Tony Melrose (born 7 September 1959) is an Australian former professional

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 1980s and 1990s. He played in the

NSWRL 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

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 ...

, South Sydney,

Manly-Warringah The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...

and Eastern Suburbs in the

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in rugby league in New South Wales, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Co ...

(NSWRL) competition. He primarily played in the centres or at . Melrose began his footballing career playing

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

. He was captain of the

Australian Schoolboys rugby union team The Australian Schoolboys & U18 rugby union team is the national team for schoolboy rugby union & U18 players in Australia. Considered to be the pinnacle of schoolboy & U18 rugby in Australia, the team plays in fixtures against other national r ...

and was a member of the team's undefeated tour of Great Britain in 1977. In that Schoolboys squad were the likes of the Ella Brothers

Mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

Glen A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. The word is Goidelic in origin: ''gleann'' in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, ''glion'' in Manx. ...

and Gary, as well as future dual international Michael O'Connor and future

Australian Kangaroos The Australian national rugby league team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competitions since the establishment of the game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League Comm ...

captain

Wally Lewis Walter James Lewis AM (born 1 December 1959) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1980s and 1990s. He became a commentator for television coverage of the sp ...

. He played for the

Parramatta Two Blues Western Sydney Two Blues Rugby, formerly Parramatta Two Blues Rugby, is a rugby union club based in Parramatta, which is commonly regarded as the second Central business district, CBD of Sydney, Australia. The club was formed in 1879 and compe ...

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), often referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team based in Sydney that represents the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby Pacific competition. The Waratahs play t ...

and six tests for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

as a five-eighth before switching to rugby league in 1980 at the age of twenty. Melrose was selected to represent

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 ...

as a winger for game II of the 1982 State of Origin series, scoring two goals from three attempts. After two seasons with Parramatta, Tony Melrose moved to Souths where he was the Rabbitohs leading point scorer in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

with 186 points (8 tries, 79 goals), and again in

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

with 154 points (2 tries, 69 goals). He then spent two seasons at Manly under the coaching of

Bob Fulton Robert Fulton (1 December 1947 – 23 May 2021), also nicknamed "Bozo", was an Australian rugby league footballer, coach and later commentator. Fulton played, coached, selected for and commentated on the game with great success at the highest ...

before moving to Easts from 1986 to 1989. Melrose retired from playing league after the

1989 NSWRL season The 1989 NSWRL season was the 82nd season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen clubs competed for the New South Wales Rugby League's J.J. Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup Premiership during the season, which culminated in ...

, having played 182 first grade games (20 with the Eels, 50 with Souths, 39 with Manly and 73 with Easts). He scored a total of 32 tries (4, 10, 7 and 11 with each respective club) and kicked 298 goals (18, 148, 61 and 71). After retiring from league, Melrose eventually returned to union in 1992, playing with

Gordon RFC Gordon Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based on the North Shore of Sydney. The club, known as the Gordon Highlanders, plays out of Chatswood Oval and competes in the New South Wales Rugby Union grade competition. Club information ...

References

Footnotes

* 1959 births Living people Australia international rugby union players Australian rugby league players Australian rugby union players Footballers who switched code Gordon RFC players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles captains Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players New South Wales rugby union team players Parramatta Eels players Rugby league centres Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union players from Sydney South Sydney Rabbitohs players Sydney Roosters players 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1950s-stub