David Gillespie

One of the hardest tacklers in the game (as his nickname ‘Cement’ implied) Gillespie’s career was built on his ability to tighten defences in the middle and to hit the defensive line. Gillespie came from Narromine to play for C’bury in the early 1980s with his mobility and crunching style of attack well-suited to the five-metre defensive rule. In 1986 he was a reserve in NSW's State of Origin team and was being touted as a possible Kangaroo tourist when a work-related injury resulted in the loss of a finger and kept him out of both the C’bury grand final side and the tour. After playing for Hunslet in England in 1987-88 Gillespie was a stand-out performer in C’bury's 1988 grand final win and was chosen as reserve forward for the World Cup final in NZ. Gillespie made his Test debut against France in 1990 and played three more Tests on the Kangaroo Tour before joining former C’bury coach Warren Ryan at Wests in 1991. Gillespie's high work-rate and ability to make the hard yards saw him play in all three Tests against NZ (1991) and Great Britain (1992) before he took his place in the World Cup squad at year's end. In 1993 he played in two Tests against NZ but was part of the fallout regarding Warren Ryan’s sacking at Wests and signed with Manly in 1994. Gillespie was dropped after NSW's first State of Origin loss that year and although he could not break back into the Australian Test team, the Super League war ultimately prolonged his career at both club and international level. In 1995, despite missing out on a place in NSW’s beaten State of Origin team, Gillespie was called into the Test team for the Trans Tasman series and celebrated Australia’s 3-0 whitewash with a try in the 46-10 Third Test victory. Despite being a member of the disappointing Manly pack outplayed in the 1995 grand final Gillespie was named in Australia’s World Cup squad at the end of the year. Manly gave the veteran forward one last premiership success with a win in the 1996 grand final but it was obvious that Gillespie’s play was not as suited to the quick-paced, 10 metre rule and he retired following Manly’s loss to Newcastle in the 1997 grand final. In 2001 he linked with long-time friend Terry Lamb as skills coach with the W’Tigers. Later, he joined the Sydney Roosters under coach Ricky Stuart.