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| Full name | Johnny William Greaves | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1943-05-08)8 May 1943 (age 82) Portland, New South Wales, Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Position | Centre | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:[1] As of 25 October 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Johnny Greaves (born 8 May 1943) is an Australian former professionalrugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s. He played forSt. George,Canterbury-Bankstown,[2]New South Wales and forAustralia.
Greaves' junior club was Renown United.[3] Starting with theSt George Dragons where he had been a local junior Greaves, likeBrian James battled for recognition in the star-studded Dragons line-up who boasted a choice of centres withReg Gasnier,Billy Smith and Johnny Riley in their squad. Nonetheless Greaves managed 23 first grade appearances in his two years at senior level with the club.[2][4]
He shifted to Canterbury where he became a first-grade regular[2] and from where he was chosen in 1966 forNew South Wales and later that year to representAustralia in the two Tests of the domesticAshes series againstGreat Britain.
He was a member of the Canterbury side which knocked St George out of the 1967 final thereby ending the Dragons' record breaking run but a week later suffered the ignominy as the man left to chase downBob McCarthy in the1967 Grand Final after Greaves was waiting on a pass from his hookerCol Brown which McCarthy intercepted and changed the course of the game and decided the premiership.
He selected on the 1967Kangaroo tour where he played in four Tests against Great Britain and France and in ten minor matches. He was a member of Australia's victorious 1968World Cup squad. He is listed on theAustralian Players Register as Kangaroo No. 406.[5]
Greaves captained Canterbury in 1970 and after leaving the club made his final representative appearance in 1973 fromCRL Group 6 clubCampbelltown City Kangaroos RLFC, when he turned out for Country Firsts. Greaves finished his career as captain- coach of theCampbelltown City Kangaroos, leading them to the 1973, 1974 & 1975 CRL Group 6 1st Grade titles.
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