Johnny King

Johnny King was a magnificent winger in an era of great wingers, competing as he did against Ken Irvine and Eddie Lumsden for Test selection, with Mike Cleary and Peter Dimond also knocking on the selectors' door.

Despite that outstanding opposition, King was a regular in Australian teams for five seasons.

On the club scene, King played 191 first-grade games for St George, scoring 143 tries in 12 seasons.

He made his top-grade debut in 1960, appearing in the Saints' last five games, including the semi-final and the winning grand-final performance against Easts.

While there were many highlights to his great career, his feat of scoring a try in six successive grand finals (1960–65) stands alone.

He was the premiership's leading try scorer on two occasions, in 1961 (20 tries) and 1965 (15 tries).

King gained his first representative selection in 1962 playing for NSW against Great Britain and was a reserve for the third Test.

But it was four years before he played his first Test.

He was a member of the 1967–68 Kangaroos, playing in all six Tests on tour, and the 1968 World Cup squad, but then didn't play rep football until 1970, when he was recalled to play for NSW, which led to his selection in that season's three Tests against Great Britain.

Four years later, he coached the Western Division team that won the inaugural Amco Cup.