Wally Prigg

Wally Prigg (1908–1980) was an Australian rugby league footballer. He was a lock for the Australian national rugby league team. He played nineteen Tests for the Kangaroos between 1929 and 1938, seven as captain and was the first Australian player to make three tours to Great Britain with the Australian national rugby league team.[1] He has been named amongst the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.

Wally Prigg
Personal information
Full nameWalter Joseph Prigg
Born(1908-10-17)17 October 1908
Hamilton, New South Wales, Australia
Died8 September 1980(1980-09-08) (aged 71)
Adamstown, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
PositionFive-eighth, Lock
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1927–28 Wests (Newcastle)
1928–39 Centrals (Newcastle)
Total 0 0 0 0 0
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1929–39 New South Wales 34 13 0 0 39
1929–38 Australia 19 4 0 0 12

Club and state playing career
Prigg back right with headgear before 1stTest Oct 1929
Run-on Test side 6 Jun 1932, Prigg, back row 2nd from left
Prigg with the 1937–38 Kangaroos, 2nd row far left

Wally Prigg was one of the great forwards in the history of rugby league. He spent his whole career as a Newcastle Wests and Central Charlestown player.[1] He was the first New South Wales country based player to captain the Australian national rugby league team.[1]

He made his first appearance for New South Wales at the age of 20. Between 1929 and 1939 he made 32 appearances for New South Wales, a record at the time. He scored twelve tries, thirty-six points for New South Wales. During his career he revolutionized the position of lock. His game was based around short passing and close support play.

Australian representative career

Prigg was selected to make the 1929–30 and the 1933–34 tours of Great Britain. He toured with the Australia on their tours of New Zealand in 1935 and 1937 and the on the Kangaroo Tour of England in 1937–1938 when he was tour captain.[1] He played in all five Tests of that tour as captain and in 24 minor matches. He was the first man to be picked for three Kangaroo tours.[1] His leadership style and skills were respected by English fans. His final Test match for Australia was the first ever between Australia and France in 1938. Prigg retired with the record for most Test caps for the Kangaroos, breaking the record set by original Kangaroo tourist Sid Pearce, Prigg played 19 Tests for Australia between 1929 and 1938. He scored a total of four tries (twelve 12 points) for Australia.

Accolades

Post football Prigg operated a general store in the Newcastle suburb of Hamilton.[1] He died in 1980 at the age of 71. In 2003 he was admitted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame.[2] In February 2008, Prigg 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.[3][4]

In 2008 Prigg was named in New South Wales' rugby league team of the century.[5]

Prigg fifth from left, Kangaroos 1stTest Jun 1932

References
  • Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney

Footnotes
  1. Whiticker pp113-115
  2. Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame Archived 18 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Peter Cassidy (23 February 2008). "Controversy reigns as NRL releases top 100 players". Macquarie National News. Archived from the original on 25 February 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
  4. "Centenary of Rugby League – The Players". NRL & ARL. 23 February 2008. Archived from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
  5. ARL (2008). "Australian Rugby Football League 2008 Annual Report" (PDF). Australian Rugby Football League Limited. p. 30. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
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