John Graves (rugby league)

John (Johnny) Graves (19 January 1926 – 23 July 1983) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s. An Australian international representative goal-kicking wing, he played his club football for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, with whom he won back-to-back premierships in 1950–51.[1]

Not to be confused with Johnny Greaves.

Johnny Graves
Personal information
Full nameJohn Neal Graves
Born(1926-01-19)19 January 1926
Maitland, New South Wales, Australia
Died23 July 1983(1983-07-23) (aged 57)
Paddington, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
PositionWing
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1946 Maitland
1947–52 South Sydney 77 79 158 0 553
Total 77 79 158 0 553
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1946 Newcastle
1948–51 Australia 7 5 14 0 43
Source: [1][2]

Club career
Whacka Graves scores his first of four tries in the 1951 Grand Final

Known as "Whacka", Graves commenced his footballing in Newcastle, New South Wales and came to the attention of Sydney talent scouts when he scored two tries in his international debut representing Newcastle against a touring British side in 1946.

Graves joined South Sydney in 1947 and after only four first grade games was selected for New South Wales. He formed a strong backline pairing with Clive Churchill and was victorious in Grand Finals with Souths in 1950 (scoring two tries) and in 1951 (scoring four tries).

Graves was appointed captain-coach of Cootamundra in 1954.[3] The team won the Group 9 premiership.[4][5]

Representative career

He debuted for Australia against New Zealand in the 1st Test of 1948, played in the rest of that series and then toured Great Britain with the 1948 Kangaroos. He played in two Tests and twenty tour games returning as the side's top scorer with 16 tries and 35 goals for 188 points.

He represented for Australia in seven Test matches (3 Great Britain, 3 New Zealand and 1 France) between 1948 and 1951. He was selected to represent Sydney against France during their 1951 tour of Australasia in a match that ended in a 19-all draw.

Records

He was the NSW Rugby Football League's top try-scorer season 1951 and his achievement that year of 28 tries in 17 games still stands in 5th place on the overall Australian list of Most Tries by an Individual in a Season. As of 2021, his record of four tries in a Grand Final, also achieved that season still stands.[6]

He holds positions 1, 2, 4 and 5 in the table of Most Points in a Match for the Rabbitohs with respectively 29 points (Round 8, 1952 v Easts); 27 points (Round 14, 1949 v Easts); 23 points(Round 18, 1952 v Newtown) and 23 points (Round 10, 1948 v Parramatta).

Along with five other Rabbitohs he has achieved the feat of scoring five tries in a single match (Round 14, 1949 v Easts.)

Footnotes
  1. "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". Rugby League Project. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  2. "Yesterday's Hero – Your Sporting Hero's – Johnny Graves – South Sydney". yesterdayshero.com.au. Archived from the original on 3 September 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  3. "Football: Graves to Coach Here". Cootamundra Herald. Cootamundra. 8 March 1954. p. 4. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "Coot's Easy Win in Group Nine Grand Final Against Temora". Cootamundra Herald. Cootamundra. 6 September 1954. p. 1. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "Graves Scored 236 Points This Scored". The Daily Advertiser (Wagga Wagga). Wagga. 9 September 1954. p. 8. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "Grand final simply super". Illawarra Mercury. 21 September 1997. p. 26. Retrieved 6 October 2009.

Published sources
  • Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League, Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
  • NRL Official 2007 Season Guide, News Magazines Surry Hills Sydney, for the National Rugby League
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