Ken Maddison is an Australian former

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 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s.Ken Maddison
at yesterdayshero.com.au He played in the

New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

for the

St. George Dragons The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until th ...

(with whom he won the 1966 premiership) and later the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league ...

(whom he captained). He was also a

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

and

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

representative, playing four Tests for Australia in 1973.

Playing career

St. George

Maddison started his first-grade football career with St. George in 1965 and the following year appeared in his first

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

, the last of the Dragons' record-breaking 11 consecutive premiership wins. He won that first premiership as a but later moved into the forwards and enjoyed success in his career as a wide running second-rower. In the late 1960s after St George had lost the stars of their long reign, Ken Maddison's work ethic (along with the stellar brilliance of Billy Smith and

Graeme Langlands Graeme Frank Langlands, MBE, (2 September 1941 – 20 January 2018), also known by the nickname of "Changa", was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. and coached in the 1970s. He retire ...

) was a factor in keeping the club competitive, regularly finishing in the top five. Maddison played in the 1971 Grand Final loss to South Sydney, again in the centres. Ken's younger brother Keith Maddison also played alongside him at the Dragons in six seasons from 1966 to 1971.

Cronulla-Sutherland

In 1972 Maddison moved to the young Cronulla-Sutherland club, playing in the . 1973 was Maddison's career high-point when he became the first forward to win the

Rothmans Medal The Rothmans Medal was the premier individual award in the New South Wales Rugby League and Brisbane Rugby League competitions, and later in the Australian Rugby League, which was given to the player voted by referees as the best and fairest ...

for best and fairest player in the League, edging out

Ron Coote Ron Coote AM (born 1944) is an Australian former representative rugby league player whose club career was played with South Sydney and the Eastern Suburbs Roosters, with both of whom he won premierships. He is considered one of the nation's fi ...

by just one point. He also scored a personal best eight tries that year before playing in Cronulla's first Grand Final, the 1973 loss to

Manly-Warringah The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

7 - 10. Although Maddison played at a time when the loose forwards of the Souths' pack - Coote,

Bob McCarthy Bob McCarthy MBE (born 5 August 1946) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach. He played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, New South Wales and for the Australian national side. He lat ...

, Gary Stevens and

Paul Sait Paul Joseph Sait (born 4 September 1947) is a former Australian rugby league footballer and coach. A versatile or running forward who played in the 1960s and 1970s for South Sydney. He made 7 Test appearances for the Australian national repr ...

- dominated representative selections, he managed his Australian debut at the end of a great club season in 1973 when he was selected for the 1973 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France. He was one of the form forwards of the tour scoring two tries in the third and deciding Test against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. He played in all three Ashes Tests, in one Test against France and in nine minor tour matches scoring six tries in all. The following year he made his sole state appearance for New South Wales Blues. Maddison continued playing for Cronulla-Sutherland until 1975. In 2006, he was named at second-row in a

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorp ...

dream team.

References

External links

Ken Maddison at nrlstats.comKangaroos beat Lions at Wilderspool
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maddison, Ken 1946 births Australian rugby league players St. George Dragons players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Western Suburbs Rosellas players New South Wales rugby league team players Australia national rugby league team players Living people Rugby league second-rows Date of birth missing (living people)