Frank McMillan

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Frank McMillan

Australian national rugby league captain
Personal information
Full name	Franklin McMillan
Date of birth	Dec 14th, 1899
Place of birth	Menindee, New South Wales,
Date of death	Dec 26th, 1966
Place of death	Taree, New South Wales,
Nickname(s)	Skinny
Youth clubs
Years	Club
1919–1920	Parramatta
Senior clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (points)
1921–1924 1926–1935 1925	Western Suburbs Western Suburbs Balmain Tigers	148 (238) 12 (34)
Representative teams
1922–1934 1929–1934	New South Wales Australia	22 (4) 9 (0)
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only.

Frank McMillan (1899 - 1966) was an Australian rugby league player and coach. He was a full-back for the Australian national team. He played in nine Tests between 1929 and 1934, two as captain.

Contents 1 Club career 2 Representative career 3 Accolades and playing style 4 Post playing 5 Playing career 6 Sources 7 Footnotes

[edit] Club career

He was born in Menindee, New South Wales and was graded with the Western Suburbs Magpies in 1921.

He played fourteen season of first grade rugby league all with Wests, aside from the 1925 year when he played for the Balmain Tigers.

During McMillan's long career Wests were premiers in season 1930 and 1934 and runners-up in 1932. He was captain-coach of Wests in season 1934.

[edit] Representative career

He made his New South Wales representative debut in 1922 and 12 years later he was still the state's preferred fullback. He made 22 New South Wales appearances.

His debut national selection was for the 1929-30 Kangaroo Tour of England and Wales. He played in four Tests and 22 minor tour matches. He was the first Australian international representative to come from the Parramatta juniors.

In 1932 he played in all three Tests of the domestic Ashes series.

For the 1933-34 Kangaroo Tour, McMillan was named as captain-coach following Herb Steinohrt's withdrawal. Australia lost the series 3-0 with McMillan captaining the side in the 1st and 3rd Tests and in 19 minor tour matches including a demonstration match in Paris where rugby league was introduced to France.

[edit] Accolades and playing style

McMillan's opposing captain and fullback for the 1933 series was British rugby league legend Jim Sullivan. Both players ended their representative careers in the 3rd Test at Swinton. The Andrews' reference reports that when the two had met earlier in the four Tests of the 1929 series some critics rated McMillan's performances as superior to those of the extraordinary Sullivan. ^[1].

Whiticker's reference suggests that McMillan revolutionised Australian fullback play and quotes rugby league scribe Tom Goodman: "McMillan began the era of the 'running' fullback. If not the pioneer of attacking play, then certainly the most exciting crowds had seen. He would make daring bursts from his own goal-line, he exploited the "scissors" move with team-mates, he used the punt sparingly but skillfully, and although he is not rated in the same heights as Churchill, as a fullback, whose defence equalled his brilliant attack, he made many gallant tackles of big men" ^[2].

In February 2008, McMillan was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908-2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.^[3][4]

[edit] Post playing

He coached Western Suburbs in 1936 and 1945. In 1947 he was the foundation coach of the newly introduced Parramatta Eels.

[edit] Playing career

Team	Matches	Years
Wests	148	1921-24 & 1926-35
Balmain	12	1925
New South Wales	22	1922-1934
Australia	9	1929-1934

[edit] Sources

• Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney
• Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
• 100 Greatest Players magazine liftout , Daily Telegraph (23Feb2008) , News Ltd, Surry Hills, Sydney

[edit] Footnotes