Bob McCarthy

Bob McCarthy

MBE

Personal information
Full name	Robert James McCarthy
Born	(1946-08-05) 5 August 1946 (age 77) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Position	Second-row
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1963–75 South Sydney 206 100 0 1 301 1976–77 Canterbury-Bankstown 40 19 0 0 57 1978 South Sydney 5 0 0 0 0 Total 251 119 0 1 358 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1969–74 New South Wales 11 7 0 0 21 1969–74 Australia 15 7 0 1 22
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 1980–83 Souths (Brisbane) 78 53 2 23 68 1988–90 Gold Coast Giants 66 15 3 48 23 1975–94 South Sydney 9 1 0 8 11 Total 153 69 5 79 45 Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% Brisbane
Source: [1][2]

Robert James McCarthy

selection panels.

Biography

Career highlights

A fast and strong second-row McCarthy played 10 tests for Australia and five matches in two World Cups. He made the 1973 Kangaroo Tour and two tours of New Zealand. He played 211 first grade games for Souths (1963–1975 and 1978), scoring 100 tries. He played in three grand final victories (1967, 1970 and 1971) and in two losing grand finals (1965 and 1969).

Club career

Born in inner city

for the next six years and who would help create a golden period for South Sydney at the end of the 1960s, and in the early years of the next decade.

The advent of the four tackle rule in 1967 was tailor-made for the athletic, barrel-chested McCarthy and his coach Clive Churchill gave him license to stand wide in attack to make best use of his tank-like charges.

One of the most spectacular tries in Grand Final history came from such positional play when just before halftime in the 1967 decider against

McCarthy intercepted a pass out wide from Canterbury hooker Col Brown and ran the length of the field to score and to take the Rabbitohs to a two-point lead which they didn't give up by game's end.

He missed Souths 1968 Grand Final victory, played in the 1969 loss to the

made a break and passed to McCarthy who raced away to score under the posts to seal Souths 16–10 Grand Final win.

In 1975 McCarthy became only the second forward in the history of the game after Frank Burge to surpass the 100 career try tally.

McCarthy moved to Canterbury for the 1976 and 1977 seasons where he played at Prop forward and played 37 games for the club helping them to the semi-finals in 1976. He returned to the Rabbitohs in 1978 to finish his career in a brief five-game season ended by injury.

Representative career

Bobby McCarthy first tasted representative football in 1964 scoring two tries for a New South Wales Colts side against a touring French team.

He had to wait until the 1969 tour of New Zealand before he made a national senior squad but thereafter, for the next five years barring injury, he was one of the first players selected for Test and World Cup squads.

He played in both Tests of the 1969 New Zealand tour. In the 1970 domestic

series against Great Britain he appeared in the third Test and later that year in the World Cup in England where he played in all four of Australia's games including the victorious final.

He played three Tests in 1971–72 against New Zealand and appeared in one match in the 1972 World Cup in which campaign he was competing for the second row spots with his club teammates Paul Sait and Gary Stevens.

McCarthy was named as vice-captain to Graeme Langlands on the '73 Kangaroo Tour and his sole honour as Australia's Test captain was in the vital second Test in Leeds which the Kangaroos needed to win to keep the series alive. McCarthy scored a try early in the second half to help win the game but on the frozen ground he dislocated his shoulder in the process and his tour was over. He scored three tries in his two Test and 4 minor tour match appearances but had played a pivotal role in Australia's successful Ashes campaign.

In 1974 Test series at home against Great Britain, McCarthy was selected in the deciding 3rd game in a veteran pack including his old Souths teammates Coote, Stevens, and John O'Neill and captained and coached by Langlands. The old war-horses won the match 22–18 to retain the Ashes and McCarthy was one of the players who chaired Langlands from the field and who along with eight others were unknowingly making their farewell Test appearance.

Accolades

He was honoured with his

in 1977 for services to rugby league, only the second player after Langlands to be so honoured while still playing.

In 2004 he was named by Souths in their South Sydney Dream Team,

.

In February 2008, McCarthy was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the

to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.^[5]

Post-playing

McCarthy commenced coaching with

.

McCarthy was the inaugural coach of the Gold Coast Seagulls in 1988 and for that club's first three seasons. In 1994, he was briefly the coach of the South Sydney before he stood aside for health reasons. McCarthy coached Souths to their upset 1994 Tooheys Challenge Cup final victory over Brisbane.^[6]

Since 2001, he has been the chairman of both the Australian and

State of Origin selection panels.

1st Grade matches played

Team	Matches	Years
South Sydney	211	1963–75 & 1978
Canterbury	40	1976–77
New South Wales	11	1969–1974
Australia (Test & World Cup)	15	1969–74

Sources

• Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney
• Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney

Footnotes

External links

• Canterbury Bulldogs profile
• Legend of League - Bob McCarthy

Sporting positions
Preceded by Frank Curry 1991−1993	Coach South Sydney 1994	Succeeded by Ken Shine 1994−1997
Preceded by Club founded	Coach Gold Coast Giants 1988-1990	Succeeded by Malcolm Clift 1991
Preceded by Bernie Purcell 1964−1966	Coach South Sydney 1975	Succeeded by Johnny King 1976
Preceded by Billy Smith	Captain Australia 1973	Succeeded by Tom Raudonikis