Greg Hawick (3 May 1932 – 6 February 2020) was an Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer and coach. A fine utility

back The human back, also called the dorsum, is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral column r ...

for the champion

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league club based in Redfern, New South Wales, Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and are ...

teams in the 1950s and a representative player in the Australian national side, he was named at in an Australian 1950s rugby league team of the decade.

Playing career

Club

A South Sydney junior Hawick had played with the

Alexandria Rovers The Alexandria Rovers are an Australian rugby league football team based in Alexandria, New South Wales, a suburb of south-central Sydney. They play in the South Sydney District Junior Rugby Football League. Notable Juniors Notable First Grade ...

junior club. Hawick made his first-grade debut with Souths in 1950 as a lock forward but subsequently switched to the backline playing halfback and centre. He won a premiership with Souths in his debut year, but then missed out on a second in season 1951 when his jaw was broken in the semi-final against

St George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

. He eventually gained his second premiership victory in the

1954 NSWRFL season The 1954 NSWRFL season was the forty-seventh season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership competition, based in Sydney. Ten rugby league football teams from across the city competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the se ...

. Hawick's career with South Sydney stretched from 1950 to 1956, during which he played in five premiership winning teams. In all he played 84 first grade games scoring 19 tries and kicking 62 goals for a total of 181 career points. Hawick played his club football with Wagga in country New South Wales for the 1957 & 58 season. He fought a landmark battle against the NSWRFL in 1958 when after having signed a contract with North Sydney he reneged, chose to stay in Wagga and was disqualified by the League. An equity court ruled that the disqualification was a denial of natural justice and he was able to play the season in Wagga and was still selected in the state and the national team that year. Hawick was lured to North Sydney for the 1959 & 1960 seasons. He returned to

country rugby league The Country Rugby League of New South Wales (CRL), formed in 1934 and disbanded in 2019, was the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in areas of New South Wales outside the Sydney metropolitan area until it merged with NSW Rugb ...

with Wagga from 1961 and his playing career ended there in 1963 a result of another broken jaw.

Representative

Hawick made six Test appearances for the Australian national side. He also played eight games for

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including appearances in 1957 & 58 when his club football was played in the country.. Hawick toured with the

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 ...

to Great Britain in 1952–53, playing two tests, another 16 tour matches and scoring eight tries. He also toured to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

with the Kangaroos in 1953 playing two tests, six other tour matches and scoring two tries and kicking three goals. Hawick played in the first World Cup in 1954 and was part of the

1957 World Cup The second Rugby League World Cup was held in Australia in 1957. As before a group stage was held first, with matches being held at locations in Sydney and Brisbane. The 1957 World Cup marked the 50th anniversary of rugby league in Australia b ...

-winning team.

Accolades

In 2004 he was named by Souths in their ''South Sydney Dream Team'', which consisted of seventeen players and a coach representing the club from

1908 Events January * January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the ''Nimrod'' for Antarctica. * January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean, and is the 4 ...

through to

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. In 2007 Hawick was selected by a panel of experts at five-eighth in an Australian 'Team of the 50s'.

Coaching career

Hawick coached Norths from 1983 until his sacking midway through the

1985 NSWRL season The 1985 New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the seventy-eighth season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Thirteen teams competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the season, which culminated in a gra ...

Sources

* Andrews, Malcolm, ''The ABC of Rugby League'', Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney. * Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) ''The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players'', Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney
''Team of the 50s named'' – Daily Telegraph article at news.com.auGreg Hawick at yesterdayshero.com.au

Footnotes

1932 births 2020 deaths Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players North Sydney Bears coaches North Sydney Bears players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league players from Sydney South Sydney Rabbitohs players {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-stub