John O'Neill

Playing Career

Vital Statistics

Nickname(s)
Lurch
Born
Sunday, 9th May, 1943
Died
Monday, 9th August, 1999 (Aged 56 years and 92 days)
Place Of Birth
Griffith, New South Wales, Australia

Awards & Accolades

National Rugby League Hall Of Fame
2008

Biography

Rugged Gunnedah prop played in nine grand finals for Souths and Manly between 1965 and 1973. A ferocious defender who fearlessly took on the opposition with barging runs close to the ruck, ‘Lurch’ O’Neill formed part of a champion Souths pack that included Coote, McCarthy, Stevens, Sattler and Walters. After losing the 1965 grand final to St George, Souths assumed the mantle of League champions in the ensuing years with O’Neill going on to win grand finals in 1967-68 & 1970-71 with the club. In the 1970 grand final he mercilessly punished the Manly forwards in an awesome display that earned him a place in Australia’s World Cup squad. After Souths’ win over St George in the 1971 grand final, he signed with Manly and played his part in the club’s maiden grand final victory. O’Neill went to France with the Australian World Cup team in 1972 and returned to win another premiership with the Sea Eagles the following year. The 1973 grand final between Manly and Cronulla was certainly no place for the feint-hearted and O’Neill was in his element in the brutal match. He made his Test debut against France on an injury-interrupted 1973 Kangaroo tour but got his chance against the Englishmen in the third and deciding Test in 1974. O’Neill returned to Souths in 1975, citing a lack of team harmony at Manly as his main reason, and despite a disastrous year with the Rabbitohs, proved his competitiveness with his selection in Australia’s World Cup team. O’Neill, who coached Souths in 1977, lost his toughest personal contest - his battle against cancer - in August 1999 just before his Rabbitohs were excluded from the NRL competition.
- 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 %  
Tour Matches Northern Division 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List
Tour Matches NSW Colts 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List
Craven Mild Cup 43 5 -   - 15 31 11 1 72.09% List
NRL 201 14 -   - 42 136 63 2 67.66% List
NRL Finals 19 1 -   - 3 15 4 0 78.95% List
Interstate Matches 6 - -   - - 6 0 0 100.00% List
City vs Country Firsts 2 - -   - - 2 0 0 100.00% List
Tour Matches New South Wales Firsts 1 - -   - - 0 0 1 0.00% List
World Cup 8 2 -   - 6 5 2 1 62.50% List
Tour Matches Australia 10 2 -   - 6 7 1 2 70.00% List
Test Series 2 - -   - - 2 0 0 100.00% List
The Ashes 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List


International

Test Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1970, 1972-75 10 2 -   - 6 7 2 1 70.00% List

World Cup Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1970, 1972, 1975 8 2 -   - 6 5 2 1 62.50% List


Representative

Australia - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Northern Division 1964 2 1 -   - 3 1 1 0 50.00% List
NSW Colts 1964 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List
NSW Country Seconds 1964 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List
NSW City Seconds 1965, 1969, 1974 3 - -   - - 2 1 0 66.67% List
NSW Firsts 1967, 1969-71 7 - -   - - 6 0 1 85.71% List
NSW City Firsts 1970-71 2 - -   - - 2 0 0 100.00% List
Overall1964-1974 16 1 0   0 3 12 3 1 75.00% List


Club Career

NRL/NSWRL - By Year

Team Season App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Souths NSWRFL 1965 21 3 -   - 9 13 8 0 61.90% List
Souths NSWRFL 1966 14 - -   - - 7 7 0 50.00% List
Souths NSWRFL 1967 20 2 -   - 6 15 5 0 75.00% List
Souths NSWRFL 1968 13 2 -   - 6 9 4 0 69.23% List
Souths NSWRFL 1969 23 1 -   - 3 18 5 0 78.26% List
Souths NSWRFL 1970 20 2 -   - 6 16 4 0 80.00% List
Souths NSWRFL 1971 16 1 -   - 3 14 2 0 87.50% List
Manly NSWRFL 1972 17 - -   - - 15 1 1 88.24% List
Manly NSWRFL 1973 15 1 -   - 3 11 3 1 73.33% List
Manly NSWRFL 1974 19 2 -   - 6 12 7 0 63.16% List
Souths NSWRFL 1975 15 - -   - - 4 11 0 26.67% List
Souths NSWRFL 1976 8 - -   - - 2 6 0 25.00% List

NRL/NSWRL - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Souths 1965-71, 1975-76 150 11 -   - 33 98 52 0 65.33% List
Manly 1972-74 51 3 -   - 9 38 11 2 74.51% List
Overall1965-1976 201 14 0   0 42 136 63 2 67.66% List

Your Say

  • Gary donaldson
    06/10/2022

    With 6 premierships lurch is certainly one of the greats of all time. With beetson and oreilly formed a talented front row trio. Lurch is in my all time best side and that says it all. RIP.

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