Joe Jorgenson (12 September 1921 – 7 May 1993) was an Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

footballer of the 1940s and '50s. He was a three-quarter for the Australian national team who played in three Tests in 1946, two as captain. Jorgensen also represented

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and played for Sydney's Balmain club, winning the 1944, 1946 and 1947 Premierships with them.

Club career

Born in

Berry, New South Wales Berry is a small Australian village in the Shoalhaven region of the New South Wales South Coast, located south of the state capital, Sydney. It has many historical buildings which are listed on the New South Wales Heritage Register. Berry att ...

on 21 September 1921 of

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descent, Jorgenson started playing rugby league after he left school at 16. In 1939 he played with the Port Kembla club in the

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wa ...

competition. He missed the 1940 season through illness but returned in 1941 in which he year he debuted in Country NSW and

representative sides. In 1944 he joined the Balmain club in Sydney and scored over 100 points, assisting the side to a premiership win. They were runners up to Easts in 1945 and triumphant again in 1946 with Jorgenson scoring two tries in the premiership decider against St George. In 1947 after having played the regular season in the

Maher Cup The Maher Cup was an Australian rugby league (originally rugby union) challenge cup contested between towns of the South West Slopes and northern Riverina areas of New South Wales between 1920 and 1971. The main teams involved were Cootamundra, Tum ...

as captain coach of

Junee Junee () is a medium-sized town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The town's prosperity and mixed services economy is based on a combination of agriculture, rail transport, light industry and government services, and in par ...

, Jorgenson returned to Balmain lower grades for the finals and in the s Grand Final against

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

made his sole first grade appearance for the 1947 NSWRFL season. After the regular kicker

Pat Devery Patrick Charles Devery (9 August 1922 – 17 December 2017) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s, and coached in the 1950s. An Australian international representative half, he played in Austr ...

missed three attempts, Jorgenson took over and scored all of the team's points in the 13-9 victory comeback after trailing 0-9. Victorious he was chaired from the field by his team-mates. Jorgenson in all had a nine-year career with Balmain playing 98 games and scoring 734 points. Jorgenson finished his career with Parramatta in 1954 and made 5 appearances in his one season at the club in which they finished last on the table.

Goal kicking pioneer

At the time goalkickers tended to stand the ball up in a divot in the ground made with the player's boot heel. Whilst some kickers experimented with laying the ball down, Jorgenson introduced the idea of laying the ball on a mound of dirt and kicking toe first with a straight follow through. He had enormous success with this new method and some statistics include: * 25 goals in the four NSW v Queensland interstate games of 1945-46 * 8 goals from 9 attempts in the muddy interstate game at the Sydney Cricket Ground May 1945.

Representative career

In 1945 and 46 he was a regular in state representative sides and captained New South Wales in the fixtures of 1946 against

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and against the visiting British Lions. Jorgenson was then selected for and made captain of the Australian Test side of 1946 for the first post-World War II Ashes series. He was captain for the 1st and 3rd tests of the series with Ron Bailey

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the 2nd test. The selectors felt that the captaincy pressure affected Jorgenson's kicking style, a possibility supported by the fact that he landed only one goal in the first Test from six attempts. He is listed on the ''Australian Players Register'' as Kangaroo No. 225. He did not represent at state or national level again. He died on 7 May 1993.Sydney Morning Herald- Death Notice - 12/05/1993

References

Sources

* Whiticker, Alan (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney {{DEFAULTSORT:Jorgenson, Joe 1921 births 1993 deaths Australian rugby league players Australian people of Danish descent Australia national rugby league team players Australia national rugby league team captains Balmain Tigers players Parramatta Eels players New South Wales rugby league team players City New South Wales rugby league team players Country New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from New South Wales