Harry Bath

The career achievements of the 'Old Fox' Harry Bath rate him as the finest forward never to have played for Australia but this label is far too narrow for a man who achieved so much in the game. The son of former Carltons player ‘Dixie’ Bath, Harry Bath graded as a 16-year-old with Brisbane Souths and went on to play for both Queensland and NSW before his 21st birthday. He came to Balmain in 1946 and was unlucky not to play against Great Britain that year. Bath was injured playing for NSW when Test selection looked a formality. He played in both of Balmain's grand final wins in 1946-47 but joined a growing exodus of Australian talent when he accepted an offer to play for Barrow in England. The burly forward shifted to Warrington within six months of arriving in England and during the next nine seasons played in over 500 games for the club. A highlight of this time was his captaining the club to victory in the replay of the 1954 Challenge Cup in front of a record crowd of 102,569 fans. Bath's reputation as a talented ball-player and brilliant goal-kicker grew in England. He landed over 700 goals in his career, including 173 in the 1952-53 season, but decided to return to Australia in 1957. Joining St George after Balmain had baulked at signing him because of his age, Bath kept his perfect Sydney premiership record intact with three consecutive grand final wins (1957-59). He was the season's leading point-scorer in 1957 with 225pts (3t, 108g), while his 16pts in the club’s grand final win over Manly has not been equalled. In 1958, Bath again topped the point-scoring list, setting a club record 225pts (3t, 108g) for the season. Bath was sent off in the 1959 grand final against Manly and after being overlooked for Kangaroo selection, retired at age 35 to pursue a coaching career. After joining the inaugural NSWRL Coaching Panel in 1961, he was made manager/coach (and sole selector) of Australia's 1962 Ashes teams. Bath’s greatest success as national coach came with victories in the 1968 and 1970 World Cups. He also took Australia on two tours of NZ (1969 & 1971) with mixed success and was also at the helm when Australia lost the 1972 World Cup in controversial circumstances. Bath coached Balmain to grand final appearances in 1964 and 1966 and was also manager-coach of Newtown (1969-72). He came out of retirement to take a young St George side, dubbed 'Bath's Babes', to premiership success in 1977 after an historic drawn grand final. He repeated the dose in 1979 before retiring in 1981 - his legacy being his reintroduction of bright, aggressive forward play into the Sydney premiership. In 2004 Bath was inducted into the ARL Hall of Fame.