Wally Prigg

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Wally Prigg
Australian national rugby league captain
Australian national rugby league captain
Personal information
Full name Walter Joseph Prigg
Date of birth 17 October, 1908
Date of death 8 September, 1980
Senior clubs*
Years Club Apps (points)
1927-28
1928-39		 Wests Newcastle
Central Newcastle
Representative teams
1929-39
1928-38		 New South Wales
Australia		 35 (36)
19 (12)

* Professional club appearances and points
counted for domestic first grade only.

Wally Prigg (1908 - 1980) was an Australian rugby league player. He was a lock forward for the Australian national rugby league team. He played 19 Tests for the Kangaroos between 1929-38, 7 as captain.

Contents

[edit] Club and representative career

Wally Prigg was one of the greatest forwards in the history of rugby league. He spent his whole career as a Newcastle Wests and Central Charlestown player. He was the first New South Wales country based player to captain the Australian national rugby league team.

He made his first appearance for New South Wales at the age of 20. Between 1929 and 1939 he made 32 appearances for New South Wales, a record at the time. He scored 12 tries or 36 points for New South Wales. During his career he revolutionized the position of lock forward. His game was based around short passing and close support play.

He played 19 Tests for the Kangaroos between 1929-38. He scored a total of 4 tries or 12 points for Australia. He toured with the Australia on their tours of New Zealand in 1935 and 1937 and on the Kangaroo Tour of England in 1937 - 1938 when he was tour captain. He played in all five Tests of that tour as captain and in 24 minor matches.

He was the first man to be picked for three Kangaroo tours. His leadership style and skills were respected by English fans. His final test match for Australia was the first match ever between Australia and France in 1938.

[edit] Accolades

Wally Prigg died in 1980 at the age of 71. He was inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2003. In February 2008, Prigg 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.[1][2]

[edit] References

  • Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Peter Cassidy. "Controversy reigns as NRL releases top 100 players", Macquarie National News, 2008-02-23. Retrieved on 2008-02-23. 
  2. ^ Centenary of Rugby League - The Players. NRL & ARL (2008-02-23). Retrieved on 2008-02-23.