Robert "Rocky" Laurie (14 January 1956 – 4 June 2022)League mourns loss of ‘Rocky’ Laurie
was an Australian

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. He played for the

Eastern Suburbs Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

and the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

in the

New South Wales Rugby 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 ...

.http://www.stats.rleague.com/rl/scorers/players/Robert_Laurie.html Laurie along with Ian Schubert, both from the rural

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

(NSW) township of Wauchope, came to the

Roosters The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

in NSWRFL season 1975, although Laurie did not make his first grade debut till the following season. During the

1976 NSWRFL season The 1976 New South Wales Rugby League premiership, New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 69th season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Twelve teams, including six of 1908's foundat ...

, he played in the forwards, helping Eastern Suburbs to victory in their unofficial

1976 World Club Challenge The 1976 World Club Challenge was an unofficial trial of what would later become the World Club Challenge concept, with the 1975 NSWRFL season's premiers, Eastern Suburbs hosting the 1975–76 Northern Rugby Football League season's Premiershi ...

match against British champions St. Helens in Sydney. However, his move to the South Sydney Rabbitohs proved a master stroke, with Laurie making the five-eighth position his own in the red and green. Laurie played his best football at Souths, carving up the opposition and setting up spectacular tries for players such as dynamic winger Terry Fahey. Laurie was awarded the 1980

Dally M Medal The Dally M Medal is awarded each year (annually) to the player voted for as the ' Player of the year' over the National Rugby League (NRL) regular season. The awards are named in honour of Australian former rugby league great Herbert Henry "Da ...

, the only South Sydney player to date to win the coveted award. Laurie played for Easts in their win at the final of the 1981 Craven Mild Cup. In 1983, Laurie returned to Wauchope and captained a NSW Country representative side in a match against New Zealand's

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

, Laurie starred in the match scoring 3 tries. During the

1988 Great Britain Lions tour The 1988 Great Britain Lions tour was the Great Britain national rugby league team's 18th tour of Australasia and took place from May to July 1988. It started with a Test match (rugby league), Test match against Papua New Guinea national rugby le ...

, Laurie captained a Northern Division side to victory over the visitors. Rocky's younger brother, Mark Laurie, was a three-time premiership winner with the

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

club.

References

1956 births 2022 deaths Australian rugby league players City New South Wales rugby league team players Country New South Wales rugby league team players Indigenous Australian rugby league players New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league players from Wauchope, New South Wales South Sydney Rabbitohs captains South Sydney Rabbitohs players Sydney Roosters players 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1950s-stub