Playing Career
Vital Statistics
- Nickname(s)
- Lurch
- Born
- Sunday, 9th May, 1943
- Died
- Monday, 9th August, 1999 (Aged 56 years and 92 days)
- Place Of Birth
- Griffith, New South Wales, Australia
Awards & Accolades
Biography
Rugged Gunnedah prop played in nine grand finals for Souths and Manly between 1965 and 1973. A ferocious defender who fearlessly took on the opposition with barging runs close to the ruck, ‘Lurch’ O’Neill formed part of a champion Souths pack that included Coote, McCarthy, Stevens, Sattler and Walters. After losing the 1965 grand final to St George, Souths assumed the mantle of League champions in the ensuing years with O’Neill going on to win grand finals in 1967-68 & 1970-71 with the club. In the 1970 grand final he mercilessly punished the Manly forwards in an awesome display that earned him a place in Australia’s World Cup squad. After Souths’ win over St George in the 1971 grand final, he signed with Manly and played his part in the club’s maiden grand final victory. O’Neill went to France with the Australian World Cup team in 1972 and returned to win another premiership with the Sea Eagles the following year. The 1973 grand final between Manly and Cronulla was certainly no place for the feint-hearted and O’Neill was in his element in the brutal match. He made his Test debut against France on an injury-interrupted 1973 Kangaroo tour but got his chance against the Englishmen in the third and deciding Test in 1974. O’Neill returned to Souths in 1975, citing a lack of team harmony at Manly as his main reason, and despite a disastrous year with the Rabbitohs, proved his competitiveness with his selection in Australia’s World Cup team. O’Neill, who coached Souths in 1977, lost his toughest personal contest - his battle against cancer - in August 1999 just before his Rabbitohs were excluded from the NRL competition.
- ALAN WHITICKER
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 % | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tour Matches | Northern Division | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
Tour Matches | NSW Colts | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
Preseason Cup | 46 | 5 | - | - | 15 | 32 | 13 | 1 | 69.57% | List | ||||
NSWRFL Premiership (NRL) | 201 | 14 | - | - | 42 | 136 | 63 | 2 | 67.66% | List | ||||
NSWRFL Finals | 19 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 78.95% | List | ||||
Interstate Matches | 6 | - | - | - | - | 6 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
City vs Country Firsts | 2 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
Tour Matches | New South Wales Firsts | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00% | List | |||
World Cup | 8 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 62.50% | List | ||||
Tour Matches | Australia | 10 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 70.00% | List | |||
Test Series | 2 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
Midweek Cup | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
The Ashes | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
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Test Matches - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Australia | 1970, 1972-75 | 10 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 70.00% | List | |||
World Cup Matches - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Australia | 1970, 1972, 1975 | 8 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 62.50% | List | |||
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Australia - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Northern Division | 1964 | 2 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50.00% | List | |||
NSW Colts | 1964 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
NSW Country Seconds | 1964 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
NSW City Seconds | 1965, 1969, 1974 | 3 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66.67% | List | |||
NSW Firsts | 1967, 1969-71 | 7 | - | - | - | - | 6 | 0 | 1 | 85.71% | List | |||
NSW City Firsts | 1970-71 | 2 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
Overall | 1964-1974 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 75.00% | List | |||
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NSWRFL Premiership (NRL) - By Year | ||||||||||||||
Team | Season | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1965 | 21 | 3 | - | - | 9 | 13 | 8 | 0 | 61.90% | List | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1966 | 14 | - | - | - | - | 7 | 7 | 0 | 50.00% | List | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1967 | 20 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 75.00% | List | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1968 | 13 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 69.23% | List | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1969 | 23 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 18 | 5 | 0 | 78.26% | List | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1970 | 20 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 80.00% | List | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1971 | 16 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 87.50% | List | |||
Manly | NSWRFL 1972 | 17 | - | - | - | - | 15 | 1 | 1 | 88.24% | List | |||
Manly | NSWRFL 1973 | 15 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 73.33% | List | |||
Manly | NSWRFL 1974 | 19 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 63.16% | List | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1975 | 15 | - | - | - | - | 4 | 11 | 0 | 26.67% | List | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1976 | 8 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 6 | 0 | 25.00% | List | |||
NSWRFL Premiership (NRL) - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
South Sydney | 1965-71, 1975-76 | 150 | 11 | - | - | 33 | 98 | 52 | 0 | 65.33% | List | |||
Manly | 1972-74 | 51 | 3 | - | - | 9 | 38 | 11 | 2 | 74.51% | List | |||
Overall | 1965-1976 | 201 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 136 | 63 | 2 | 67.66% | List |
Contributions:
Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson, Greg Fiveash, Rugby League Tables, Michael Borg, Alan Katzmann, Paul Carter, Max Turner, Bill Bates, AJ Lucantonio
Your Say
06/10/2022
With 6 premierships lurch is certainly one of the greats of all time. With beetson and oreilly formed a talented front row trio. Lurch is in my all time best side and that says it all. RIP.
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