TONY Price, the author of the newly released More than the Foley Shield will be in Mount Isa on Saturday for a book launch at the Barkly Hotel at midday.
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He has selected several teams over the last couple of days and today’s team is his best ever before the introduction of the six tackle rule in 1972.
His fullback is Ray Laird, who played for Tully in 1968 but was a Mackay junior.
Laird played for Australia in 1970 and for Queensland on 19 occasions between 1963 and 1970.
Price reckons it was a hard decision giving Laird the nod over Dave Parkinson, who played all three tests for Australia in 1946 from Balmain before taking Babinda to the 1947 Carlton Shield with a victory over a star-studded Townsville team.
His wingers are Mount Isa’s Pat “Cocky” McMahon and Innisfail’s Lionel Williamson. McMahon was a great winger who played eight tests for Australia between 1948 and 1949 while Williamson was a sensational junior who played in the 1964 and 1968 Foley Shield finals for Innisfail.
He played five tests for Australia and also the 1968 and 1970 World Cups. Williamson also played for New South Wales and Queensland.
Price’s centre combination are Jack Horrigan, who returned from the 1948 Kangaroo Tour of England to take on the player/coach position in Ayr where he took the sugar town to their first Foley Shield crown in 1950, and Ned Andrews from Mackay, who played for North Queensland, Queensland and Australia in 1950.
The wealth of talent in North Queensland was amazing in the late 1940s with Horrigan reputedly being the highest paid player in Australia on £25 a week plus a job and board.
The combination of dual Heatley Blazer winner, Ron O’Connell from Hughenden and Australian test five-eight Graham Laird from Mackay would be hard to counter.
O’Connell was a classy player who probably could have played for Queensland had the western town not pooled its resources to buy the player and told the Queensland Rugby League he was unavailable for selection. A similar thing happened to Jack Horrigan in Ayr in 1949/1950.
Graham Laird was at the peak of his powers when killed in a tractor accident in 1958.
The lock in the team is Jim Bennett from Cairns, who played for Queensland on 36 occasions from 1921 until 1930 and played all three tests against the 1924 Englishmen. A great player, he spent much of his career in Ipswich.
The second-row combination of Elton Rasmussen (Mackay) and Kel O’Shea (Ayr) would almost be the “best ever North Queensland” pairing as both were super-stars. O’Shea was only a teenager when he played in the 1951 Foley Shield Final but by 1952 he was in the North Queensland team. He played for Queensland and New South Wales, as well as 15 tests for Australia.
Elton Rasmussen also played for Queensland and New South Wales and played 15 tests for Australia. Both O’Shea and Rasmussen had distinguished careers in Sydney rugby league playing in numerous grand finals.
The front row of Duncan Hall (Home Hill) and Joho Purcell (Townsville) would be hard to counter with Hall selected in the Australian Team of the Century after his 22 tests for Australia and 24 games for Queensland, while Purcell played 20 games for Queensland between 1923 and 1928.
The hooker in Price’s team from the 1914-1970 period is Ayr’s Noel Kelly, who also was selected in the Australian Team of the Century. Kelly coached in Ayr in 1960 after returning from the 1959 Kangaroo Tour and played 25 tests for Australia between 1959 and 1968.
Tony Price has mentioned all these great players in his book. It’s a great read, come along on Saturday at midday to have a look.
