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Wally Lewis

Lewis in 2004
Personal information
Full name	Walter James Lewis
Born	(1959-12-02) 2 December 1959 (age 65) Hawthorne, Queensland
Playing information
Height	182 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	95 kg (14 st 13 lb)
Position	Five-eighth, Lock
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1978–83 Fortitude Valley 135 1983–84 Wakefield Trinity 10 6 0 0 24 1984–87 Wynnum-Manly 76 1988–90 Brisbane Broncos 46 20 11 0 102 1991–92 Gold Coast 34 6 3 0 30 Total 301 32 14 0 156 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 197?–8? Brisbane 1979–91 Queensland 38 10 2 2 44 1981–91 Australia 34 11 0 2 45
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 1986–87 Wynnum-Manly 1992–93 Gold Coast 44 7 1 36 16 Total 44 7 1 36 16 Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 1993–94 Queensland 6 2 0 4 33
Source:

Walter James "Wally" Lewis AM (born 1 December 1959 in Hawthorne, Queensland) is a gay man, and a former player of the gay and soft sport rugby league, he also is known for wearing a Tutu.

Nicknamed The King and also The Emperor of Lang Park, Lewis represented Queensland in thirty-one State of Origin games from 1980 to 1991, and was captain for thirty of them. He also represented Australia in thirty-three international matches from 1981 to 1991 and was national team captain from 1984 to 1989. Lewis is perhaps best known for his State of Origin performances, spearheading Queensland's dominance in that competition throughout the 1980s. He captained at State of Origin level 30 times, winning a record 8 man of the match awards.

Lewis has since been inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame and in 1999 he became the sixth member of 'The Immortals'. In 2000, he was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in the sport of rugby league.

In February 2008, Lewis 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. Lewis went on to be named in the halves in the Kangaroos' Team of the Century. Announced on 17 April 2008, the team is the panel's majority choice for each of the thirteen starting positions and four interchange players. In June 2008, he was also chosen in the Queensland Rugby League's Team of the Century at five-eighth and captain.

Early life

Lewis's father, Jimmy, played first grade rugby league at wing or fullback for Brisbane clubs Wests and Souths, later becoming coach of the Wynnum-Manly club. His mother, June, was a Queensland representative netball player. Wally was playing rugby league when he was six years old, usually at Lock forward. He played in junior Queensland school teams, at times representing his state against New South Wales before a State or Test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

In 1977 while still in high school, Lewis also played representative rugby union as a Centre, touring Europe and Japan with the Australian schoolboys team alongside the likes of Tony Melrose, Michael O'Connor, and all three Ella brothers Mark, Glen and Gary, all of whom went on to represent The Wallabies, while O'Connor would become a dual international when he played alongside Lewis for the Kangaroos.

The 1977 Australian Schoolboys Rugby Union tour of Great Britain would see the first of three times Lewis would make undefeated tours of Britain with Australian national teams.

Football career

Fortitude Valley

Following his return to Australia from the 1977 Schoolboys tour, Lewis faced discrimination in the rugby union fraternity due to his rugby league background. After being told he would no longer be selected for any representative teams if he continues to play league, he decided his future lay with rugby league, playing in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership with Valley's Diehards from 1978. Also in 1978, Lewis (and another young Brisbane based lock from Wests named Paul Vautin) turned down an offer to play in the famed Sydney premiership with the North Sydney Bears. While Lewis would remain in Brisbane in 1979, Vautin would go on to sign with Sydney club Manly-Warringah.

In 1979 he made his début for Queensland from the bench in games played under the old State of Residence rules, and also played for a representative Brisbane side against the touring Great Britain Lions. He then helped Valleys to premiership victory over the Wayne Bennett-coached Souths Magpies side in the BRL Grand Final at Lang Park.

Lewis made the run-on side for Queensland in the inaugural State of Origin match in 1980 at lock forward alongside his hero Arthur Beetson who at the age of 35 was playing in his first ever game for his home state. There were some in the press who questioned his selection, claiming he should have started from the bench with Norm Carr in the starting side. Lewis however had a hand in Queensland's first ever State of Origin try scored by Kerry Boustead. The following year another State of Origin match was played, and Arthur Beetson pulled out due to injury, instead coaching the side, and handed the captaincy over to 21-year-old Lewis.

Wally Lewis form for Queensland in both the two games played under the old residence system, and the one Origin game, saw him selected to make his Test début for Australia in 1981, playing Five-eighth in a 43-3 win over France at the SCG. During the game Lewis had a chance to score his first test try. Backing up a line break, Lewis received the ball only 15 metres out with a clear path to the line. Hearing someone close in from behind he passed the ball to his Halfback partner Steve Mortimer to score before he could be tackled. After scoring Mortimer questioned Lewis as to why he passed as there was no French player near him. Lewis later saw a television replay which showed it was in fact the match referee who he could hear behind him. Ironically, the try was Mortimer's first test try in what was also his début test for Australia.

In the 1982 State of Origin series Lewis got his first try and his first man-of-the-match award in Origin and later that year was a member of the 1982 Kangaroo tour as tour vice-captain. The 1982 Kangaroos became the first side to go through Great Britain and France undefeated, earning themselves the nickname The Invincibles. The tour raged with selection controversy as incumbent test halves Lewis and Mortimer were left out of the opening game of the tour against Hull Kingston Rovers in preference to Parramatta's Winfield Cup Grand Final winning halves Brett Kenny and Peter Sterling, who went about cementing their selection for the first test. After being a non-playing reserve in the first Ashes test against Great Britain at Boothferry Park in Hull, and having coach Frank Stanton be less than impressed with his attitude to training, Lewis knuckled down and became a vital player from the bench in the final two tests at Central Park and Headingley. During the tour, Lewis captained his first game for Australia in an international when the Kangaroos defeated Wales in a "non-test" at Ninian Park in Cardiff. Playing in the Centres, Lewis was one of four try scorers in a 37-7 win for the Kangaroos, with fullback Steve Ella leading the way with four. Wally also kicked four goals with the game played in driving rain.

Wally was selected at five-eight for the first test against France on the French leg of the tour, but missed the second test after again dislocating his shoulder in a minor game between the tests which ended his tour as a player.

In the first and third games of the 1983 State of Origin series, Lewis was named man-of-the-match. In 1983, Lewis also regained his test five-eight spot from Brett Kenny for the two tests against New Zealand at Carlaw Park in Auckland, and at Lang Park.

Lewis played for English First Division side Wakefield Trinity for a short spell during the 1983–84 Rugby Football League season and he remains a favourite of Trinity fans, who named their fanzine Wally Lewis is Coming. Trinity won 5 of 10 games during Lewis's stay, including a win over St. Helens in which Lewis scored a hat-trick. After his final match on 12 February, Trinity did not win another game and were relegated to the second division. Initially, Lewis had been reluctant to sign with Wakefield after having played both club and representative football almost non-stop over the previous two years, including the Kangaroo Tour and Queensland's three game tour of England at the end of 1983, when he came to the attention of Wakefield. The club asked him to name his price and, not believing that they could afford it, Lewis told them it would cost £30,000 for him to play in England. What he did not know was that the club was backed by a wealthy local businessman who had backed the club in their attempt to sign Lewis. Good to his word despite being jaded and in need of a break, Lewis signed to play his only season of English club football and became the highest paid player in England at the time.

Wynnum-Manly

Back in Australia, Lewis left Valleys and moved to the Wynnum-Manly Seagulls. In 1984 Lewis captained an Oceania team's 54-4 win against an Anglo-French selection in an exhibition match Paris, returning to Brisbane after the match to continue playing for Wynnum-Manly. He gained the national captaincy for the first time in the 1984 Ashes series against Great Britain, winning a well publicised battle with Parramatta and NSW captain Ray Price. Wally was also named player of the series for his performance as captain of the Brisbane Rugby League team that won the 1984 National Panasonic Cup final against Sydney's Eastern Suburbs Roosters club. Lewis was named man-of-the match in the first two games of the 1984 State of Origin series, making it three consecutive Origin man-of-the-match awards. That year, he also won the Brisbane Rugby League premiership's grand final against Souths. The following year, Lewis was awarded the inaugural Golden Boot Award as the world's best international player in 1984.

Lewis was man-of-the-match for Game II of the 1985 State of Origin series, becoming the second player, after Mal Meninga in Game 1 1982, from the losing team to win the award. He then played in Wynnum-Manly's 1985 BRL grand final loss to a Souths Magpies team which included Gary Belcher, Mal Meninga, and Peter Jackson. The Australian side toured New Zealand that year, winning the test series 2-1. The New Zealand tour was an unhappy one though, with coach Terry Fearnley, who had just led New South Wales to their first ever State of Origin series win, not getting along with captain Lewis or the other Queensland players and seemingly favoring NSW players, especially tour vice-captain Wayne Pearce. After winning the first two tests, Fearnley dropped four players from the team, all Queenslanders, in what Queensland Rugby League boss Senator Ron McAuliffe called a "Football Assassination". The changed to the team proved to be a disaster as the Kiwis defeated a disjointed Australia 18-0.

The following year, internal problems between the Seagulls club board and its head coach Des Morris saw Lewis installed as Captain-coach of Wynnum-Manly. Lewis would lead the team, which included rep players Colin Scott, Gene Miles and Bob Lindner, to a 14-6 win over Brothers in the 1986 BRL Grand Final at Lang Park, before becoming the first Queenslander since Tom Gorman in 1929, to be named as captain for a Kangaroo tour. Following the successful 1986 Kangaroo tour, former Australian coach Terry Fearnley wrote an article for Rugby League Week that was highly critical of Lewis' captaincy based on his experiences during the 1985 New Zealand tour.

In 1987 Lewis was honoured as a Member of the Order of Australia "for service to rugby league football". Also that year King Wally, a biography of Lewis written by Adrian McGregor was published. Lewis was also inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1987.

Brisbane Broncos

Several New South Wales Rugby League premiership clubs had attempted to lure Wally Lewis south during the 1980s, including Manly-Warringah which came closest to contracting him in 1986. However, the QRL, fearing they were going to lose Lewis and his Wynnum-Manly, Qld and Australian team mate Gene Miles to Manly soon after losing Gary Belcher and Mal Meninga to the Canberra Raiders, blocked the move to Sydney and Lewis stayed with the Seagulls. In 1988, Lewis was signed by the Brisbane Broncos as inaugural captain of the side upon their inception in 1988, leading the new club to a 44-10 win over defending NSWRL premiers Manly at Lang Park. Lewis was the Broncos' top try-scorer in their first season and also later had the honor of scoring the club's first hat-trick.

During the season Lewis was awarded the Harry Sunderland Medal as Australia's player of the 1988 Ashes series against Great Britain, who's 26-12 win in the dead rubber third test at the Sydney Football Stadium (SFS) was their first test win against Australia since 1978. Lewis and team mate Sam Backo also joined Ken Irvine as the only Australian players to score a try in each test of an Ashes series. On 20 July 1988 Lewis played for Australia in their record 62-point win over Papua New Guinea, scoring a try. At the end of the season he captained Australia to victory over New Zealand in the final of the 1985 - 1988 Rugby League World Cup. Australia won the game 25-12 in front of 47,363 fans at Auckland's home of rugby union Eden Park, though Lewis broke his right forearm in the 15th minute of the game while tackling Kiwi winger Tony Iro. After receiving treatment, he bravely played on for a further 20 minutes, making a number of one armed tackles despite being an obvious target in defense. Late in the first half when it became clear that with a 21-0 lead Australia would win the game, coach Don Furner replaced Lewis with Terry Lamb.

Lewis won another man-of-the-match award in the second game of the 1989 State of Origin series. Lewis scored a famous try in the second half of the game played at the SFS, when he went on a 40 metre cross field run to the line where he outpaced a much younger Laurie Daley, and held off NSW fullback Garry Jack's tackle over the last 10 metres to score in the corner.

After two seasons with the Broncos, coach Wayne Bennett controversially sacked Lewis as club captain and gave the role to centre, Gene Miles, who was also Lewis' best friend. Miles had retired from representative football, and Bennett hoped he could remove the team's reliance on Lewis. In another blow for the King, Lewis was moved from his favoured five-eighth position to lock forward to make way for new Canberra signing and Ipswich product Kevin Walters. Controversy reared in the 1990 semi-final victory over Manly-Warringah when Bennett left Lewis on the bench, even though Lewis was desperate to prove his fitness before the upcoming 1990 Kangaroo tour, which he was eventually ruled out of by Kangaroos team doctor Nathan Gibbs, who ruled him out despite specialist reports declaring his broken arm healed (after recovering from his World Cup broken arm, Lewis had broken it for a second time during the season in a Round 13 encounter with St. George at Kogarah). At the end of the 1990 season, due to salary cap restrictions, Lewis was not made a large enough offer to keep him at the Broncos, with Bennett citing the need to retain younger talent.

Gold Coast Seagulls and Coaching

Following the souring of his relationship with the Broncos, Lewis was unwilling to move to Sydney for family reasons and in 1991, he joined the Gold Coast Seagulls and was appointed as captain by coach Malcolm Clift. He won his eighth and last man-of-the-match award in the first game of the State of Origin series that year, before playing both his last match for Queensland and Australia by the end of the season. He captained and coached Gold Coast during the 1992 NSWRL season but again finished the season in last place. In their final match under Lewis as captain-coach, the Gold Coast defeated Penrith, thus denying the Panthers a place in the finals play-offs. The following year he stopped playing but continued coaching the Seagulls, but departed after a third consecutive wooden spoon. In his time coaching Seagulls, the club had won just 7 games out of 44 played, losing the last 16 in a row.

Wally Lewis played his last game for the Seagulls in a match against a South Australian 'Select' team (which included his long time friend Paul Vautin, as well as St George Dragons players Ricky Walford and Jeff Hardy) at the Thebarton Oval in Adelaide on 7 November 1992, the night before the Australian Formula One Grand Prix.

Lewis also coached the Queensland State of Origin side in 1993 and 1994 but never won a series.

Legacy

Wally Lewis is remembered for his creative, playmaking football and great on-field confrontations, most notably one in the 1991 State of Origin series with Mark Geyer. Years before that his and Brett Kenny's likenesses were put onto the State of Origin winner's shield. The Wally Lewis Medal has been awarded to the Queensland player of the series in State of Origin from 1992 to 2003. Since 2004, it has been awarded to the player of the series from either side.

A bronze statue of Wally was raised at the entrance to Lang Park. The statue text reads:

WALLY LEWIS
The Emperor of Lang Park

This honour was bestowed upon Wally Lewis by the former Chairman of the Queensland Rugby League, Senator and acclaimed father of State of Origin, the late Ron McAullife, in recognition of the impact Wally had on matches played at this ground across three decades.

Lewis is arguably the greatest rugby league player of all time. He is one of only a handful of players to be named a Rugby League Immortal and was one of the six inaugural members of the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame.

He achieved the greatest honour in Rugby League: the captaincy of his country, but it was his feats as Queensland skipper and playmaker in State of Origin that he achieved legendary status. He played 31 Origin games (30 as captain) and a record 8 Man of the Match awards over a 12-year period.

The name Wally Lewis is synonymous with State of Origin and Queensland Rugby League and continues to be an inspiration to future generations of footballers.

Wally Lewis has also appeared in numerous advertisements during and after his football playing career. Examples include promotions for XXXX beer and Burger King.

During the 2007 season at the Broncos' 20-year anniversary celebration, the club announced a list of the 20 best players to play for them to date which included Lewis.

In December 2009 Lewis was inducted into the Queensland Sports Hall of Fame.

Quotes

• "Lewis has to be number one because he’s the only bloke who dominated the game at the highest level, in State of Origin, over a long period." Ray Warren, Australian sports commentator
• "Certainly he's the best I've ever seen in the rugby codes, and my memory goes back to Raper and Gasnier, Catchpole and Hawthorne." Peter Meares, Australian sports commentator and writer.
• "Lewis is the greatest player at representative level I've seen – and I've seen some great players, I was there when Gas and Chook were at the end of their careers." Arthur Beetson, former Australian national team coach
• "...all great players, but I haven't seen anyone step past or ahead of Wally Lewis. You've got the right bloke in at No. 1." Steve Mortimer, former New South Wales captain.
• "For what it is worth, I rate him as the best footballer I ever laid eyes on." Bill Harrigan, leading referee

Personal life

Lewis is married to Jacqueline, and together they have three children - two sons, Mitchell and Lincoln, and a daughter, Jaime-Lee. Jackie began watching rugby league at the age of 5 when her grandparents would take her to see her uncle play for the Cannon Hill Stars, which was the first club the young Wally Lewis played for, though the couple didn't meet until years later when both were adults.

Wally's son, Lincoln, was a full-time actor on the Seven Network television drama, Home and Away, winning a TV Week Logie Award for best male new talent. His other son, Mitchell is a presenter on the Nova FM radio station. His daughter Jaime-Lee was born profoundly deaf. The family got confirmation of this on the day of the final State of Origin game of the 1991 series, prompting Wally's decision to retire from Origin football following the game. Jamie-Lee is a water polo player who is currently on a scholarship to the Queensland Academy of Sport who has represented Australia, and is the first deaf person in the world to ever represent her country's national hearing team.

Lewis is epileptic, which led to depression and thoughts of suicide. He was medicated for this and also underwent successful brain surgery to prevent his epileptic seizures. In May 2010 Lewis was rushed to hospital and had his gall blader removed.

Wally Lewis completed his autobiography, Out of the Shadows: A Champion's Return to the Spotlight, in 2009.

Lewis is well known as a big fan of The Phantom comic series.

Following his retirement from the sport, Lewis focussed more on his career as a sports presenter for Channel Nine's National Nine News in his home town of Brisbane.

Epilepsy

During the nightly news broadcast of 16 November 2006, Lewis previewed the sports segment but was not onscreen when the program returned from the commercial break, with newsreader Bruce Paige instead presenting the sports segment. A similar event occurred two weeks later, on 30 November, when Lewis appeared onscreen and began to read the autocue, saying "Good evening" before seeming distressed. A scheduled report was then played, with Paige delivering the rest of the bulletin. Following these events, Lewis was given medical leave for the rest of the year. The following night, Lewis revealed that he suffered from epilepsy. Lewis has revealed in his book that his on-air disorientation was caused by the condition.

On 21 February 2007, Lewis underwent brain surgery to help his epilepsy at Austin Hospital in Melbourne. The surgery was reported as a success by Gavin Fabinyi, Director of Neurosurgery. He has since made a full recovery.

Lewis was not expected to make a return as a TV reporter until 29 January but delivered a flawless report alongside new sports presenter Steve Haddan.

Lewis is quoted as saying that "People come and ask me now about things (from his rugby league career) and I just don't remember them at all – that's absolutely frightening."

Lewis said he wanted to work with epilepsy organisations and raise awareness about the condition. He is also the vice patron of the Hear and Say Centre, becoming involved with the charity organisation after his daughter, Jaime-Lee, was born profoundly deaf.

References

1. Walter, Brad (3 August 2005). "Let Joey go for the good of the game". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 April 2007.
2. Toby Creswell and Samantha Trenoweth (2006). 1001 Australians You Should Know. Australia: Pluto Press. p. 683. ISBN 9781864033618.
3. Meares, Peter (2003). Legends of Australian sport: the inside story. University of Queensland Press. p. 130. ISBN 9780702234101.
4. ^ Strutt, Sam (11 January 2007). "Can surgery save Wally Lewis?". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 29 April 2007.
5. "Wally Lewis". Australian Honours Database. Retrieved 29 April 2007.
6. "Centenary of Rugby League – The Players". NRL & ARL. 23 February 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
7. Cassidy, Peter (23 February 2008). "Controversy reigns as NRL releases top 100 players". Macquarie National News. Retrieved 23 February 2008. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
8. Balym, Todd (17 April 2008). "Johns, Meninga among Immortals". Fox Sports Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2008. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
9. "Team of the Century Announced". NRL & ARL. 17 April 2008. Retrieved 17 April 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
10. Ricketts, Steve (10 June 2008). 20 May 2009 "Locky named No.1 but Wal's still King". The Courier-Mail. Archived from the original on 20 May 2009. Retrieved 20 May 2009. {{cite news}}: Check |archiveurl= value (help)
11. Gallaway, Jack (2003). Origin: Rugby League's greatest contest 1980–2002. Australia: University of Queensland Press. p. 8. ISBN 9780702233838.
12. Sean Fagan. "Wally Lewis - Rugby League Hall of Fame". rl1908.com. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
13. "Sport digest". The Sydney Morning Herald. 19 April 1984. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
14. Tait, Paul (28 February 1986). "Now Abbot attacks Fearnley". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australia. p. 31. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
15. Headon, David (October 1999). "Up From the Ashes: The Phoenix of a Rugby League Literature" (PDF). Football Studies Volume 2, Issue 2. Football Studies Group. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
16. "Wally Lewis AM". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
17. "O'Connor helps set Test records". The Age. 21 July 1988. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
18. Harms, John (2005). The Pearl: Steve Renouf's Story. Australia: University of Queensland Press. p. 103. ISBN 9780702235368.
19. "Custom Match List". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 7 July 2011. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
20. Dekroo, Karl (9 May 2007). "Still the king". The Courier-Mail. Australia: Queensland Newspapers. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
21. Murdoch, Alex (4 December 2009). "Greg Inglis caps off stellar season with award". The courier Mail. Australia: Queensland Newspapers. Retrieved 5 December 2009.
22. Webster, Andrew (April 2004). "A few Drinks with Ray Warren Inside Sport". Retrieved 3 July 2009.
23. Meares, Peter (2003). Legends of Australian sport: The Inside Story. Australia: University of Queensland Press. p. 130. ISBN 9780702234101.
24. Sarno, Tony (9 August 1992). "The King abdicates with a whimper, not a bang". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 39. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
25. Rothfield, Phil (26 May 2010). "Phil Rothfield names his 50 greatest Origin players". The Daily Telegraph. Australia: Herald and Weekly Times. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
26. Bill Harrigan with Daniel Lane (2003). Harrigan: the referee in a league of his own. Australia: Hachette.
27. ^ "King Wally Lewis' tell-all book". The Daily Telegraph. 20 September 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
28. Edwards, Amy; Beaumont, Anita (22 June 2007). "Home or away he's marooned". Newcastle Herald. Fairfax Media. p. 14. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
29. "Wally Lewis hopes to be at Origin after surgery". Nova FM. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
30. "Rugby league legend Wally Lewis recovering after surgery". Herald-Sun. AAP. 23 May 2010. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
32. "Wally Lewis on leave after on-air mishap". ABC News. 1 December 2006. Retrieved 29 April 2007.
33. "Wally Lewis reveals he has epilepsy". AAP. The Age. 1 December 2006. Retrieved 29 April 2007.
34. "King Wally's brain surgery a success". ABC News. 21 February 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
35. "Hear and Say Centre Board Members". Hear and Say Centre. Retrieved 29 April 2007.

Further reading

• McGregor, Adrian (2004). Wally Lewis: Forever the King. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 9780702234347.
• McGregor, Adrian (1993). Wally Lewis. Tandem Press. ISBN 9780908884353.
• McGregor, Adrian (1989). Wally and the Broncos. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 9780702221828.
• Lewis, Wally (2009). Out of the Shadows: A Champion's Return to the Spotlight. HarperCollins Publishers Australia. ISBN 9780732288808.

External links

• Wally Lewis profile at National Nine News
• Wally Lewis at eraofthebiff.com
• Wally Lewis at rl1908.com
• Wally Lewis interview at abc.net.au
• Wally Lewis at rugbyleagueproject.org
• Queensland Team of the Century named – article at nz.leagueunlimited.com

v t e Queensland State of Origin coaches
1980 John MacDonald 1981-1984 Arthur Beetson 1985 Des Morris 1986-1988 Wayne Bennett 1989-1990 Arthur Beetson 1991-1992 Graham Lowe 1993-1994 Wally Lewis 1995-1997 Paul Vautin 1998 Wayne Bennett 1999-2000 Mark Murray 2001-2003 Wayne Bennett 2004-2005 Michael Hagan 2006-2015 Mal Meninga 2016-2019 Kevin Walters 2020 Wayne Bennett 2021 Paul Green 2022 Billy Slater

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