Dick Poole

Playing Career

Vital Statistics

Full Name
Herbert Richard Poole
Nickname(s)
Dick
Born
Thursday, 27th November, 1930
Current Age
93 years and 123 days
Place Of Birth
Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia

Biography

Flying Earlwood centre came into Newtown's first grade in 1950 as an 18-year-old but was given time to mature by the club after a tough first grade initiation in his debut season. Poole represented his state in 1954 and was five-eighth for NSW against Great Britain in the infamous match that was abandoned by referee Aub Oxford because of constant fighting. A non-playing reserve in the Third Test against the Lions that year, Poole made his Test debut in controversial circumstances against France in 1955. As the players were preparing to take the field, selectors told him that he was to replace Darcy Henry, whom they suspected was carrying a back injury into the deciding Test. At club level, Newtown finished runners-up to Souths in consecutive grand finals in 1954-55, the latter year with Poole as captain-coach. Poole captained NSW against Queensland and NZ in 1956 before playing in the centres in the Trans Tasman series. He then toured with the Kangaroos and played in all six Tests in England and France. Poole's greatest moment came as captain-coach of Australia's World Cup victory in 1957. Under Poole’s leadership Australia was undefeated in the four-nation competition, held in Sydney and Brisbane to mark the 50th season of rugby league in this country, and was awarded the title without the playing of a final. But the following year an injury to his achilles tendon effectively ended his representative career. A player-coach with Newtown in 1955-58 he left the club to captain Wests in 1959-60. Poole was forced to retire as a player midway through the 1961 season due to recurring asthma. After a stint as coach of the University Club in the NSWRL Second Division competition (1963) he returned to coach the ‘Blue Bags’ from 1966-68.
- 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 146 59 -   - 177 90 50 6 61.64% List
NRL Finals 10 2 -   - 6 2 8 0 20.00% List
Country Carnival 6 3 -   - 9 5 1 0 83.33% List
Interstate Matches 10 7 -   - 21 8 2 0 80.00% List
Tour Matches Sydney Firsts 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List
Tour Matches New South Wales Firsts 5 1 -   - 3 4 1 0 80.00% List
Tour Matches Australia 21 9 -   - 27 16 5 0 76.19% List
Test Series 10 4 -   - 9 7 3 0 70.00% List
City vs Country Firsts 2 1 -   - 3 2 0 0 100.00% List
The Ashes 3 1 -   - 6 1 2 0 33.33% List
World Cup 3 1 -   - 3 3 0 0 100.00% List
City Cup 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List


International

Test Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1955-57 13 5 -   - 15 10 3 0 76.92% List

International Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1955-1957 1 1 -   - 3 1 0 0 100.00% List

World Cup Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1955-1957 3 1 -   - 3 3 0 0 100.00% List


Representative

Australia - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Sydney Firsts 1953-54, 1956 3 1 -   - 3 3 0 0 100.00% List
NSW City Seconds 1953-55 3 - -   - - 2 1 0 66.67% List
Possibles (AU) 1954 1 2 -   - 6 0 0 1 0.00% List
NSW Firsts 1954-57 15 8 -   - 24 12 3 0 80.00% List
NSW City Firsts 1956-57 2 1 -   - 3 2 0 0 100.00% List
Overall1953-1957 24 12 0   0 36 19 4 1 79.17% List


Club Career

NRL/NSWRL - By Year

Team Season App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Newtown NSWRFL 1950 12 2 -   - 6 5 6 1 41.67% List
Newtown NSWRFL 1951 4 1 -   - 3 1 3 0 25.00% List
Newtown NSWRFL 1952 11 5 -   - 15 4 7 0 36.36% List
Newtown NSWRFL 1953 16 7 -   - 21 8 7 1 50.00% List
Newtown NSWRFL 1954 19 6 -   - 18 15 2 2 78.95% List
Newtown NSWRFL 1955 19 16 -   - 48 15 3 1 78.95% List
Newtown NSWRFL 1956 14 6 -   - 18 9 5 0 64.29% List
Newtown NSWRFL 1957 15 6 -   - 18 9 6 0 60.00% List
Newtown NSWRFL 1958 5 2 -   - 6 3 2 0 60.00% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1959 13 5 -   - 15 9 3 1 69.23% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1960 18 3 -   - 9 12 6 0 66.67% List

NRL/NSWRL - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Newtown 1950-58 115 51 -   - 153 69 41 5 60.00% List
Western Suburbs 1959-60 31 8 -   - 24 21 9 1 67.74% List
Overall1950-1960 146 59 0   0 177 90 50 6 61.64% List

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