing - that being another belief as to why our premiership run ended. The fact is both these teams, Cronulla in particular, struggled in their first years.

The core reasons why we couldn't go all the way in 1967:
1. A lessening of our player depth, particularly in the forwards, and not being able to cover well enough for injuries during the semi-finals. The recruitment and player retention that the Club was famous for had slipped.
2. The rise of South Sydney as premiership contenders. They were highly rated team of young players in 1966 and now they were another year older.
3. Losing Kevin Ryan to Canterbury.

Walsh was not very popular with the rest of the team so morale was dropping
The loss of Ryan was monumental and he was considered by the majority of the playing group to have been the best choice after Provan retired
You are correct re the 4 tackle rule as it was already the international rule and Ron Mc Caulkiffe had done the deal with the Poms so nothing to do with trying to stop Saints domination
The 2 new clubs had no effect as they only attracted marginal players like Ron Raper and old stalwarts like Monty Porter.
Saints had recruited Barry Beath and a few other dashing olayers as part of the new era to be ushered in so you are correct they were as prepared as any for the 4 tackle game and were minor premiers in its 1st year.

 

[Fire]

Doust was the beginning of this lousy period we are suffering now, if it wasn’t for Wayne, we would now be 40 years without a premiership. That’s almost HALF A CENTURY.

Doust got Wayne here for 3 yrs fair enough, but he fell into his lap... AND the idiot wouldn’t give Bennett 5 years.

Why....what was Doust thinking might go wrong?

I can understand Doust giving Wayne three years. It was one of Doust's good calls.

Wayne is not God, and he would've exploited a (hypothetically poor performing) five-year contract quite easily (look at how successfully Mary has pulled the wool over our administration's eyes despite poor performances).

We had the squad to win a Premiership in three years.

Three years was correct.

Two Grand Final appearances in for one win in 20 years (the first of those appearances with our salary cap doubled) despite now being a 'super club' joint venture is quite poor.

 

[ouryears]

I can understand Doust giving Wayne three years. It was one of Doust's good calls.

Wayne is not God, and he would've exploited a (hypothetically poor performing) five-year contract quite easily (look at how successfully Mary has pulled the wool over our administration's eyes despite poor performances).

We had the squad to win a Premiership in three years.

Three years was correct.

Two Grand Final appearances in for one win in 20 years (the first of those appearances with our salary cap doubled) despite now being a 'super club' joint venture is quite poor.

Why would Bennett have had to exploited anything?
He got us to the finals and lost in golden point in 2011
2012 and 2013 had he stayed we could have won one another with Wayne

Had he been given 5 yrs he would have planned his roster a bit different to keep us up there in 2012 and 2013, as well, Boyd, costigan and smith would not have left and others would have come.

Wayne got the knights to the prelim final even with tinker screwing that joint at the time.
A master coach

While we had Price and years of misery.

3 yrs was absolute stupidity by doust.....well he is stupid in any case, so I expected nothing else

 

[Fire]

Why would Bennett have had to exploited anything?
He got us to the finals and lost in golden point in 2011
2012 and 2013 had he stayed we could have won one another with Wayne

Had he been given 5 yrs he would have planned his roster a bit different to keep us up there in 2012 and 2013, as well, Boyd, costigan and smith would not have left and others would have come.

Hypotheticals (like my points), but good points.

I can't disagree with any of that.

 

[Warabrook saint]

Why would Bennett have had to exploited anything?
He got us to the finals and lost in golden point in 2011
2012 and 2013 had he stayed we could have won one another with Wayne

Had he been given 5 yrs he would have planned his roster a bit different to keep us up there in 2012 and 2013, as well, Boyd, costigan and smith would not have left and others would have come.

Wayne got the knights to the prelim final even with tinker screwing that joint at the time.
A master coach

While we had Price and years of misery.

3 yrs was absolute stupidity by doust.....well he is stupid in any case, so I expected nothing else

I reckon we would have won 2011 if Bennett didn't announce he was going to newcastle

 

[possm]

Doust was the beginning of this lousy period we are suffering now, if it wasn’t for Wayne, we would now be 40 years without a premiership. That’s almost HALF A CENTURY.

Doust got Wayne here for 3 yrs fair enough, but he fell into his lap... AND the idiot wouldn’t give Bennett 5 years.

Why....what was Doust thinking might go wrong?

At a price of 750k. Bennett returned that back in spades and if he were given 5 years, we would have had a much better transition post the Bennet years. As a coach Bennett was a magnet for good players who did not require overs to play for him. He knows how to bring young players through and is prepared to make the hard calls when required to do so.

 

[possm]

The GF's of 1975 and 1999 are two games I just can't bring myself to watch. They were heart breakers.

 

[ouryears]

The GF's of 1975 and 1999 are two games I just can't bring myself to watch. They were heart breakers.

I find 1999 harder as genuinely, we were the better team and should have locked that game away by 14 plus if not by more

1975 outgunned.

But 2 yrs later, BAM!!!

 

[Old Timer]

1975 was the romantic notion of Changa going out a winner but it was a very tradesman-like side at best and the Chooks had youth and brilliance
The margin of the loss was the real disappointment
Ouryers is correct in saying 99 was worse as we had the better team and the better of the game and the fact we lost was catastrophic.

 

[Saints Forever]

1975 was the romantic notion of Changa going out a winner but it was a very tradesman side at best and the Zchooks had youth and brilliance
The margin of the loss was the real disappointment
Ouryers is correct in saying 99 was worse as we had the better team and the better of the game and the fact we lost was catastrophic.

We beat the Roosters twice that season.

But for the anaesthetic episode going wrong, its possible Chang leads the side to victory.

When the best player is clearly unable to continue, the balance of the side folded like a pack of cards.

 

[denis preston]

We beat the Roosters twice that season.

But for the anaesthetic episode going wrong, its possible Chang leads the side to victory.

When the best player is clearly unable to continue, the balance of the side folded like a pack of cards.

Disagree.75 was like 71 .Great effort in reaching the GF but if you compare our squads to the South Sydney & Easts sides full of Australian & State players we were never really going to challenge , although great effort by us in 71.Kudos to the master coach, Jack Gibson.He gelled this side with his magic of hard working small forwards and the brilliance of Smith & Langlands , who never played better than that year.

 

[Old Timer]

We beat the Roosters twice that season.

But for the anaesthetic episode going wrong, its possible Chang leads the side to victory.

When the best player is clearly unable to continue, the balance of the side folded like a pack of cards.

Your last paragraph is very essence of the romantic nature of that GF and why the expectation of a win was drawing a very long bow.

 

[getsmarty]

ON THIS DAY


On this day April 26: 'Changa' calls time
Author
NRL.com
Timestamp
Fri 26 Apr 2019, 06:01 AM

On this day, rugby league legend Graeme Langlands hung up his boots, Alfie got one-up on Joey, while Semi Radradra created history.

1976
All-time great Graeme Langlands announces his retirement following a club match between St George and Wests. 'Changa' and Wally Lewis eventually become the next players selected as an Immortals in 1999. Langlands was born in Wollongong in 1941 and died in January, 2018 after battling illness.

1991
Brisbane hooker Kerrod Walters blows his chance at State of Origin and Test honours when he is sent off for punching Wests forward Graeme Wynn in a Friday night game.

1994
Dean Pay is named Canterbury captain in the absence of Terry Lamb.

1998
Brisbane record their highest score in a premiership match with a 60-6 annihilation of premiership contenders North Sydney. Norths players Ben Ikin and Mark Soden are revealed to have visited a Brisbane nightclub on the eve of the match.

Former Broncos and North Sydney bears five-eighth Ben Ikin. NRL Photos
2002
Veteran halfback Allan Langer takes the honours in his much-anticipated battle with Newcastle maestro Andrew Johns as the Broncos upset the previously undefeated Knights 18-12 at ANZ Stadium. The result continues Newcastle’s run of outs in Brisbane. Broncos captain Gorden Tallis is banished to the sin bin by referee Paul Simpkins after being twice warned for dissent

2003
Newcastle captain Andrew Johns is placed on report for head-slamming Wests Tigers centre Mark O’Halloran during the Knights’ 34-6 win at EnergyAustralia Stadium.

2008
Former Broncos prop Shane Webcke is named alongside Allan Langer, Paul Green, Michael De Vere and Peter Ryan as members of Ivan Henjak’s coaching support staff for 2009. Webcke declines to rule out a future as a first grade coach.

Cowboys coach Paul Green in his playing days with the Roosters. NRL Photos
2013
South Sydney overcome Manly 20-12 in a brutal and thrilling encounter at a packed Brookvale Oval. Manly forward Richie Fa’aoso is reported twice for dangerous tackles on Souths fullback Greg Inglis and is later suspended for eight matches. Sea Eagles centre Steve Matai and fullback Brett Stewart are also charged over separate incidents.

2016
Fijian-born winger Semi Radradra makes history when chosen in Australia’s team to meet New Zealand in the Anzac Test at Hunter Stadium on May 6. The Parramatta star becomes the first player in over 100 years to be selected to play a Test for the Kangaroos but not be eligible to represent New South Wales or Queensland. Radradra joins fellow Kangaroos newcomers Blake Ferguson, Josh McGuire and Michael Morgan.



https://www.dragons.com.au/news/2019/04/26/on-this-day-april-26-changa-calls-time/

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

Graeme Langlands was a shy kid from Wollongong when he joined the mighty St George club in the midst of their 11-year run as the undisputed premiership kings.

He went on to become one of the all-time greats, reaching Immortal status in 1999 after narrowly missing selection among the original Immortals in 1981.

He played 227 games for the Dragons over a 14-year career and captained Australia 15 times.

This is the story of how he rose through the ranks on his way to signing with St George.

This is the first of a three-part piece on Langlands which ran over three Rugby League Week issues on June 28, July 5 and 12, 1975. It was titled "The Mighty Chang", written by Philip Jenkins.

• See the original story in Rugby League Week: Page 1 | Page 2

Graeme Frank Langlands was a skinny kid in the days when World War I was swinging in the balance — and no-one knew what quite the future held.

Wollongong hasn't spawned such a son since the enigmatic Norman Gunston came along recently to keep the name of the 'Gong high in the headlines.

Chang, favourite son of everyone who calls himself a St George fan, first saw the light of day September 2, 1941.

Graeme Langlands' Immortal career

He was born to Zell and Bill Langlands who were then living at Corrimal Street, Wollongong, deep in the heart of Rugby League territory, with the tang of the Port Kembla steelworks in the air.

He was an ordinary kid. A pushing, shoving short-back-and-sides kid who didn't do what he was told and loved a scrap better than anything.

No one knew that that young Graeme was to sustain the most amazing record a Rugby League player has ever since the game creaked off the mark back in 1908.

But even as a marble-playing, socks-around-the-ankles kid Chang showed the first signs of his love for Rugby League, the game that was to shape and dictate his life.

As a kid he would zip along the Wollongong streets side-stepping people as they strolled by. The Langlands side-step, a Rugby League marvel for more than a dozen years, was born.

Once he side-stepped too far in a Wollongong Park, hit a pole and knocked himself out.

Chang first played League when he was about eight. His first memories of League are of running on at half-time with junior teams during big match breaks and giving the mob something to watch while they waited for the stars to come back on.

The young Chang raged around Wollongong like most kids his age. He went to school there — Wollongong primary and then Wollongong tech with a brief sojourn at a Sydney college sandwiched in the middle.


Graeme Langlands' Hall of Fame Career

Langlands looks to beat a Parramatta defender during a match at the SCG.

Graeme Langlands' Hall of Fame Career

Langlands looks to beat a Parramatta defender during a match at the SCG.

Graeme Langlands' Hall of Fame Career

Langlands’ kicking game – both in general play and for goal -was yet another string to his bow.

Graeme Langlands' Hall of Fame Career

Langlands looks to evade the tackle of Manly’s Kangaroo prop Bill Hamilton in a match at the SCG.
At Wollongong tech he studied through to the intermediate certificate, and then headed out into the world.

Panel beating was the trade he settled on. For £3/5/- when he started, and £5 when he finished, the young Chang learned the business of knocking cars back into shape.

Asked about it now, he says wistfully: "If it wasn't for football I'd probably still be a panelbeater in Wollongong. Probably right now I'd be standing in a pub down there having a couple of beers."

Langlands' tool of trade now lie somewhere deep at the bottom of Wollongong harbour.

They landed there the day he decided Rugby League was going to be his life.

Chang mixed a busy sporting life with his early days in the business world of Wollongong. Rugby League, surfing, basketball ... they all had a place in the life of the young Langlands.

As an 18-year-old he represented Illawarra at basketball. Around the same age he was showing the competitive spirit in the surf, winning musical flag, belt and surf events for Wollongong club.

But it was always going to be Rugby League. For a time his mother Zell resisted — but Graeme kept bringing home football trophies — and she relented.

The accidents and injuries which were to become an unwelcome part of his life were with him even in those early days.

Once he ran a nine inch long wood splinter into his back — and needed hospital treatment to get it out. At 11 he suffered a bad injury to his left hand and for a time they thought he might lose it. Then he needed a cartilage operation after injuring his knee in his first year with Wollongong Rugby League club.

One day in 1961 when torrerrential rain sent floodwaters swirling around Wollongong, Langlands almost lost his life. He was a member of a flood relief party from Wollongong surf club. Another club member managed to grab him by one arm as he threatened to make a rescue attempt in the dangerous waters on the outskirts of the town. But Chang, the greatest survivor of them all, survived.

In 1961 Langlands played his first representative game for Illawarra. The brash teenager with the duck-tail hair cut by that time had firmly established himself in the Wollongong team at fullback.

A good player named Ellis Bridge had been switched to the wing to make room for Chang. Wollongong knew they had a winner — but they didn't know how long they could hang on to him.

Sydney clubs were already buzzing about the young fullback from the south coast — and another young fullback from the coalfields named Les Johns.

In 1962 Johns was named Country Firsts fullback and Langlands was in Country Seconds.

But fate took a hand. Johns dropped out with injury and the fresh-faced kid from Wollongong got the call-up. The record books tell the rest of the story.

Country, with the skilful Tony Paskins as skipper, skittled the City stars 18-8.

Chang had arrived. That night, flushed with success he had Country team-mate Ron Hopper stopped at St George Leagues club — the old St George Leagues club — to have a couple of celebratory beers.

They were on their way back down the coast. Standing a stone's throw along the bar was Frank "Fearless" Facer, the eagle-eyed St George secretary. After a while Facer came over and talked about the game with Langlands and Hopper over a couple of middies.

It was innocent talk; at that stage Saints didn't want a fullback. They had Brian Graham, a cool customer who was doing the job they wanted.

One month later Graham was transferred to Korea in his job.

Suddenly Saints needed a fullback.

Langlands, the freakish, side-stepping goalkicking kid from the south coast was the one they settled on.

Soon after, one of the most remarkable player-club associations in the history of Rugby League began.

https://forums.leagueunlimited.com/forums/st-george-illawarra-dragons.84/create-thread

Langlands and Billy Simith were my favourite St George players in the 60s/70s.

Same here...

 

[possm]

Oh for those good old days with the brown pigskin ball. On rainy wet days with centre field and both goal mouths with mud about 6" deep, the ball was more slippery than soap. I used to love tsckle low in that mud, no pain at all.

 

[gitano]

Oh for those good old days with the brown pigskin ball. On rainy wet days with centre field and both goal mouths with mud about 6" deep, the ball was more slippery than soap. I used to love talking low in that mud, no pain at all.

It was a mess. Back when we wanted to win games