Playing Career
Vital Statistics
- Full Name
- William A Cann
- Born
- Wednesday, 11th October, 1882
- Died
- Saturday, 7th June, 1958 (Aged 75 years and 238 days)
- Place Of Birth
- Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Awards & Accolades
Biography
Born in Sydney in 1882 to his British father and Irish mother, William Askew Cann was the second youngest of five children.
Played Rugby Union for Souths, but grew dissatisfied with the selectors for constantly overlooking him for representative honours. He was quick to change codes to the rebel Rugby League when it was looking for players in 1907 to play a series of games against the touring New Zealand professional side. He played in all 3 games and in 3 different positions for each game, showcasing his amazing versatility at that stage of career. In the first game he was in the back row, then he shifted to wing for the second match before playing at hooker in the third game. It would be as a forward though that he would make his name in Rugby League.
In 1901, as an 18 year old, Cann played for the Cleveland junior side in the Southern Sydney competition, regularly playing at centre. The following year he accepted the role on the club’s committee to be a delegate. He would spend much of his adult life serving on committee’s and boards, such was his devotion. In 1902, he was joined at the Cleveland club by his younger brother Syd. Billy Cann remained at the Cleveland club til the end of 1903. In 1904 he was elevated to the South Sydney second grade side after impressing in a pre-season trial game.
In 1905, Cann received his first rep honour when named in a Combined Second Grade team taking on a Combined Borough side as the undercard to the Northern Districts v New Zealand tour game in Newcastle.
Cann made his first grade debut on July 29, 1905 for South Sydney, playing solidly in his sides 21-4 win over Eastern Suburbs. Some of his team mates that day were future Rugby League players, such as Son Fry, Arthur McCabe, Bill Spence, Johnny Rosewell and Arthur Hennessy.
Playing Career Statistics
All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.
To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.
Competitions | ||||||||||||||
Competition | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
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Tour Matches | New South Wales Firsts | 33 | 15 | 5 | - | 55 | 26 | 7 | 0 | 78.79% | List | |||
NRL | 72 | 32 | 4 | - | 104 | 52 | 16 | 4 | 72.22% | List | ||||
Tour Matches | Australia | 38 | 11 | 4 | - | 41 | 24 | 11 | 3 | 63.16% | List | |||
Test Series | 9 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 5 | 2 | 2 | 55.56% | List | ||||
Interstate Matches | 6 | 8 | 9 | - | 42 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
NRL Finals | 2 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50.00% | List | ||||
Tour Matches | Kangaroos | 2 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
Tour Matches | Australasia | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00% | List | |||
The Ashes | 5 | 1 | 1 | - | 10 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 60.00% | List | ||||
City Cup | 3 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 33.33% | List | ||||
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Test Matches - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Australia | 1908-09, 1911-12, 1914 | 9 | 1 | 1 | - | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 55.56% | List | |||
International Matches - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Australia | 1908-09 | 4 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 75.00% | List | |||
Australasia | 1910 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00% | List | |||
Overall | 1908-1910 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 60.00% | List | |||
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Australia - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
NSW Firsts | 1907-13 | 40 | 27 | 14 | - | 109 | 33 | 7 | 0 | 82.50% | List | |||
Kangaroos | 1909-10, 1912, 1917 | 5 | 3 | - | - | 9 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 60.00% | List | |||
Metropolis | 1912 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
Overall | 1907-1917 | 46 | 31 | 14 | 0 | 121 | 37 | 9 | 0 | 80.43% | List | |||
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NRL/NSWRL - By Year | ||||||||||||||
Team | Season | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1908 | 5 | 6 | - | - | 18 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 80.00% | List | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1909 | 9 | 8 | - | - | 24 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1910 | 9 | 5 | 3 | - | 21 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 77.78% | List | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1911 | 10 | 2 | 1 | - | 8 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 70.00% | List | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1912 | 9 | 3 | - | - | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 66.67% | List | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1913 | 13 | 6 | - | - | 18 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 69.23% | List | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1914 | 9 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 66.67% | List | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1915 | 5 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 2 | 1 | 40.00% | List | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1916 | 3 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66.67% | List | |||
NRL/NSWRL - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
South Sydney | 1908-16 | 72 | 32 | 4 | - | 104 | 52 | 16 | 4 | 72.22% | List |
Contributions:
Shawn Dollin, Greg Fiveash, Andrew Ferguson, Rugby League Tables, Alan Katzmann, Bill Bates
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