Joe
Lydon: Cherrypicker Turned Rooster
Sean Fagan of RL1908.com
The credible Great
Britain rugby league teams from 1988 to 1994 owed
much of their success to the "guesting" of many
English players with Winfield Cup clubs in the
late 1980's, including Joe Lydon.
In 1987 Australia
saw Lee Crooks and Garry Schofield at Balmain,
Kevin Ward with the premiership winning Sea Eagles
and many others sprinkled through the Winfield
Cup teams. At Easts that had the classy Wigan
back Joe Lydon.
The Roosters were
buoyed in late April 1987 with the news that the
Great Britain test fullback Joe Lydon had signed
an agreement to play for the remainder of the
year at Easts once his commitments with Wigan
were over. Lydon had made other attempts to join
Winfield Cup clubs including Cronulla, Illawarra
and Manly in previous years but last minute injuries
kept him at home.
Initially Lydon looked
likely to miss out again as Wigan had no intention
of releasing him to play in Australia. They had
already permitted Shaun Edwards to turn out for
Manly and they weren't prepared to further expose
their players to injury or too much football.
Fortunately for Lydon, Easts and the fans he was
granted the all clear to leave when Edwards suffered
an injury and the deal with the Sea Eagles (who
won the title that season) fell through.
Since leaving Widnes,
Lydon had only missed two games for Wigan in 1986/87
and felt confident he was joining the right Winfield
Cup club at the right time (eight weeks into the
season and the Roosters were running in second
place). "After those false starts, I'm really
determined to do well with Easts" Lydon said from
Wigan. "They are going very well at the moment,
and I know quite a few of the players, like Gary
Prohm, for instance. They seem to have a good
blend." Easts fans were more than hopeful that
blend would be added to by the 23 year old Lydon.
The Sydney press
were certainly excited by his signing and reminded
fans of Lydon's "truly magnificent try" in the
1986 Old Trafford Ashes Test and that he was certain
to be a crowd pleaser with his penchant for long
range tries and his much improved defence (many
fans remembered the kid on the 1984 Lions tour
who had a huge reputation and become a major flop).
His goal kicking attributes were also noted as
an advantage for the Roosters who hadn't won a
premiership since 1975.
With his Wigan commitments
over Lydon arrived in Sydney on May 23 to find
that Easts had slipped to third place and were
two wins behind the top of the table Balmain.
Unfortunately for Lydon the next day Easts had
their most distant away game for the year and
he was off on another plane journey - this time
to Canberra. To his credit he stepped out for
the Roosters reserve grade side (in the centres
for 35 minutes) who were in the process of being
beaten 23-2 by Canberra with Ivan Henjak leading
the way for the Raiders and Terry Matterson (soon
to join the Brisbane Broncos) kicking two goals
for Easts.
Lydon then sat (or
maybe got over his jet-lag!) on the bench as Easts
took an early 12-0 lead. Just as Canberra centre
Peter Jackson was putting over a penalty goal
in the 25th minute, Easts David French succumbed
to a knee injury and Lydon had his chance.
The run of play didn't
go Lydon's way and he had little opportunities
as the Roosters went on to beat the Raiders (who
included Gary Belcher, Jackson, Chris O'Sullivan,
Kevin and Steve Walters, Sam Backo and Kiwi international,
Brent Todd) by 21 to 6. The win took Easts to
one win from the top as second placed Manly thrashed
front-runners Balmain 48-14.
Due to the split
rounds caused by State of Origin, Easts' next
game was a Panasonic Cup game on June 3 against
the night competition specialists, Balmain. Led
by an inspired Scott Gale the Tigers edged out
Easts 14-12 although Lydon managed to score the
Roosters' only try. In the next premiership round
the Roosters had a bye and didn't get back onto
the field until June 13 at Wollongong against
the Illawarra Steelers coached by Brian Smith.
In a mistake riddled
game Illawarra (who included Cavill Heugh and
Graeme Bradley) took an early 6-0 lead. Brendan
Hall and David Smith then combined to give Lydon
an opportunity out wide on his wing and he scored
in the corner. The Steelers then attacked Lydon's
wing through Bradley but the Englishman was up
to it and put "The Penguin" to ground. On the
back of Hugh McGahan and John Tobin, Easts then
took control and went on to win 20-6 and move
to one point behind Manly on the ladder.
The goal kicking
of Joe Lydon came in handy as Easts beat Norths
14-13 on June 21. Lydon's three goals were much
needed for the Roosters to overcome the luckless
Bears (inspired by John Dorahy and Mark Graham)
in a thrilling game. With only ten minutes left
Norths were up 13-8 and looking at a major upset
win until Prohm and Hall conjured a try to bring
the scores to Norths 13-12. Lydon calmly made
the conversion and the Roosters hung on to win.
The Roosters faltered
though the next week losing to the lowly ranked
St George 14-7 with the only bright note being
the performance of Lydon. The Englishman set the
crowd on their feet with each touch of the ball
and made several huge inroads into Dragons' territory.
His combination with fullback Gary Wurth in the
27th minute produced one of the tries of the season.
Wurth fielded a Steve Linanne clearing kick on
his own quarter and threw a long pass to the unmarked
Lydon. He sprinted 50 metres downfield before
finding Wurth on his outside for a clear passage
to the line and score a breathtaking try. The
loss meant Easts were caught up in a dog-fight
for a top three spot for the rest of the year.
On July 5 Easts
met Balmain on a very boggy SCG and the Roosters
raced to an 11-0 lead early in the second half.
The Tigers clawed their way back after Lee Crooks
increased his involvement and Garry Schofield
and Wayne Pearce scored tries for Balmain to lead
12-11 with less than five minutes to go. In yet
another close escape for the 1987 Roosters, Tony
Melrose was able to snatch a draw with a calmly
posted field goal. Lydon missed the next game
against Penrith through injury as the Roosters
won another close encounter 15-14 with Melrose
saving them again with a last minute field goal.
Easts then played
Wests (led by Brett Clark) at Newtown's former
home ground Henson Park. The Roosters scored an
uninspiring win over the Magpies 15-6. Again for
Easts the brightest moments were provided by Lydon.
In the dressing room after the game Lydon said
playing for Easts had helped his game tenfold.
"I came over here to improve my game and so far
I've learned a lot. The intensity of Sydney will
stand me in good stead when I return home", the
Wigan flyer claimed. The good news for Easts was
that Lydon had been granted approval from Wigan
to stay until the Grand Final if necessary (unlike
Kevin Ward who had to return home and then fly
back for the decider).
On Saturday, July
25, Easts took on the out of contention 1986 champions
Parramatta with Peter Sterling their only remaining
kingpin playing that day. The Roosters and Lydon
were shocked by a stunning performance by Sterling
that left Easts behind 32-2 at fulltime. 'Sterlo'
won every major award that day on offer and those
that gave scores out of ten began with at least
"ten out of ten". There was little that Lydon
or Easts could have done.
An injured Lydon
watched on as Easts returned to form and clinched
a top three semi final berth by defeating the
front running Manly 26-16 (who appeared to have
their seven State of Origin players thinking about
the trip to Los Angeles the next day) after leading
26-0 at one stage. The Englishman returned for
the game against Canterbury who were still in
a position to make the semi finals. Led by Terry
Lamb and Colin Whitfield the Bulldogs took an
early 6-2 lead and the game became an absorbing
tussle. With fifteen minutes to go it was 20 all
after a try to Lamb. Lamb had scored after an
Andrew Farrar kick and chase down the blind side
when Lydon was caught napping. Easts escaped yet
again though as David Smith kicked a penalty goal
in the final ten minutes.
The bruising hitout
against the Bulldogs pack appeared to soften Easts
as they let a 16-6 lead over Souths the next weekend
slip into a 32-18 thrashing at the hands of the
famous Rabbitohs. Lydon scored two top winger's
tries to create the Roosters lead but their forwards
appeared tired and Ian Roberts and Craig Coleman
ran riot for the Rabbitohs to score six tries.
Easts came back
from the dead yet again the next Saturday to grab
a win in the last five minutes over Cronulla 18-14.
The Sharks (who included Mark McGaw, Andrew Ettingshausen
and Mike Gregory) looked home at 14-4 with twenty
minutes left on the clock. Craig Salvatori scored
for the Roosters to make it 14-10 and then Joe
Lydon set the 1987 premiership alive with a spectacular
solo try.
Lydon scampered
from dummy-half feinting to run the open side,
then swerved back towards touch, wrong footing
the defence and finding himself in open space.
He then beat the dive of fullback Alan Wilson
and looked to be try-bound as he outpaced the
cover defence. Inexplicably Lydon changed direction
infield and took on the Cronulla defenders, beating
both pointlessly. Smith missed the simple conversion
that Lydon had positioned for him but a final
try to Steve Morris sealed the Rooster win and
a top three semi final position. As Lydon changed
direction on his try-line run he contemplated
the reaction of Easts' coach Arthur Beetson if
he hadn't scored. "I knew I had to get there or
Arthur would have killed me", said Lydon. "But
that was one of the most satisfying tries of my
career. To score one like that in the best competition
in the world, in such a crucial match gave me
a great feeling."
For the final round
game against Canberra, who Easts would meet again
the next week in the first semi, coach Beetson
rested seven players (including Lydon) who had
niggling injuries. Canberra duly won 22-19 in
an uninspiring manner that had the critics convinced
their run in the play-offs would be short lived.
In their first ever semi final Canberra's lack
of ball control saw them outplayed by Easts 25-12.
Lydon played soundly in the first half but was
replaced at half time by Wayne Challis after suffering
an injury.
The Roosters' win
put them into the major semi final against Manly
with the winner gaining a place in the Grand Final.
Lydon was selected on the wing but unfortunately
had not recovered from injury and his place went
to David French. Ironically, it was French who
scored Easts' only try as they were out muscled
10-6 by Manly in a very gruelling and physical
game.
The heavy physical
nature in which the game against Manly was played
seemed to drain the Roosters and in the Final
against Canberra (who had walloped Souths the
week before) their defence at times was very poor.
Easts seemed to gain an advantage at 18-14 just
after half time but were eventually overrun by
the fitter Raiders' players and lost 32-24. Lydon
again suffered an injury and was replaced with
thirty minutes left in the game which didn't help
the Roosters' cause. Two days later Lydon jetted
out of Sydney for home.
Before leaving he
made a few remarks: "I was naturally disappointed
at coming off injured against Canberra, but the
finals experience was invaluable. I feel sorry
for the rest of the blokes though, they've played
their guts out for the whole season." As to whether
he would be back: "What I would like to do is
tour with the 1988 Lions and then stay for the
remainder of the season. That would also mean
I could spend the summer here getting ready for
the 1989 season, but that would depend on negotiations
with Wigan."
Lydon
eventually played against the 1987 Grand Final
winners Manly, when they met Wigan at Central
Park in the World Club Challenge in October. In
front of 36,000 fans the Cherrypickers outpointed
Manly (minus Kevin Ward) in a tryless game 8-2.
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