Nick Yakich

  • Playing Career

Playing Career

Vital Statistics

Born
Thursday, 18th January, 1940
Died
Tuesday, 28th May, 2019 (Aged 79 years and 130 days)
Place Of Birth
Innisfail, Queensland, Australia

Known Family Links

Brother
Fred Yakich

Biography

Flying Manly winger scored tries in each of his three appearances for NSW in 1965 which catapulted him into the squad for the Australian Tour of NZ. Born in Innisfail Queensland (the son of a Croatian immigrant who stowed away on a ship bound for Perth in the 1920s) Yakich moved to Mosman in the late 1940s and attended school at Marist Brothers with budding sprint star Ken Irvine. After attending Newcastle Teachers College with his brother Fred, Nick Yakich was posted to Harbord Primary School. Trialling with Manly at the instigation of Frank Stanton, a cricket team-mate, he was graded as a winger in 1960. Nick Yakich came under the guidance of former beach sprint champion Johnny Bliss, an assistant coach at the club, and went on to win 5 Australian Sprint Championships with the North Narrabeen Surf Club. In 1965 he was chosen for Australian on the tour of NZ and although he did not play in a Test (Ken Irvine and Mike Cleary were the Test wingers), Yakich was the leading try-scorer on tour with six tries in minor matches. Major knee surgery after suffering an injury in a match against Souths ended his Sydney career the following year and he retired from the game when he suffered a shoulder injury as captain-coach of Werris Creek in 1967.
- ALAN WHITICKER

Playing Career Statistics

All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.

To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.

Competitions

Competition   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
NRL 73 52 -   - 156 29 42 2 39.73% List
Craven Mild Cup 11 3 -   - 9 3 6 2 27.27% List
Tour Matches NSW Colts 1 1 -   - 3 1 0 0 100.00% List
Interstate Matches 3 4 -   - 12 3 0 0 100.00% List
Tour Matches Australia 4 6 -   - 18 4 0 0 100.00% List


Representative

Australia - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Sydney Colts 1964 1 2 -   - 6 1 0 0 100.00% List
NSW Colts 1964 1 1 -   - 3 1 0 0 100.00% List
NSW City Seconds 1965 1 3 -   - 9 1 0 0 100.00% List
NSW Firsts 1965 3 4 -   - 12 3 0 0 100.00% List
Overall1964-1965 6 10 0   0 30 6 0 0 100.00% List


Club Career

NRL/NSWRL - By Year

Team Season App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Manly NSWRFL 1960 3 - -   - - 1 2 0 33.33% List
Manly NSWRFL 1961 8 3 -   - 9 5 3 0 62.50% List
Manly NSWRFL 1962 11 5 -   - 15 4 6 1 36.36% List
Manly NSWRFL 1963 17 14 -   - 42 7 10 0 41.18% List
Manly NSWRFL 1964 16 16 -   - 48 5 10 1 31.25% List
Manly NSWRFL 1965 15 12 -   - 36 6 9 0 40.00% List
Manly NSWRFL 1966 3 2 -   - 6 1 2 0 33.33% List

NRL/NSWRL - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Manly 1960-66 73 52 -   - 156 29 42 2 39.73% List

Your Say

  • Steve
    28/10/2009

    Nick Yakich played 74 games for Manly. He also represented New South Wales on three occasions in 1965 scoring a try on each occasion, he was also called up to the Australian squad to tour New Zealand but was never selected for a match.

  • ROY HORRIGAN
    18/10/2013

    VERY UNDER RATED WINGER, VERY QUICK. THOSE WERE THE DAYS OF IRVINE & CLEARY SO HE DID NOT GET MUCH OF A RUN IN THE REP GAMES.HOWEVER ALWAYS WENT WELL WHEN HE DID. SEEN HIM PLAY A FEW TIMES OUT AT THE OLD SPORTS GROUND ,USED TO GET QUITE A FEW WOLF WHISTLES FROM THE GIRLS FOR HIS SHORTS WHICH WERE PRETTY BRIEF. GOOD PLAYER.

  • John
    23/05/2014

    Played at Newcastle teachers with nick in 1959.
    His gift was acceleration. Could be at full speed in two paces. He played in a school team. With Irvine. Reckon he was faster than Irvine as was bernie de Witt over 100 but de Witt was bigger and he,d catch them after 75 yars..shorter than that. They were too quick

  • David PAUL
    14/04/2017

    Nick Yakich was my teacher in 3rd grade 1960 at Harbord Primary and I have supported Manly ever since. Nice guy and a very fast winger. Google "Nick Yakich YouTube" to see him fly down the wing in a game vs Souths in 1962.

  • John d
    19/06/2017

    Played with nick at teachers college but also played against him at school when he and brother Fred also had that slow winger ken Irvine in the same team

  • john
    13/04/2018

    Played with Nick & Fred at Newcastle TC. One step and he was at top speed. Played against him at school also when he and Fred were in the same school team as Irvine.
    He was a very modest bloke and could also kick goals

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Contributions: Greg Fiveash, Rugby League Tables, Andrew Ferguson, Alan Katzmann, Shawn Dollin, Max Turner, Paul Carter, Bill Bates