In your Armidale days you made the Wallabies team. What was the path from there?

Q AI was 21 in 1974 when selected for NSW Country, who were very strong then. We had Daryl Haberecht as coach, just what we needed. We beat Sydney, a fantastic team on paper, four years in a row. I was picked for NSW and Australia from Armidale. What happened after that because you ended up in Brisbane, didn’t you? Country fell away a bit and with professionalism coming in you had to play in Brisbane or Sydney. You have to do it to be considered. Kane Douglas (right) progressed from Yamba to Test honours but not many manage the jump from the country anymore, can they? There are people who keep an eye on the country but are told players have to be against better company.

Q A Q AMost of the time, if they want to go on with their rugby they go to Sydney or Brisbane. That is not a pity, it’s a reality. If you play in the country you just don’t have the facilities. When you moved to the Coast you helped get Breakers in the Brisbane competition, right? We wanted to give locals a chance to play at the highest level ... so they didn’t have to travel to Brisbane three times a week. The unfortunate thing, in retrospect, was the QRU asked us to field five teams which impacted on local rugby. There were issues with some Bond Uni founders over the operation and dumping of the Breakers nickname, correct? I think we have all moved on and I believe going to Bond was a good thing for rugby here. Within a short period of time they will be a big threat in Brisbane’s competition.

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