John Graves
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John (Johnny) Graves (born c.1930) was an Australian rugby league player, a star of the late 1940s and early 1950s for the South Sydney Rabbitohs and for the Australian national representative side.
Known as "Wacka", he commenced his footballing in Newcastle, New South Wales and came to the attention of Sydney talent scouts when he scored two tries in his international debut representing Newcastle against a touring British side in 1946.
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[edit] Club career
He joined South Sydney in 1947 and after ony four first grade games was selected in the New South Wales side. He formed a strong backline pairing with Clive Churchill and was victorious in Grand Finals with Souths in 1950 (scoring two tries) and in 1951 (scoring 4 tries).
[edit] Representative career
He debuted for Australia against New Zealand in the 1st Test of 1948, played in the rest of that series and then toured Great Britain with the 1948 Kangaroos. He played in 2 Tests and 20 Tour games returning as the side's top scorer with 16 tries and 35 goals for 188 points.
He represented for Australia in seven Test matches (3 Great Britain, 3 New Zealand and 1 France) between 1948 and 1951.
[edit] Records
His achievement of 28 tries in 17 games in the 1951 season stands at 4th place in the overall Australian record of Most Tries by an Individual in One Season.
He holds positions 1, 2, 4 and 5 in the table of Most Points in a Match for the Rabbitohs with respectively 29 points (Round 8, 1952 v Easts); 27 points (Round 14, 1949 v Easts); 23 points(Round 18, 1952 v Newtown) and 23 points (Round 10, 1948 v Parramatta).
Along with five other Rabbitohs he has achieved the feat of scoring five tries in a single match (Round 14, 1949 v Easts.)
[edit] References
- Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League, Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
- NRL Official 2007 Season Guide, News Magazines Surry Hills Sydney, for the National Rugby League
