| Personal information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | William A. Cann | |||||
| Born | 1882 | |||||
| Died | 1958 (aged 75–76) | |||||
| Playing information | ||||||
| Position | Lock | |||||
| Club | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 1908–16 | South Sydney | 71 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 107 |
| Representative | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 1908–12 | New South Wales | 6 | 42 | |||
| 1908–14 | Australia | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 1910 | Australasia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Source: Rugby League Project and Yesterday's Hero | ||||||
Wiliam A. "Billy" Cann (1882–1958) was an Australian rugby league footballer for Souths, New South Wales and Australia. He primarily played at lock and is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.[1] Cann was also a long-term administrator at Souths and a football journalist.
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Cann, a contemporary of Dally Messenger and Albert Rosenfeld, began his playing career as a Rugby union three-quarter at Souths. Frustrated at being ignored by rugby union selectors, he joined the rebel New South Wales rugby league team which played the New Zealand All Golds in 1907.
Cann was unable to play in Souths' first premiership win in 1908 as he was on tour, but he was a member of the premiership winning teams of 1909 and 1914.
Cann toured England with the Kangaroos in the 1908-09 and 1911–12 tours as well as two tours to New Zealand with the New South Wales team, he also represented Australasia.
Cann was a member of Souths' committee from 1908 as well as a delegate to the New South Wales Rugby Football League (NSWRFL). In 1921–1922, Cann was co-manager of the Kangaroo tour along with Souths' secretary, George Ball. During the 1940s and 50s, Cann was a vice-president of the NSWRFL. He also wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald.[2]
Cann is credited with shaping the role of the lock in the new code. John Quinlan (1911–1912 tour co-manager) said of Cann: "It was he who introduced the typical Australian style of fast forward play in which the backs and forwards combine so effectively and spectacularly. It is no reflection on his successors to say the original model remains the greatest gem."[3]
In February 2008, Cann 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.[4]