Paul Edward McLean,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(born 12 November 1953) is an Australian former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player and administrator and is a senior executive in the real estate business. He played rugby for

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

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the 1970s and 1980s, is a former president of the

Australian Rugby Union Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...

, and an inductee into the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame. From 2009 to 2015 he was Chief Executive Officer for

Savills Savills plc is a British real estate services company based in London. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The business was established by Alfred Savill (1829–1905) in 1855 in London. ...

(Australia & New Zealand), overseeing the Australasian operations of the multinational real estate services provider.

Family and early life

Paul McLean born in

Ipswich, Queensland Ipswich () is a city in South East Queensland, Australia. Situated on the Bremer River, it is approximately west of the Brisbane central business district. The city is renowned for its architectural, natural and cultural heritage. Ipswich pre ...

to Bob and Irene McLean. He attended St Edmund's College in Ipswich and

Nudgee College , motto_translation = A Sign of Faith , location = Boondall, Queensland , country = Australia , coordinates = , other_name = St. Joseph's Nudgee College , former_name ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. McLean played for the Ipswich Rangers, before joining

Brothers A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

in Brisbane, which was his local rugby club for the rest of his playing career. Seven members of the

McLean family The McLean family were an Australian rugby clan who between them played 77 Tests for the Australian national rugby union team and a number of Tests for the Australian national rugby league team. The main grandstand at Ballymore, the home of the ...

have represented Australia in rugby union or rugby league. His grandfather Doug McLean Sr. and uncle Doug McLean Jr. were dual code internationals who played for the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

and

Kangaroos Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

. His uncle

Bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

captained the Wallabies in the wake of World War II and his uncle

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

toured with the Wallabies in 1946. His brother

Jeff Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

and cousin

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

also played for the Wallabies.Meares (2002), pp. 166–167.

Rugby career

McLean made his debut for the

rugby team in 1973, and quickly progressed to make his

Wallaby A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized Macropodidae, macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same Taxonomy (biology), taxon ...

debut the following year against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

. He made 31 career test appearances between 1974 and 1982. He was a world-class goal kicker and at his prime there was no better tactical kicker in the game. He was also a gifted runner and passer when he took those options although later in his career critics were regularly calling for

Mark Ella Mark Gordon Ella, AM (born 5 June 1959) is an indigenous Australian former rugby union footballer. Ella played at flyhalf/five-eighth and was capped by the Wallabies 25 times, captaining Australia on 10 occasions. Ella made his debut tour wit ...

's more obvious running game to be brought into the Wallaby side. McLean played mostly at fly-half for the Wallabies but on some occasions was shifted to fullback or centre to make way for fly-half rivals

Tony Melrose Tony Melrose (born 7 September 1959) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played in the NSWRL Premiership for Parramatta, South Sydney, Manly-Warringah and Eastern Suburbs in the ...

, Ken Wright and

. McLean captained Australia on one occasion, leading the team to a 22–9 win against Fiji in

Suva Suva () is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Divi ...

in 1980. In his 1982 farewell season, McLean reached 1,000 points for Queensland in his 100th and final game. He also scored 21 points against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in his final Test match, which was the Australian individual record at that time. Brisbane newspaper journalist

Hugh Lunn Hugh Duncan Lunn (born 1941 in Brisbane, Queensland) is an Australian journalist and author. Writing career Early journalism Lunn served his journalism cadetship with ''The Courier-Mail''. Upon completing his cadetship, he worked overseas for ...

recorded the following on McLean's career in

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

: On the day of McLean's final game for Queensland, the main grandstand at Ballymore was named the McLean Stand in honour of the contributions from the

to Queensland rugby and Australian rugby.

Post-rugby

After retiring from playing rugby, McLean took up a position as sales manager in the Brisbane office of Ansett in 1982 was promoted to state manager within a year. He later moved into commercial real estate with FPD Savills as Director of Agency & Commercial Leasing. Paul became Queensland Managing Director in 2002 and then Chief Executive Officer for Savills Australia & New Zealand in 2009, overseeing operations and employing more than 1000 staff. In April 2016, Paul stepped down as CEO to focus on the Queensland and New Zealand businesses, and growing the Savills presence in these markets. For six years from late 1999 to 2005, McLean was president of the

Queensland Rugby Union The Queensland Rugby Union, or QRU, is the Sports governing body, governing body for the sport of rugby union within the state of Queensland in Australia. It is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. The QRU was founded in Brisbane in ...

. From 2005 to 2009 he was president of the

, later renamed Rugby Australia. McLean was inducted into the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame in 2011. He became chairman of Rugby Australia as an interim appointment to replace Cameron Clyne in February 2020 ahead of an annual general meeting the following month, and was replaced in May 2020 by Hamish McLennan. He is also a Director of Youngcare, a charitable organisation that works to create choice in care and housing options for young Australians with high care needs.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McLean, Paul Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire Australian rugby union players Australian rugby union captains Australia international rugby union players Living people 1953 births

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union players from Ipswich, Queensland