Price, Kenny honour electric Eels of 80s
Joel Gould |
“Here we go again. Manly and Parra.”
So starts a famous advertisement for Tooheys beer in the 1980s featuring Parramatta and Manly. It was a glorious era in rugby league for the Eels who won four premierships, including two against the Sea Eagles in 1982 and 1983.
Towards the end of the ad, Eels lock Ray Price scores and Parramatta celebrate. The final frame is of Price and legendary five-eighth Brett Kenny smiling. The duo played in all four of the Eels’ grand final wins (1981-83 and 1986) of that era.
Ahead of Sunday’s NRL grand final between Parramatta and Penrith, Kenny and Price have reflected on the 1980s and why the Eels were so good.
“Everyone was so close. We all looked after each other. Anyone would do anything to help their mate out,” Price told AAP.
“That made it very easy to put together a good side and win grand finals.
“For three of those grand finals we had Jack Gibson as our coach …simply the best and the ant’s pants of coaches anywhere. His words always meant something.”
Photos taken of Price after games from that era capture a warrior who’d been in a prize fight. Battered, bloodied but never broken.
“You are never beaten until you are beaten. My motto was ‘I never give in’,” he said.
The game had changed immeasurably by the time of the 4-2 win by the Eels over Canterbury in their last grand final win in 1986. Low scores and defensive mindsets were then the norm after the more free flowing style of the early 1980s.
In the last second of the 1986 decider, metres out from the line, Price was involved in a tackle on Canterbury’s Mark Bugden as the siren went. It was the last tackle ever made by an Eel in a winning grand final side.
“I knew we were going to win it because I was retiring at the end of that year with Crow ( centre Michael Cronin),” Price said.
“I knew we would stop everything they threw against us. When you play in a grand final and you want to win it you have to bust your backside.”
John Monie was the coach in 1986 and Price said he didn’t try and reinvent the wheel after Gibson’s trifecta of wins at the helm earlier in the decade.
“The best thing Monie did was listen to the players and that is why he became a supercoach,” Price said.
“I rate Monie nearly as high as you’d rate Jack Gibson and that is what Gibbo’ thought too.
“You never interrupted Gibbo’ when he was talking. One, it was rude. Two, he’d drop ya.
“He was the best coach I’ve had. A lot of our success came from (assistant coach) Ron Massey. Gibbo and Massey were the best coaching team I’ve ever seen.
“We used to have talks in the team bus. Jack would be talking and all of a sudden he’d stop. Massey would say a few words of wisdom and Jack would go again. It was like Massey had his hand up Jack’s back like a ventriloquist. They were both lovely people.”
Kenny scored two tries in three consecutive deciders, the 21-10 win over Newtown in 1981 and then the 21-8 and 18-6 victories over Manly.
He recalled the rivalry between Manly and Parramatta in the 1980s as similar to the one now unfolding between Penrith and Parramatta.
“I helped make the beer ad’ at Belmore Sports Ground and I think that just shows you the rivalry and respect people had for both teams,” Kenny told AAP.
“Tooheys recognised that we brought the best out of each and the fact they wanted us in an ad’ just showed how the public viewed it as well. Everyone remembers it.
“It is similar between what you see now between Parramatta and Penrith and hopefully that continues.”
Kenny said there were other parallels
Manly whipped Parramatta 20-0 in the 1982 major semi-final to earn a spot in the decider.
“They were a little bit cocky. I remember walking off and some of their players saying, ‘we won’t see you blokes again’, as in the grand final, but we did … and we beat them easily,” Kenny recalled.
“It is the same this year. Penrith beat Parramatta (27-8) in the first final but I don’t think the Eels will be looking back over that and thinking too much about that.
“They will be looking at what they did earlier to beat Penrith twice this year and what they have done since.”
Price remembers what he called a “very good ad” but for a different reason.
“A few of the Manly players were smart alecs and they are the people you like to belt,” he grinned.
Parramatta’s backline of the 1980s was so slick they became known as the Electric Eels. Price has goose bumps just rattling off some of their names.
“They were so easy to play with,” Price reflected.
“Bert (Kenny) – the best five-eighth. Sterlo’ – the best halfback. Steve Ella and Mick Cronin – the best centre pairing. Zip Zip (Ella) was so fast and elusive and I never saw Cronin tackled one-on-one. He just stood there.
“Squizzy (Paul Taylor) at fullback was the best tackler in the game. Eric Grothe – the best winger in the game. I used to love watching him run. I used to go, ‘Oh, look at this’.”
AAP
