Garry Jack
Encyclopedia
Garry Jack is an Australian former rugby league
footballer and coach. He was a representative in the Australian national team
and star player with the Balmain Tigers
. Jack was a for the Tigers during the late 1980s and early 1990s, under the captaincy of Wayne Pearce
and the coaching of Warren Ryan
. A talented defender, he also represented the New South Wales
State of Origin
side.
and in 1980 he was graded with them. He trialled with the Western Suburbs Magpies
in 1981 and debuted in first grade in the latter part of that season aged 20.
He was sought out by Balmain Tigers club secretary Keith Barnes
and persuaded to join Balmain who were putting together a side that featured young up and comers who would later star for the club, state and country such as Wayne Pearce
, Benny Elias
and Jack's fellow Wests Illwarra junior Steve "Blocker" Roach.
His association with English rugby league began at the end of the 1986 Kangaroo Tour
when he stayed on to play for Salford before returning to the Tigers. He was member of the consecutive Balmain sides which fell at the final hurdle to firstly Canterbury
in the 1988 Grand Final and then to Canberra
in 1989.
1991 saw the departure of Warren Ryan
as Balmain coach and the arrival of former Wallaby coach, Alan Jones
. The years playing under Jones at Balmain were unhappy ones for Jack and eventually after he had left the club in 1992 took the extraordinary step of writing a letter to Rugby league Week expressing anti-Jones sentiment and alleging favouritism played and the existence of a Jones 'inner circle' in the club.
His final Balmain game at Leichardt Oval in 1992 saw 18,000 Tiger fans come out to pay homage to him and other retirees Steve Roach and David Brooks. When his Australian club career ended having surpassed Keith Barnes' club record for first grade matches he returned to England to play his final season with the Sheffield Eagles in England.
After accepting a manager-coach position with Salford, Jack was relieved from the coaching duties
before being sacked as club manager in early 1995. This saw him return to Australia that year to help out the struggling Sydney Tigers side. He was somehat slower and according to some critics , past his prime but unquestionably a Tigers man through and through, who aided the club in a difficult period.
debut and played in all three games of that year's series. He was thereafter New Souths Wales' first choice fullback for the next six years, aside from the 1987 fourth game exhibition match in Los Angeles when he made himself unavailable, and game I of 1988 when Cronulla
's Jonathon Docking was preferred.
All up Jack made 17 appearances for New South Wales
in State of Origins
between 1984 and 1989. He was as safe as they come under the high ball and a tremendous last line of defence.
In 1984 he also made his international debut in the three match Ashes
series against Great Britain. For the next four years, he reigned supreme as the number one fullback
in the world. He played twenty successive Tests (nine versus Britain, seven against New Zealand
and two each against France and Papua New Guinea) as well as the 1998 World Cup
final against New Zealand and the Bicentenary International against a Rest of the World side.
On the 1986 Kangaroo tour
Jack played in all six Tests and seven minor Tour matches. He became the first Australian fullback to score three tries in a Test in a brilliant performance against France in the second Test.
After Jack broke an arm in a 1989 pre-season match the door opened for his great State of Origin rival Queenslander Gary Belcher
who from that point was the favoured Australian representative for the fullback position.
magazine.
In 2005 he was honoured by Rugby League Week one of the 25 greatest ever New South Wales State of Origin
players.
Jack received another accolade at the Balmain Tigers inaugural Hall of Fame dinner in March 2005. Before a large gathering of Tigers greats and supporters Jack received his place in the club's history alongside Wayne Pearce, Keith Barnes, and Peter Provan.
Garry has now transferred to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts, He is a Purple belt with 1 strip in Jiu-Jitsu and Brown belt in MMA.
in July '93 but departed following their relegation from the top flight at the end of the 1994–95 Rugby Football League season.
In 2005, Jack's son Kieren
was drafted
to the Australian Football League
's Sydney Swans
.
Another son, Rhys Jack, played in the Bulldogs Toyota Cup side.
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
footballer and coach. He was a representative in the Australian national team
Australian national rugby league team
The Australian national rugby league team have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of the game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League, the Kangaroos' are ranked number one in the RLIF World Rankings...
and star player with the Balmain Tigers
Balmain Tigers
The Balmain Tigers are a rugby league football club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in the history of the premiership, with eleven titles...
. Jack was a for the Tigers during the late 1980s and early 1990s, under the captaincy of Wayne Pearce
Wayne Pearce
Wayne John Pearce OAM is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach. An athletic Lock Forward for the Balmain Tigers, he was affectionately known as 'Junior'...
and the coaching of Warren Ryan
Warren Ryan
Warren Ryan is former rugby league football coach and player from Sydney, Australia. He is considered as one of the most influential coaches in recent times. Ryan also played 1st Grade Rugby League for the St George Dragons and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks....
. A talented defender, he also represented the New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
State of Origin
Rugby League State of Origin
State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...
side.
Club career
His junior football was played in Wollongong with Wests IllawarraWestern Suburbs Red Devils
The Western Suburbs Red Devils are an Australian rugby league football team based in Figtree. The club are a part of Country Rugby League and compete in the Illawarra Rugby League premiership. The club play out of Figtree Oval, Figtree. Wests wear red and blue jerseys and have won 14 premierships...
and in 1980 he was graded with them. He trialled with the Western Suburbs Magpies
Western Suburbs Magpies
The Western Suburbs Magpies are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly referred to, were one of the nine foundation clubs of the first New South Wales Rugby League competition in Australia...
in 1981 and debuted in first grade in the latter part of that season aged 20.
He was sought out by Balmain Tigers club secretary Keith Barnes
Keith Barnes
William Keith Barnes OAM is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach. He was a fullback for the Australian national team and for the Balmain Tigers. He played in 14 Tests between 1959 and 1966, as national captain on 12 occasions. He was known as "Golden Boots" due to his...
and persuaded to join Balmain who were putting together a side that featured young up and comers who would later star for the club, state and country such as Wayne Pearce
Wayne Pearce
Wayne John Pearce OAM is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach. An athletic Lock Forward for the Balmain Tigers, he was affectionately known as 'Junior'...
, Benny Elias
Benny Elias
Benjamin Elias is an Australian former rugby league footballer of the 1980s and 90s. He played primarily as a hooker for Balmain in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership. He was one of the leading hookers from the mid 1980s until his retirement at the end of the 1994 season...
and Jack's fellow Wests Illwarra junior Steve "Blocker" Roach.
His association with English rugby league began at the end of the 1986 Kangaroo Tour
Kangaroo Tour
Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France. The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours took place every four years and involved a three-Test Ashes series against Great Britain and a number of tour matches...
when he stayed on to play for Salford before returning to the Tigers. He was member of the consecutive Balmain sides which fell at the final hurdle to firstly Canterbury
Canterbury Bulldogs
The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership, as well as New South Wales Rugby League junior competitions...
in the 1988 Grand Final and then to Canberra
Canberra Raiders
The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership since 1982...
in 1989.
1991 saw the departure of Warren Ryan
Warren Ryan
Warren Ryan is former rugby league football coach and player from Sydney, Australia. He is considered as one of the most influential coaches in recent times. Ryan also played 1st Grade Rugby League for the St George Dragons and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks....
as Balmain coach and the arrival of former Wallaby coach, Alan Jones
Alan Jones (radio broadcaster)
Alan Belford Jones AO is an Australian radio broadcaster, former rugby union and rugby league coach and administrator.Jones hosts Sydney's most popular breakfast radio program, on radio station 2GB...
. The years playing under Jones at Balmain were unhappy ones for Jack and eventually after he had left the club in 1992 took the extraordinary step of writing a letter to Rugby league Week expressing anti-Jones sentiment and alleging favouritism played and the existence of a Jones 'inner circle' in the club.
His final Balmain game at Leichardt Oval in 1992 saw 18,000 Tiger fans come out to pay homage to him and other retirees Steve Roach and David Brooks. When his Australian club career ended having surpassed Keith Barnes' club record for first grade matches he returned to England to play his final season with the Sheffield Eagles in England.
After accepting a manager-coach position with Salford, Jack was relieved from the coaching duties
before being sacked as club manager in early 1995. This saw him return to Australia that year to help out the struggling Sydney Tigers side. He was somehat slower and according to some critics , past his prime but unquestionably a Tigers man through and through, who aided the club in a difficult period.
Representative career
In 1984 Jack made his State of OriginRugby League State of Origin
State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...
debut and played in all three games of that year's series. He was thereafter New Souths Wales' first choice fullback for the next six years, aside from the 1987 fourth game exhibition match in Los Angeles when he made himself unavailable, and game I of 1988 when Cronulla
Cronulla Sharks
The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are Australian professional Rugby league team based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales...
's Jonathon Docking was preferred.
All up Jack made 17 appearances for New South Wales
New South Wales Rugby League team
The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1907. Administered by the New South Wales Rugby League, the team competes in the annual State of Origin series against arch-rivals, the...
in State of Origins
Rugby League State of Origin
State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...
between 1984 and 1989. He was as safe as they come under the high ball and a tremendous last line of defence.
In 1984 he also made his international debut in the three match Ashes
Rugby League Ashes
The Ashes is the name given to the trophy awarded to the winner of a best-of-three series of rugby league football test series between Great Britain and Australia...
series against Great Britain. For the next four years, he reigned supreme as the number one fullback
in the world. He played twenty successive Tests (nine versus Britain, seven against New Zealand
New Zealand national rugby league team
The New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league football since intercontinental competition began for the sport in 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of that name...
and two each against France and Papua New Guinea) as well as the 1998 World Cup
Rugby League World Cup
The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league competition contested by members of the Rugby League International Federation . It has been held nearly once every 4 years on average since its inaugural tournament in France in 1954...
final against New Zealand and the Bicentenary International against a Rest of the World side.
On the 1986 Kangaroo tour
Kangaroo Tour
Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France. The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours took place every four years and involved a three-Test Ashes series against Great Britain and a number of tour matches...
Jack played in all six Tests and seven minor Tour matches. He became the first Australian fullback to score three tries in a Test in a brilliant performance against France in the second Test.
After Jack broke an arm in a 1989 pre-season match the door opened for his great State of Origin rival Queenslander Gary Belcher
Gary Belcher
Gary Belcher is an Australian rugby league football commentator and former player of the 1980s and '90s. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative goal-kicking fullback, he played club football in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership for Souths and in the NSWRL...
who from that point was the favoured Australian representative for the fullback position.
Accolades
In 1987 Jack was honoured with the Golden Boot Award as the finest rugby league player in the world at that time. This highly respected honour is awarded to the world's rugby league players by Rugby League WorldRugby League World
Rugby League World is a dedicated rugby league magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Other rugby league titles published by League Publications Ltd include the weekly newspaper Rugby Leaguer & League Express and the annual Gillette Rugby League Yearbook.-History:Rugby League World began...
magazine.
In 2005 he was honoured by Rugby League Week one of the 25 greatest ever New South Wales State of Origin
New South Wales Rugby League team
The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1907. Administered by the New South Wales Rugby League, the team competes in the annual State of Origin series against arch-rivals, the...
players.
Jack received another accolade at the Balmain Tigers inaugural Hall of Fame dinner in March 2005. Before a large gathering of Tigers greats and supporters Jack received his place in the club's history alongside Wayne Pearce, Keith Barnes, and Peter Provan.
Garry has now transferred to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts, He is a Purple belt with 1 strip in Jiu-Jitsu and Brown belt in MMA.
Post playing
Garry Jack was appointed coach of English club SalfordSalford City Reds
Salford City Reds are an English rugby league club based in Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1873, they currently play in the Super League. They have won six Rugby Football League Championships and one Challenge Cup...
in July '93 but departed following their relegation from the top flight at the end of the 1994–95 Rugby Football League season.
In 2005, Jack's son Kieren
Kieren Jack
Kieren Jack is a professional Australian rules footballer for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League .- Early life :He is the son of former Balmain Tigers Rugby League star Garry Jack....
was drafted
AFL Draft
The AFL Draft is the annual draft of new unsigned players by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Football League.-History:...
to the Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
's Sydney Swans
Sydney Swans
The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...
.
Another son, Rhys Jack, played in the Bulldogs Toyota Cup side.
Sources
- Big League's 25 Years of Origin Collectors' Edition , News Magazines, Surry Hills, Sydney