Ron Willey

Ronald William Willey (1929−2004) was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He was a representative for the Australian national side. Post-playing, Willey had a long and successful first grade and State representative coaching career.

Ron Willey

Personal information
Full name	Ronald William Willey
Born	(1929-11-20)20 November 1929 Canterbury, New South Wales, Australia
Died	24 September 2004(2004-09-24) (aged 74)
Playing information
Position	Fullback, Centre
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1948–53 Canterbury-Bankstown 70 5 136 0 287 1956–62 Manly-Warringah 124 20 447 2 958 1963–64 Parramatta 7 1 20 0 43 Total 201 26 603 2 1288 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1955 Queensland 1 0 10 0 20 1956 NSW City Firsts 1 0 7 0 14 1956 New South Wales 3 0 12 0 24 1952–53 Australia 0 0 0 0 0
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 1962 Manly-Warringah 18 7 1 10 39 1970–74 Manly-Warringah 132 95 3 34 72 1977–79 Balmain 70 36 4 30 51 1980–82 North Sydney 74 31 2 41 42 1983–85 South Sydney 83 39 1 43 47 1988–89 Penrith 49 31 0 18 63 1989–90 Bradford Northern Total 426 239 11 176 56 Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 1986–87 NSW City 2 2 0 0 100 1986–87 New South Wales 7 5 0 2 71
Source: [1] As of 11 June 2013

Playing career

Born in Canterbury, New South Wales in 1929, Willey was graded by the Canterbury-Bankstown Berries in 1948 as a Centre, but was soon shifted to Fullback, and was the Berries regular first-grade fullback and goal-kicker from 1949 to 1953. In 1951, he was appointed captain for four games at the age of 21. Willey held the record as the youngest Canterbury captain until Braith Anasta in 2002. He became the first Canterbury local international when he was selected on the 1952–53 Kangaroo tour, and was the Berries’ standout player in a dark era for the club.^[2]

Willey missed most of 1953 and the entire 1954 season through a serious knee injury, but returned to the game as captain-coach of Rockhampton and represented Queensland that season.

He joined Manly-Warringah in 1956 and played a total of 124 games over seven seasons for the club including their unsuccessful 1957 and 1959 Grand Final appearances. In 1956, Willey played two games for New South Wales, but although a player of immense talent, Willey played in an era where Clive Churchill was the incumbent representative fullback, denying Willey many selection opportunities. In his last season as a player at Manly in 1962, Willey was captain-coach. He held the record for the most points scored at Manly until overtaken by Graeme Eadie in the 1970s, and during 1962 he overtook Bernie Purcell's record for the most points scored in an NSWRFL career (1,152); Willey's eventual total of 1,288 stood as the new career record for four seasons until it was bettered by Keith Barnes in 1966.

Willey joined the Parramatta Eels in 1963 but only played seven games before retiring in 1964.

Coaching career

Club coach

Willey returned to Manly in 1970 for a successful five season tenure as a non-playing coach. During this time he guided them to their first New South Wales Rugby League premiership in 1972 and repeated that premiership success in 1973. In this, his second coaching stint at Manly he enjoyed an extraordinary 74% win rate.

Willey later coached Balmain from 1977 to 1979, North Sydney from 1980 to 1982 (with whom he guided the club to their first finals series in 17 years) and Souths from 1983 to 1985 but was unable to repeat premiership success. His last head coaching role in Australia was with Penrith where he coached the club a fifth-place playoff in 1988 where they lost to Balmain. In his final season at Penrith, Willey guided the club to a second-placed finish but the Panthers were knocked out in straight sets by eventual grand finalists Balmain and Canberra.^[3]

Willey coached English side Bradford Northern for a short stint and led them to the Premiership final and success in the Yorkshire Cup in 1989–90. Willey coached for a total of 17 seasons and 403 matches.

Representative coach

Willey also coached New South Wales to the first ever clean sweep of a State of Origin series against Queensland in 1986.

Personal life

Willey's grandson is fellow rugby league footballer Anthony Don, a fullback/winger who played over 150 games for the Gold Coast Titans from 2013 to 2021.^[4]

References

1. "Ron Willey - Career Stats & Summary - Rugby League Project".
2. See Lester, Gary; From Berries to Bulldogs: Fifty Years of the Canterbury-Bankstown R.L.F.C.; pp. 47-60 ISBN 9780949853066
3. "Former Penrith Panthers players Mark Geyer and Darryl Brohman pay tribute to former NSW coach Graham Murray". www.dailytelegraph.com.au. 29 July 2013.
4. Travis Meyn (13 April 2013). "Gold Coast Debutant Anthony Don Brings A Top Rugby League Pedigree to the Game". The Courier Mail. Retrieved 14 April 2013.

Sporting positions
Preceded by Bernie Purcell (1959)	Record-holder Most points in an NSWRFL career[1] 1962 (1,155) - 1966 (1,288)	Succeeded by Keith Barnes (1966)
Preceded by David Hobbs 1989	Coach Bradford Northern 1989–1990	Succeeded by David Hobbs 1990-1993
Preceded by Tim Sheens 1984–1987	Coach Penrith Panthers 1988–1989	Succeeded by Phil Gould 1990–1994
Preceded by Terry Fearnley 1985	Coach NSW State of Origin 1986–1987	Succeeded by John Peard 1988
Preceded by Bill Anderson 1980–1982	Coach South Sydney Rabbitohs 1983–1985	Succeeded by George Piggins 1986–1990
Preceded by Tommy Bishop 1979	Coach North Sydney Bears 1980–1982	Succeeded by John Hayes 1983–1984
Preceded by Paul Broughton 1975-1976	Coach Balmain Tigers 1977–1979	Succeeded by Dennis Tutty 1980
Preceded by George Hunter 1968–1969	Coach Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 1970–1974	Succeeded by Frank Stanton 1975–1979
Preceded by Ken Arthurson 1957–1961	Coach Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 1962	Succeeded by Tony Paskins 1963

1. Heads, Ian and Middleton, David (2008) A Centenary of Rugby League, MacMillan Sydney