MOREE’s rich rugby league history is punctuated with myriad stellar seasons and unforgettable highpoints.

The 1970s was an incredible period for The Big M – a defining decade that produced 16 grand-final wins across four grades.

Fifty years later, the unstoppable Moree Boars are rewriting local rugby league history.

The Boars this season are playing football reminiscent of the 1970s, an era when stars were born, and the more durable kept on keeping on during an historic 10 years of local rugby league.

Moree A-grade swept to a premiership win in 1972 ahead of a hat-trick of grand-finals in 1977, 1978 and 1979.

Reserve-grade absolutely dominated, winning grand-finals in 1970 and 1972. Incredibly, they then rattled off consecutive premierships from 1975 through to 1979.

The under-19s were top-of-the-table in 1972 and the under-18s, oozing a player roster of future champions, won premierships in 1973, 1975, 1976 and 1979.

Moree juniors’ 17-13 win against Inverell in the 1976 grand-final was described “the best game of rugby league seen in Moree in many years”.

Both teams received a standing ovation from the huge Taylor Oval crowd when the referee blew the final whistle.

Phillip Duke scored two tries for Moree in the first half – both unconverted – but Inverell led 10-6 at the break.

In the second half, a penalty goal by Shane Matthews closed the score to 10-8, however an unconverted try to Inverell edged them further in front, 13-8.

A Shane Matthews penalty goal midway through the second-half tightened the score to 13-10.

“Moree, sensing they could pull off the match, then turned on some sparkling football,” reported the Moree Champion.

Moree hooker Michael Heinrich crashed through the Inverell defence to level the score, 13-all, and a magnificent field goal by Rob Mather gave Moree a one-point advantage.

“Inverell seemed to lose confidence and Moree started to find holes in the defence,” the Moree Champion reported.

A try by front-rower Ross Jenkins sealed Moree’s 17-13 win.

Heinrich had a magnificent game. He won the scrums 12-6 despite a large gash to the head, received early in the match.

The year 1973 was a stand-out season.

Moree High School’s open-weight rugby league squad, captained by Terry Quinn and coached by John McLean, created local league history by becoming the first Moree team to win the coveted University Shield grand-final.

This group of team-mates, who became lifelong friends and regularly packed down to reminisce at reunions during the next 50 years, put Moree on the national sporting stage in 1973.

But the same year, two junior teams swept to all-important premiership victories.

Moree under-18s added to the rugby league frenzy when they demolished Inverell in the Group 5 grand-final.

And Moree High School’s under-16s outfit cruised through the season undefeated, a run crowned with a grand-final victory against Fairfield Patrician Brothers at the NSW knock-out competition at Centennial Park.

The under-18s squad, coached by John Manning and managed by local league guru, the late Alf Scott, won 17 of their 18 Group 5 matches during the season.

Their only defeat – 14-10 at the hands of Inverell – came in the first round, but Moree exacted revenge by smashing Inverell 31-2 in the second round and again when it really mattered, 24-4 at Warialda on grand-final day.

On paper, the Moree team was the closest thing to a grand-final certainty to ever march on to a sporting field.

Heading in to the grand-final, they had amassed 145 tries and 96 goals in 17 games.

Inverell, as good as they were, had scored just 20 tries and 19 goals.

In total, Moree under-18s amassed 648 points for the Group 5 season – a record for a junior team – with just 102 points scored against them.

Mark Jamieson scored 95 of those points when he grounded the ball 29 times and kicked four goals.

As well as commitments with the under-18s, Jamieson played in four Group 5 reserve-grade games during the season, scoring eight tries and kicking six goals.

Paul Peachey booted 50 goals and scored 15 tries – 145 points – and Michael Clarke chipped in with 39 goals and 11 tries.

“The under-18s team was a very good side, and the points scored for the season was, at the time, a record for a junior team,” Peachey said.

The team also won the Brazier Shield – a competition made up of the best under-18s teams from Groups 4,5 and 21 – at Narrabri on their way to Group 5 glory.

The squad was so strong, Allan Fitzsimmons was sent from the field in the Brazier Shield grand-final against Narrabri because the referee feared his brutal tackling style could cause serious injury to opposing players.

“Allan was a brilliant player, the Ron Coote of junior league, and he tackled hard,” Peachey said.

“Basically, he was sent off for being too dominant.”

Fitzsimmons was ordered from the field when an injured Narrabri player was carried off and two others couldn’t play the ball after bearing the brunt of his hard tackling.

“There was nothing illegal about Allan’s tackling, but the ref said he had no choice; he reckoned he had to stop him playing before he killed someone,” Peachey said.

The team still managed to win the Brazier Shield grand-final, 27-10.

“It really didn’t matter that we were a man down because we had the game sewn up anyway, and won easily,” Peachey said.

Nine under-18s team members all played Group 5 representative football and Michael Clark, Peter Peachey and Allan Fitzsimmons represented Northern Division.

Moree High’s under-16s team won every game in the 1973 season, peaking with a crushing State knock-out grand-final win against Fairfield Patrician Brothers.

Along the way they defeated Canterbury, Holy Cross Ryde and St Mary’s Pagewood.

Coached by Ian Carlin, the team also won carnivals at Walgett, Moree, Inverell and Tamworth.

“They were a great group of boys and really trained well,” Carlin said in a 2003 interview to mark the season’s 30th anniversary.

“They gave their maximum effort and were willing to listen and learn, which boys of that age don’t often do.

“Mind you, they weren’t saints – likeable rogues I suppose you could call them,” he laughed.

“But they treated me with respect, and they had a lot of pride in themselves.”

Meanwhile, a pre-match coaching decision to elevate under-16s star John Brazier to open-weight hooker for the crucial University Shield grand-final proved correct in every way.

In the 26-10 semi-final win against Newcastle Tech High at Tamworth’s Scully Park two weeks earlier, Moree’s lack of scrum domination was evident, despite winning.

The flaw was enough for meticulous coach John McLean to reshuffle the team.

He knew the boys from Moree wouldn’t get away with similar scrum stats in the grand-final against Forbes High School.

The Moree Champion reported: “After the Tamworth game there was a team conference at the school. The boys agreed something had to be done and it was a unanimous decision to bring in the hooker from the 16-years’ team, John Brazier, and use the regular hooker, Greg King, as striking prop.”

Coach McLean said the team members made the decision themselves.

“They felt something had to be done to get more ball in the scrums,” he said.

Moree A-grade hooker David Groat was called in to give Brazier a few insightful tips.

For the next fortnight, they painstakingly fine-tuned a game-plan that would prove crucial in the August 18 grand-final at Gosford’s Grahame Park.

“Afternoon training sessions this week show that Brazier fitted in well in the open play moves being planned by McLean. Brazier is a robust, speedy forward who should be an asset to the team,” newspapers reported.

And that is exactly what newly-recruited hooker, John Brazier, was to the Moree High School open-weight team on that balmy Saturday afternoon in August, 1973 – an absolute asset.

He took his under-16s knowledge to the big stage and did his team and his hometown proud.

It is well-documented how Moree High School won the University Shield 13-12 to cap an amazing year of rugby league in Moree.

More than 8000 spectators crammed Grahame Park, including special guests, NSW Rugby League chairman Kevin Humphreys, Country RFL president John O’Toole and director of secondary education, Arthur Buchan.

In 2023, a huge 50-year reunion was held at Moree Services Club.

Members of this iconic team, along with 83-year-old coach John McLean, joined family, friends and special guests to celebrate the school’s most famous 80 minutes of football.

McLean played down his role in the history-defining season, preferring the title ‘manager’, rather than coach.

Instead, he adroitly passed full credit to the junior rugby league competition which regularly drew more than 600 kids to Taylor Oval each Saturday morning during the 1960s and 1970s.

“I class myself as being more of a manager than a coach,” McLean said.

“The coaching came from the blokes that started junior rugby league in this town. These junior coaches did things that took years for other towns to recognise, and to learn this was how to teach kids to play sport.

“Competitions aren’t needed when the kids are 10 or 11 years of age; you teach skills and you teach enjoyment, and these boys were able to show that.”

Junior coaches the likes of Charlie Thompson, Rodney Skaines, Stuart Holland, Jock King, Ron Harborne, Danny Shearer and Peter McGregor guided thousands of kids through the ranks.

“These mentors taught these boys all the skills, and the boys brought those skills to the fore,” McLean said.

Words Copyright Bill Poulos