Brett Kenny

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Brett Kenny (born March 16, 1961, Sydney, Australia and known as Bert to fans) was one of the greatest five/eighths in rugby league during the 1980s. His partnership at the scrumbase with halfback, Peter Sterling and lock, Ray Price, was the decisive factor behind Parramatta's dominance of the New South Wales Rugby League premiership between 1981 and 1986. During this time they won four premierships, were runners-up once, and third once. Kenny remained a superb player long after Parramatta declined in the late 1980s and holds the club record for most first grade games (264) and most tries (110).

Kenny was a prodigiously skilled five-eighth with amazing footwork and anticipation. Although unable to kick, with Sterling, Mick Cronin, Steve Ella and John Muggleton able to do this, Parramatta did not suffer from this and indeed benefited from Kenny's ability to chase kicks so well - accounting for many of his 110 first grade tries for Parramatta. Kenny was also a brilliant tackler, as shown by his ability to consistently put down much bigger players like Wally Lewis, Mal Meninga and Gene Miles in State of Origin games during the 1980s. Around 181cm (five feet 11 inches and weighing in at around 84 kg (13 stone), Kenny was in his early days capable of amazing acceleration, often aided by feigning to deceive a would-be tackler or a quite simple dummy.

The son of a former Australian baseball representative, Brett Kenny did not turn to rugby league until well into his teenage years after playing baseball and athletics. Despite his lack of experience in the game, his talent was quickly noticed by Parramatta when playing in the juniors at Guildford and he was graded by the Eels in 1980. So successful was Kenny in the lower grades that he was partnering established champion Cronin in the centres by the end of the year.

Nothing could prepare rugby watchers, though, for the advance Kenny made in 1981. A swap with five-eighth Steve Ella during the middle of the season worked wonders for a team that had been struggling during the previous season and a half and, as Kenny's talent became clear, the Eels under coach Jack Gibson developed into the most feared team in the competition. Despite being behind for most of the match in the Grand Final against Newtown, the almost continuous pressure exerted by Parramatta after half time took its toll and the Eels powered away to win comfortably with Kenny scoring two fine tries - the first one when he literally flew away into the corner after a Ray Price break.

It was only natural that as Kenny developed further during 1982, he played State of Origin for the first time and his superb performance in the grand final against Manly - scoring two tries and producing a wonderful step near the touchline to set up one for Eric Grothe - made him a certainty for the Kangaroo tour. Kenny played so well that he kept Wally Lewis out of the Test team on that tour, but the rest of his international career had to be played in the centres to accommodate Lewis.

1983 saw Kenny continue his irrepressible form for the most part - his 21 tries is the record for a five-eighth in any Australian rugby league premiership season and included eight tries in five games at one point - but for a time he was so jaded that Jack Gibson remarkably rested him. He nonetheless returned to his best in the finals, and scored two tries for the third successive time in the Eels 18-6 win over Manly. In 1984/1985, Kenny was acclaimed as the best player in rugby league history by former English wing great Billy Boston. Also in 1985 he won the Lance Todd Trophy for being the Man-of-the-Match in the British Challenge Cup Final.

1986 - when the Eels were hit by injuries to most of their top players - saw the Kenny/Sterling partnership reach its greatest height with the two winning match after match for the Eels. In the grand final, Kenny was disallowed two tries but the Eels still won 4-2. To cap it all off, Kenny won the Adidas Golden Boot as the best player in the world, and continued his wonderful form with the unbeaten 1986 Kangaroos.

However, with the retirement or constant absence through injury of the Eels star players, things went downhill form there. Kenny was hit by injury in 1987 and was never at his best, whilst 1988 was wiped out by a serious knee injury leading to Kenny's decision to retire from representative rugby league. Yet, even having lost a lot of pace, Kenny's footwork, passing skills and anticipation were stronger than ever and between 1989 and 1992 he missed only three games for the Eels, constantly standing out in a struggling side after Sterling succumbed to severe shoulder problems. His tackling ability was so good that he was successfully moved to lock forward in 1991 despite his lack of kilograms - and with great success because he was so great a tackler to cope wonderfully with the move. Back at five-eighth, his testimonial year in 1992 was again superb, and he recovered from contractual disputes and shoulder problems to finish his career on a high note in 1993 even if his form was not as good as in previous seasons.

Since retirement, Brett Kenny has kept a very low profile after his autobiography, "The Natural", was published. Although he has written occasionally about the game, for all his service to rugby league he has been reduced to a quite low income since his retirement.

[edit] External links

• State of Origin Offical website Rugby League Player Stats
• Whiticker, Alan and Hudson, Glen; The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players (3rd edition); published 1998 by Gary Allen Pty. Ltd.; 9 Cooper Street, Smithfield, New South Wales, 2164.
• Kenny, Brett with Cardigan, Neil and Sterling, Peter (introduction); The Natural: Brett Kenny's Life in League; published 1993 by Ironbark Press, Randwick, N.S.W.