The 1950s Maroon Renaissance

Sean Fagan of RL1908.com

Coming to the winter of 1951, Queensland hadn’t won an inter-state series in 11 years, nor tasted the joys of victory in an opening match since 1932.

The ‘30s and ‘40s provided decades of tough experiencies for Maroons players and fans alike.

No matter how resolutely the Queensland-13s held up against the star-studded Blues of that era, invariably in the back-end of the game, their fitness would be found wanting, leaving NSW free to race away with an easy win.

Despite the first game of 1951 doubling as a selection trial for the Kangaroos to play Puig-Aubert’s visiting French team, the Maroons arrived in Sydney to find the city’s sporting pages devoting more column-inches to the under-card match between Sydney players divided into “Possibles” v. “Probables.”

The double-header was a popular drawcard, and nearly 45,000 fans found their way to the SCG. At the end of the day they stood, cheered and applauded a Queensland team that had broken their 19-year-old hoodoo, demolishing the Blues 29-18 in a stunning upset.

It was an emphatic victory, made under unlikely circumstances. Just after half-time the Maroons skipper, prop Duncan Hall, was sent-off for a “stiff-arm” tackle. In Hall’s absence the Queensland pack lost most of the scrums. Another three players were so “crippled” they could do little more than take up space in the defensive line.

The Sydney Morning Herald’s Tom Goodman credited the Maroons’ success to their fitness, noting that while previous Queensland teams had wilted after half-time this side, even with the additional difficulties thrust upon them, “lasted out the match in great style.”

Goodman also praised the “work of the powerful pack, which gave a remarkable display of constructive and determined forward play.” Much of the plaudits were reserved for the team’s young back-rowers, Brian Davies and Harold ‘Mick’ Crocker, as well as centre Noel Hazzard. Along with Hall, all three were rewarded with selection in the first Test team against France.

The Maroons had claims on obtaining more places, but a 31-8 loss to NSW in the second match deflated any real chance other Queenslanders had.

A month later the Maroons hosted the Blues at the Gabba in the series-decider. Near on 25,000 parochial Queenslanders “took a set” against Sydney referee George Bishop, “hooting and jeering” him from the opening minute.

The home fans reckoned the pressure eventually wore Bishop down, with the Maroons winning the penalty count 7-2 in the second half. With the extra supply of possession, Queensland unleashed an attacking avalanche upon NSW, turning a half-time 11-5 lead into 31-10 with 15 minutes still to play. The Maroons coasted home to a 39-23 win, securing their first series success since 1940.

Hall, who scored two tries, was singled out by the press for the example he provided to his men, with Goodman writing, “Kangaroo Duncan Hall played the best game I have ever seen from him.”

Tactically, the Queenslanders played a smart game, refusing to kick the football anywhere near NSW’s master attacking fullback, Clive Churchill. To make doubly certain that Churchill’s influence was dampened, the Maroons made sure he was hard-worked in defence, with Hall and the other forwards repeatedly steering their runs in direction of the South Sydney man. It seemed to do the trick, “with Churchill doing comparatively little running.”

Through the rest of the 1950s, while the Maroons copped the occasional drubbing, they were able to draw the 1953 and 1955 series. In 1959 Churchill joined Brisbane’s Northern Suburbs, played for Queensland against the Kiwis, and coached the Maroons against NSW.

Ipswich Brothers’ hooker Noel Kelly made his debut for Queensland in the first match of the 1959 series. Held at “the Ekka” in May, the huge crowd spilled onto the speedway track around the field. Kelly’s out-raking of NSW’s Ian Walsh in the scrums (20-9), provided the home side with what the Courier-Mail’s Jack Reardon acclaimed as “the biggest share of possession any Queensland team has enjoyed since the War.”

Kelly’s efforts proved to be the decisive factor, with the Maroons knocking over the fancied Blues 17-15 in a “heart-stopper.” A leg injury kept Kelly out of the second Brisbane match (the first ever at Lang Park), and in his absence NSW squared the series with a 24-14 win.

The final two matches of the series were scheduled for Sydney in August. In the meantime, the return to form of the Maroons resulted in five of the team being rewarded with their debut Test jerseys in matches against the Kiwis: half-back Barry Muir (Wests), the Ipswich front-row titans of Noel Kelly and Dud Beattie, and Toowoomba’s Jim Paterson (second row) and Trevor McDonald (winger).

The Aussies won the Tests 2-1 against a gritty and determined New Zealand team, particularly their pack. The Tests enabled Kelly and Muir to build a fruitful hooker-halfback combination, and when the inter-state series resumed, Queensland won both matches (23-11 and 18-14).

It was only the second time in inter-state history that the Maroons had claimed a series by winning more matches in Sydney than in Brisbane (the first was in 1924).

In 1960, the Blues won the first of the two Sydney matches thanks to a last-minute touch-line goal kick (22-21). In the second contest, NSW cruised to a 12-0 lead, before Queensland responded with 17 unanswered points to take victory.

Selections for the opening Test against France provide direct evidence of how much respect the game in NSW now had for their Queensland counterparts, particularly of their powerhouse forwards.

Apart from the immovable Johnny Raper at lock, the ARL selectors chose an entire Maroon pack for Australia - Beattie, Kelly, Paterson, Gary Parcell and Elton Rasmussen. Under those circumstances, Muir was rightly selected as half-back.

The original version of this article was first published in the match day program for Game 2 of the 2008 State of Origin series.