Steve Nash

[rlno1]

I was looking through some old articles from the 70's and Steve Nash is constantly referred to as a skilful and creative player who was always a danger to the opposition.

Infact had he not been sent off in the First Test of 1978 with Raudonikis Gt.Britain probably would have won. They led with 10 mins to go.

Anyone remember him and his partnership with Roger Millward?

[Oxford]

1 hour ago, rlno1 said:

I was looking through some old articles from the 70's and Steve Nash is constantly referred to as a skilful and creative player who was always a danger to the opposition.

Infact had he not been sent off in the First Test of 1978 with Raudonikis Gt.Britain probably would have won. They led with 10 mins to go.

Anyone remember him and his partnership with Roger Millward?

I always thought that Tom Raudonikis did that deliberately such was the level of cynicism in the game at the time.

Steve Nash was a great player defensively so much so that a fair few Salford people felt it was like having an extra forward on the pitch.

Some partnerships are great foils for one another because of the big differences and skills they bring to the game Nash and Millward was one just like that.

[Manfred Mann]

I remember meeting Steve Nash along with other members of the Great Britain team at the Sydney Motor Club, on Saturday night July 20, 1974, a few hours after they had lost the series deciding Third Test match against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground 22-18, despite leading 16-10 at halftime. The crowd was 55,505. Roger Millward, who was stand off partnering Nash in the First Test (won by Australia 12-6), but initially dropped for the Second Test only to be recalled as an emergency replacement to play on the wing (won by Great Britain 16-11), was again dropped for the Third Test match. Ken Gil played as Nash’s halves partner in the Third Test. 

At the Motor Club Steve Nash was fairly drunk but not hostile to me. Nash was not as drunk as second rower Eric Chisnall, who entered the premises with a couple of other players alongside him, and started attacking the Australian patrons randomly with wildly swinging fists. As I recall Nash also threw a few punches in the melee.  Some of the other British players eventually restrained the deranged thug Chisnall. The violent incident was obviously all about being unable to accept the loss that day. It must have been very embarrassing for the Welsh born British centre David Watkins, whom I saw was present but not involved in the thuggery. Watkins was a civilized man and a gentleman.

[Manfred Mann]

My memories of seeing British halves combinations in the late 1960s and early 1970s was that Tommy Bishop and Roger Millward from 1966-69 was a far more exciting and effective combination for Great Britain than Steve Nash and Roger Millward in the 1970s.

Tommy Bishop was signed by Cronulla and began playing for the club in 1969, becoming Cronulla’s captain-coach from 1970-73. (Bishop, now 80, lives as a retiree just outside Brisbane in Redcliffe, Queensland).The outstanding British Test prop Cliff Watson joined Bishop at Cronulla in 1971 and played until the end of 1973. (Watson remained in Australia and died at Cronulla, at age 78, in 2018). Roger Millward played 14 games for Cronulla in 1976. Other Great Britain representatives from that era who were signed by Australian clubs included Bill Ashurst (Penrith 1974-76) Mike Stephenson (Penrith 1974-78) and Brian Lockwood (Canterbury 1974, Balmain 1975-77). Steve Nash was never signed by any Australian club. That says at least something about the relative reputations of the various players.

[del capo]

These days we talk about the  ' spine ' being so important but back then my nightmares always used to be the opposition  half back pairing  playmakers.

Hepworth / Hardisty anyone ?

Certainly Bill Ashurst thought so when he chased  Hardisty down the length of the park and then kicked him into the stands after the touch down. Big Bill didn't wait for the ref decision and just walked off straight to the dug out.....

[Scubby]

5 hours ago, Manfred Mann said:

I remember meeting Steve Nash along with other members of the Great Britain team at the Sydney Motor Club, on Saturday night July 20, 1974, a few hours after they had lost the series deciding Third Test match against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground 22-18, despite leading 16-10 at halftime. The crowd was 55,505. Roger Millward, who was stand off partnering Nash in the First Test (won by Australia 12-6), but initially dropped for the Second Test only to be recalled as an emergency replacement to play on the wing (won by Great Britain 16-11), was again dropped for the Third Test match. Ken Gil played as Nash’s halves partner in the Third Test. 

At the Motor Club Steve Nash was fairly drunk but not hostile to me. Nash was not as drunk as second rower Eric Chisnall, who entered the premises with a couple of other players alongside him, and started attacking the Australian patrons randomly with wildly swinging fists. As I recall Nash also threw a few punches in the melee.  Some of the other British players eventually restrained the deranged thug Chisnall. The violent incident was obviously all about being unable to accept the loss that day. It must have been very embarrassing for the Welsh born British centre David Watkins, whom I saw was present but not involved in the thuggery. Watkins was a civilized man and a gentleman.

That's a sweet story to cherish 

[The Phantom Horseman]

Most Featherstone fans over the age of about 50 will tell you Steve Nash was the greatest player we have seen in our lifetime; clearly it's a biased viewpoint to say that overall but not to say he's the best Fev player. The magnificent Deryck Fox, who made many appearances for Great Britain, was universally loved by Rovers fans  but most who saw both play will tell you that Nashy was an even better player.

Lively and very quick off the mark, skilful, great kicking game, tackled well above his weight. Sadly Fev had to sell to survive in those days but it was no surprise that he broke the world transfer fee record when sold to Salford, where he continued to be outstanding.

[Exiled Wiganer]

Ken Gill was a public an in our village. He used to train with our group, and we had a glorious picture of him scoring a try for GB in Australia, which I assume was during the mid 70s series MM refers to. Astonishing to think that in those days we had regularly competitive test series between the 2 countries.

[Oxford]

8 hours ago, Manfred Mann said:

Watkins was a civilized man and a gentleman.

I'm a huge Dai fanna but it's more likely to do with him always being a bit shy when it came to the biff.

Chisnall on the other hand .....

[Dunbar]

4 hours ago, Scubby said:

That's a sweet story to cherish 

Gather round children and let me tell you the tale of the Great Britain Rugby League International attacking the Australian patrons randomly with wildly swinging fists.

[tms]

8 hours ago, Manfred Mann said:

My memories of seeing British halves combinations in the late 1960s and early 1970s was that Tommy Bishop and Roger Millward from 1966-69 was a far more exciting and effective combination for Great Britain than Steve Nash and Roger Millward in the 1970s.

Tommy Bishop was signed by Cronulla and began playing for the club in 1969, becoming Cronulla’s captain-coach from 1970-73. (Bishop, now 80, lives as a retiree just outside Brisbane in Redcliffe, Queensland).The outstanding British Test prop Cliff Watson joined Bishop at Cronulla in 1971 and played until the end of 1973. (Watson remained in Australia and died at Cronulla, at age 78, in 2018). Roger Millward played 14 games for Cronulla in 1976. Other Great Britain representatives from that era who were signed by Australian clubs included Bill Ashurst (Penrith 1974-76) Mike Stephenson (Penrith 1974-78) and Brian Lockwood (Canterbury 1974, Balmain 1975-77). Steve Nash was never signed by any Australian club. That says at least something about the relative reputations of the various players.

Don't let facts get in the way of a good story MM I don't know if owt happened when he played for  salford  but   at FEV he had offers from two aus clubs but turned them both down 

 

[Clogiron]

2 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Most Featherstone fans over the age of about 50 will tell you Steve Nash was the greatest player we have seen in our lifetime; clearly it's a biased viewpoint to say that overall but not to say he's the best Fev player. The magnificent Deryck Fox, who made many appearances for Great Britain, was universally loved by Rovers fans  but most who saw both play will tell you that Nashy was an even better player.

Lively and very quick off the mark, skilful, great kicking game, tackled well above his weight. Sadly Fev had to sell to survive in those days but it was no surprise that he broke the world transfer fee record when sold to Salford, where he continued to be outstanding.

Deryck Fox was always one of Peter Fox's favourites for Northern and Yorkshire, unfortunately he like some others couldn't see that he lacked any pace whatsoever, the World Cup Final of 92 illustrated that.

Steve Nash had pace off the mark and was like a extra forward but lacked DF's kicking game. Raudonikis has stated many times he started a fight to get Nash sent off, which underlines the value of each of them to their respective teams! Bishop was a cross between Nash & Raudonikis, plenty of skill and niggle combined, for me Nash was the best to combine with Millward who was wasted anywhere else than stand-off, you need your best player's to get the ball in their hands as often as possible I think.

[DavidM]

11 hours ago, Manfred Mann said:

I remember meeting Steve Nash along with other members of the Great Britain team at the Sydney Motor Club, on Saturday night July 20, 1974, a few hours after they had lost the series deciding Third Test match against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground 22-18, despite leading 16-10 at halftime. The crowd was 55,505. Roger Millward, who was stand off partnering Nash in the First Test (won by Australia 12-6), but initially dropped for the Second Test only to be recalled as an emergency replacement to play on the wing (won by Great Britain 16-11), was again dropped for the Third Test match. Ken Gil played as Nash’s halves partner in the Third Test. 

At the Motor Club Steve Nash was fairly drunk but not hostile to me. Nash was not as drunk as second rower Eric Chisnall, who entered the premises with a couple of other players alongside him, and started attacking the Australian patrons randomly with wildly swinging fists. As I recall Nash also threw a few punches in the melee.  Some of the other British players eventually restrained the deranged thug Chisnall. The violent incident was obviously all about being unable to accept the loss that day. It must have been very embarrassing for the Welsh born British centre David Watkins, whom I saw was present but not involved in the thuggery. Watkins was a civilized man and a gentleman.

Geez Manfred you cause trouble wherever you go 

[DG70]

Nash was a great player in a great era of great rugby players and great characters all epitomised by the great Alex Murphy, the list is endless though big Jim Mills, Reilly, Gill, Lowe, Bowden etc

[Agbrigg]

Fev was certainly a good breeding ground for scrum halves back in the day. 

Don Fox  to Carl Dooler,to Steve Nash, to Deryk Fox.  I think that is about the right sequence. 

I agree with all the comments about Steve Nash but my favourite of that list was Don Fox.  I am not biased because he finished up at Wakey , he just had that special XFactor about him which made him something really special. Steve Nash top drawer talent neverthless

[The Phantom Horseman]

12 hours ago, Manfred Mann said:

 Steve Nash was never signed by any Australian club. That says at least something about the relative reputations of the various players.

Oh dear, a little education is in order.

Steve Nash was considering offers from six Australian clubs when he suffered a bad knee injury in 1974. Indeed, if you check out this link https://www.fevarchive.co.uk/programmes/v-warrington-17-november-1974/ to the magnificently put together Featherstone Rovers archive and read the page entitled the Saxton Page (authored by noted RL statistician Irving Saxton) you will see a reproduction of an article in the Aussie publication Rugby League Week written just before he sustained his injury stating that Balmain were set to offer over 50,000 dollars (about £28k at the time I think, well in excess of the British transfer record which stood at £15,000 and was later equalled when Nash was sold to Salford).

Read it and you will see exactly what Nash's reputation was at the time. "I rate Nash the equal in dollars and cents to Bobby Fulton and Arthur Beetson...he was the most outstanding of the English players in the Test series...As a link man he has no peer and he is a tremendous inspiration...Go and get him, Tigers! To hell with the cost!"

I think that tells us more than the fact that he turned you down for an autograph in a bar that day.

[ivans82]

Probably a bit biased but would personally loved to see a half back pairing of Boxer Walker and Roger Millward for GB .

[Agbrigg]

1 hour ago, DG70 said:

Nash was a great player in a great era of great rugby players and great characters all epitomised by the great Alex Murphy, the list is endless though big Jim Mills, Reilly, Gill, Lowe, Bowden etc

There is a name Alex Murphy, in my opinion greatest half back GB have ever produced . 

[Gooleboy]

3 hours ago, Agbrigg said:

Fev was certainly a good breeding ground for scrum halves back in the day. 

Don Fox  to Carl Dooler,to Steve Nash, to Deryk Fox.  I think that is about the right sequence. 

I agree with all the comments about Steve Nash but my favourite of that list was Don Fox.  I am not biased because he finished up at Wakey , he just had that special XFactor about him which made him something really special. Steve Nash top drawer talent neverthless

Dale Fennell and Terry Hudson weren't bad either.

[Anita Bath]

Both Nash and Fox had to wait until the end of their playing days for the ultimate honour.....

 

....playing for Rochdale Hornets.

 

Comeon hornets!

[Oxford]

2 hours ago, Agbrigg said:

in my opinion greatest half back GB have ever produced . 

In my opinion he was almost certainly the greatest half back ever produced on these shores but as a coach at SRD he was the pits.

Nobody's perfect!

[rlno1]

On 01/06/2021 at 11:06, Oxford said:

I always thought that Tom Raudonikis did that deliberately such was the level of cynicism in the game at the time.

Steve Nash was a great player defensively so much so that a fair few Salford people felt it was like having an extra forward on the pitch.

Some partnerships are great foils for one another because of the big differences and skills they bring to the game Nash and Millward was one just like that.

I watched the game recently and they both were harshly dealt with for a minor dust up. Way more nasty incidents in the game, Ronnie Campbell the ref had a very average game.

GB lost their way after Nash was sent off as he had been their best.

[rlno1]

On 01/06/2021 at 11:52, Manfred Mann said:

I remember meeting Steve Nash along with other members of the Great Britain team at the Sydney Motor Club, on Saturday night July 20, 1974, a few hours after they had lost the series deciding Third Test match against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground 22-18, despite leading 16-10 at halftime. The crowd was 55,505. Roger Millward, who was stand off partnering Nash in the First Test (won by Australia 12-6), but initially dropped for the Second Test only to be recalled as an emergency replacement to play on the wing (won by Great Britain 16-11), was again dropped for the Third Test match. Ken Gil played as Nash’s halves partner in the Third Test. 

At the Motor Club Steve Nash was fairly drunk but not hostile to me. Nash was not as drunk as second rower Eric Chisnall, who entered the premises with a couple of other players alongside him, and started attacking the Australian patrons randomly with wildly swinging fists. As I recall Nash also threw a few punches in the melee.  Some of the other British players eventually restrained the deranged thug Chisnall. The violent incident was obviously all about being unable to accept the loss that day. It must have been very embarrassing for the Welsh born British centre David Watkins, whom I saw was present but not involved in the thuggery. Watkins was a civilized man and a gentleman.

Where was big Jim Mills?

[The Phantom Horseman]

17 hours ago, ivans82 said:

Probably a bit biased but would personally loved to see a half back pairing of Boxer Walker and Roger Millward for GB .

Walker was a cracking half back, just unlucky to be around at the same time as Millward, Nash etc. The Peter Elliott to their Ovett and Coe.

[rlno1]

17 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Oh dear, a little education is in order.

Steve Nash was considering offers from six Australian clubs when he suffered a bad knee injury in 1974. Indeed, if you check out this link https://www.fevarchive.co.uk/programmes/v-warrington-17-november-1974/ to the magnificently put together Featherstone Rovers archive and read the page entitled the Saxton Page (authored by noted RL statistician Irving Saxton) you will see a reproduction of an article in the Aussie publication Rugby League Week written just before he sustained his injury stating that Balmain were set to offer over 50,000 dollars (about £28k at the time I think, well in excess of the British transfer record which stood at £15,000 and was later equalled when Nash was sold to Salford).

Read it and you will see exactly what Nash's reputation was at the time. "I rate Nash the equal in dollars and cents to Bobby Fulton and Arthur Beetson...he was the most outstanding of the English players in the Test series...As a link man he has no peer and he is a tremendous inspiration...Go and get him, Tigers! To hell with the cost!"

I think that tells us more than the fact that he turned you down for an autograph in a bar that day.

Back in the 70's Australia looked towards GB as the leaders in the way the game was played this started to change towards the end of the decade.

It would have been interesting to see GB play with all their star players who were playing club football in Australia.