Playing Career
Vital Statistics
- Full Name
- Thomas Matthew Bourke
- Born
- Thursday, 4th April, 1918
- Died
- Saturday, 29th December, 2001 (Aged 83 years and 269 days)
- Place Of Birth
- Woy Woy, New South Wales, Australia
Biography
One of the great club captains progressed through Balmain's junior ranks before being graded in 1938. Bourke formed an effective centre partnership with Frank Hyde and scored two tries in the 33-4 thrashing of Souths in the 1939 final. The advent of World War II limited his representative career to just one match for NSW but there is no doubt Bourke would have been a Test player in his prime had conditions allowed. He played in Balmain's 1944 grand final win over Newtown and the loss to Easts the following year before captaining the Tigers to premierships in 1946-47. Bourke kicked two goals in the narrow 13-12 win over St George in 1946 and the following year, successfully moved to lock in the club's win over C’bury. In his last match for the club, his try and goal could not stave off an 8-5 defeat against Wests in the 1948 decider. In 1949 he took on a position as captain-coach of Griffith. After his retirement, Bourke retained his association with the club as both coach and selector. He passed away in 2001, aged 83.
- 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 | 147 | 47 | 76 | - | 293 | 98 | 40 | 9 | 66.67% | List | ||||
NRL Finals | 19 | 4 | 14 | - | 40 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 73.68% | List | ||||
City Cup | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | ||||
City vs Country Firsts | 3 | - | 5 | - | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
Interstate Matches | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
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Australia - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Sydney Seconds | 1941 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
NSW City Firsts | 1943-45 | 3 | - | 5 | - | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
Metropolis | 1944 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
Rest of NSW Firsts | 1944 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
NSW Firsts | 1945 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
Overall | 1941-1945 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
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NRL/NSWRL - By Year | ||||||||||||||
Team | Season | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Balmain | NSWRFL 1939 | 7 | 7 | 2 | - | 25 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 85.71% | List | |||
Balmain | NSWRFL 1940 | 14 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 50.00% | List | |||
Balmain | NSWRFL 1941 | 10 | 5 | 16 | - | 47 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 70.00% | List | |||
Balmain | NSWRFL 1942 | 13 | 2 | 12 | - | 30 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 69.23% | List | |||
Balmain | NSWRFL 1943 | 13 | 6 | 11 | - | 40 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 61.54% | List | |||
Balmain | NSWRFL 1944 | 17 | 10 | - | - | 30 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 76.47% | List | |||
Balmain | NSWRFL 1945 | 16 | 6 | - | - | 18 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 50.00% | List | |||
Balmain | NSWRFL 1946 | 16 | 1 | 11 | - | 25 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 75.00% | List | |||
Balmain | NSWRFL 1947 | 21 | 7 | 8 | - | 37 | 15 | 6 | 0 | 71.43% | List | |||
Balmain | NSWRFL 1948 | 20 | 2 | 16 | - | 38 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 65.00% | List | |||
NRL/NSWRL - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Balmain | 1939-48 | 147 | 47 | 76 | - | 293 | 98 | 40 | 9 | 66.67% | List |
Contributions:
Rugby League Tables, Greg Fiveash, Andrew Ferguson, Alan Katzmann, Shawn Dollin, Paul Carter
Sources:
2006 Official Rugby League Annual
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