George Peponis

The first C’bury junior to represent Australia – and captain his country - while still playing for the club George Peponis (born in Tripolis, Greece) was graded in 1973 after coming through the juniors from C’bury Boys High. In 1974 he was the hooker in the young team that lost to Easts in the grand final and, after passing his medical exams in 1976, gained celebrity as being a 'footballing doctor'. Peponis played for NSW in 1978 before making his Test debut against NZ in the First Test in Sydney and scoring a clever try from dummy half (a trademark of his game). Selected on the 1978 Kangaroo Tour he shared the hooking honours with Max Krilich and played in the deciding Third Test of the Ashes series and all three Tests in France. In 1979 Peponis succeeded Bob Fulton as Test captain and led Australia in the first 3-nil Test Ashes win over Great Britain. That year C’bury was beaten in the grand final by St George but in 1980 Peponis led the club to its first premiership in 38 years when the Bulldogs defeated Easts, 18-4. He also captained Australia in two successful Tests in NZ but a worrying neck injury led to his eventual retirement in July 1982. Twenty years later he was called back to the Bulldogs to take over as Chairman of the football club at a critical time in the club’s history. In 2004 he was the public face of the club as it battled allegations of player misconduct and he also had to oversee the sacking of former clubmates, football club manager Garry Hughes and Chief Executive Steve Mortimer.