Ken Maddison is an Australian former

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s.Ken Maddison
at yesterdayshero.com.au He played in the

New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

for the

St. George Dragons The St. George Dragons are an Australian rugby league, rugby league football club from the St George, Sydney, St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales Rugby League, New South Wales competition ...

(with whom he won the 1966 premiership) and later the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...

(whom he captained). He was also a

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

representative, playing four Tests for Australia in 1973.

Playing career

St. George

Maddison started his first-grade football career with St. George in 1965 and the following year appeared in his first

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

, the last of the Dragons' record-breaking 11 consecutive premiership wins. He won that first premiership as a but later moved into the forwards and enjoyed success in his career as a wide running second-rower. In the late 1960s after St George had lost the stars of their long reign, Ken Maddison's work ethic (along with the stellar brilliance of Billy Smith and

Graeme Langlands Graeme Frank Langlands, Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, MBE, (2 September 1941 – 20 January 2018), also known by the nickname of "Changa", was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played from the 19 ...

) was a factor in keeping the club competitive, regularly finishing in the top five. Maddison played in the 1971 Grand Final loss to South Sydney, again in the centres. Ken's younger brother Keith Maddison also played alongside him at the Dragons in six seasons from 1966 to 1971.

Cronulla-Sutherland

In 1972 Maddison moved to the young Cronulla-Sutherland club, playing in the . 1973 was Maddison's career high-point when he became the first forward to win the

Rothmans Medal The Rothmans Medal was the premier individual award in the New South Wales Rugby League and Brisbane Rugby League competitions, and later in the Australian Rugby League, which was given to the player voted by referees as the best and fairest in ...

for best and fairest player in the League, edging out

Ron Coote Ronald Joseph Coote (born 1944) is an Australian former rugby league player. His club career was played with South Sydney and the Eastern Suburbs Roosters, with both of whom he won premierships, and he played 23 times for Australia. He is con ...

by just one point. He also scored a personal best eight tries that year before playing in Cronulla's first Grand Final, the 1973 loss to Manly-Warringah 7 – 10. Although Maddison played at a time when the loose forwards of the Souths' pack – Coote,

Bob McCarthy Robert James McCarthy MBE (born 5 August 1946) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach. He played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, New South Wales and for the Australian national si ...

, Gary Stevens and Paul Sait – dominated representative selections, he managed his Australian debut at the end of a great club season in 1973 when he was selected for the

1973 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France The 1973 Kangaroo Tour was the thirteenth Kangaroo Tour, and saw the Australian national rugby league team travel to Europe and play nineteen matches against British and French club and representative rugby league teams, in addition to three Rugb ...

. He was one of the form forwards of the tour scoring two tries in the third and deciding Test against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. He played in all three Ashes Tests, in one Test against France and in nine minor tour matches scoring six tries in all. The following year he made his sole state appearance for New South Wales Blues. Maddison continued playing for Cronulla-Sutherland until 1975. In 2006, he was named at second-row in a

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

dream team.

References

External links

Ken Maddison at nrlstats.comKangaroos beat Lions at Wilderspool
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maddison, Ken 1944 births 2008 deaths Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league second-rows St. George Dragons players Western Suburbs Rosellas players 20th-century Australian sportsmen