Playing Career
Vital Statistics
- Full Name
- Anthony Ross Branson
- Born
- Thursday, 18th December, 1947
- Died
- Wednesday, 1st April, 2020 (Aged 72 years and 105 days)
- Place Of Birth
- Nowra, New South Wales, Australia
Biography
Nowra five-eighth represented NSW in 1967 before being chosen on the Kangaroo Tour at year’s end. A tough, robust pivot, Branson played in five Tests on tour and was snapped up by St George on his return. A member of Australia's 1968 World Cup squad, he was later selected to tour NZ in 1971. Branson appeared in the one-off Test loss against the Kiwis before playing in the Dragon's losing grand final side against Souths.
- ALAN WHITICKER
Additional Notes
Tony Branson's year of birth was originally listed as 1946, but according to a post by his son on Facebook in 2020, it was in fact 1947.
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 | Southern Division | 2 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50.00% | List | |||
| City vs Country Firsts | 3 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66.67% | List | ||||
| Interstate Matches | 7 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 57.14% | List | ||||
| Tour Matches | New South Wales Firsts | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
| Tour Matches | Australia | 7 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 42.86% | List | |||
| Test Series | 5 | 1 | - | - | - | 2 | 2 | 1 | 40.00% | List | ||||
| The Ashes | 2 | 1 | - | - | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
| Craven Mild Cup | 28 | 8 | - | - | 24 | 17 | 11 | 0 | 60.71% | List | ||||
| NRL | 101 | 23 | - | 5 | 76 | 64 | 34 | 3 | 63.37% | List | ||||
| World Cup | 2 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
| NRL Finals | 7 | - | - | - | - | 3 | 4 | 0 | 42.86% | List | ||||
| Tour Matches | Illawarra Firsts | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
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Test Matches - By Team | ||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
| Australia | 1967-68, 1971 | 8 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 50.00% | List | |||
World Cup Matches - By Team | ||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
| Australia | 1967-1968 | 2 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
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Australia - By Team | ||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
| Southern Division | 1966-67 | 2 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50.00% | List | |||
| NSW Country Seconds | 1966 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
| NSW Firsts | 1967-68, 1971 | 8 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 50.00% | List | |||
| NSW Country Firsts | 1967 | 2 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50.00% | List | |||
| NSW City Seconds | 1969 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
| NSW City Firsts | 1971 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
| Illawarra Firsts | 1974 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
| Overall | 1966-1974 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 50.00% | List | |||
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NRL/NSWRL - By Year | ||||||||||||||
| Team | Season | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
| St George | NSWRFL 1968 | 14 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 57.14% | List | |||
| St George | NSWRFL 1969 | 22 | 4 | - | 2 | 16 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 63.64% | List | |||
| St George | NSWRFL 1970 | 11 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 45.45% | List | |||
| St George | NSWRFL 1971 | 23 | 7 | - | - | 21 | 16 | 7 | 0 | 69.57% | List | |||
| St George | NSWRFL 1972 | 23 | 8 | - | 3 | 27 | 16 | 5 | 2 | 69.57% | List | |||
| St George | NSWRFL 1973 | 8 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 62.50% | List | |||
NRL/NSWRL - By Team | ||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
| St George | 1968-73 | 101 | 23 | - | 5 | 76 | 64 | 34 | 3 | 63.37% | List | |||
Contributions:
Andrew Ferguson, Greg Fiveash, Shawn Dollin, Paul Carter, Rugby League Tables, Max Turner, Alan Katzmann
Your Say
08/05/2012
The apprentice panel-beater from Nowra had a great season in 1967 edging Bobbie Fulton (a surprize omission) out of a place on that year's Kanagaroo tour, and earned himself a contract with St George.
After 1968 he found it hard to sustain that early
vigorous form.
22/09/2012
The Rugby League tradition carries on in his family with his niece married to Manoa Thompson, father of Jarryd Hayne.
22/10/2012
Incredibly gifted player ruined by Saint George's brat pack backline. Had the privilege of playing with him in a couple of union matches when he was on the wrong side of 40 almost when he looked like he was about twice his playing weight when he made some pretty good footballers look pretty bad; including a younger brother of the Ellas
21/03/2014
Like Barry Beath, Tony Branson was a great man on & off the field, they were great mates, so great that when they retired Tony move back to Nowra & bought a sports store, I know this as we too moved to Culburra Beach near Nowra, although not knowing they were there I walked into the sports store & the man behind the counter said hello snottynose grub. This was the nickname that Tony & Barry gave me when I was about 2. He had not seen me in about 10 years.
10/06/2014
I worked with Tony,as a panel beater,back then,great guy,a country boy,fame was confusing to him,and his play suffered.Was good friends with Barry Beath.
16/09/2014
Worked with tony for short time when he moved to sydney a top bloke and great wet wheather player
05/04/2020
Tony wasn’t just a good footballer but he was an absolute gentleman. May he R.I.P
07/04/2020
Tony was captain coach of Wollongong city team in 1977. We played at the old Steelers stadium and were known as the wolves and wore St George colours He gave me a start in grade football at age 18 after a trial match against Thirroul in the Illawarra Carlton league. I remember one game when he was laying on the turf injured and getting treatment from a trainer when an opposition player made a break . He got to his haunches and tackled the player, before being helped from the field. A courageous player
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