Don Parish

Playing Career

Vital Statistics

Full Name
Don William Parish
Born
Sunday, 31st October, 1937
Current Age
86 years and 150 days

Biography

Dubbo fullback first came to the Wests Club in 1957 where he began his career with district club Wentworthville before playing several lower grade games with the Magpies. Returning to Dubbo Parish represented Country and NSW in 1959 before being a non-playing reserve in the Test series against NZ. An excellent goal-kicker Parish toured with the 1959-60 Kangaroos and played in 12 matches (no Tests) and scored 55pts (7t, 17g). Returning to Wests he played in the 1961 and 1963 grand final losses to St George but failed to land a goal in either match. Parish made his Test debut on the 1961 NZ tour and was the leading point-scorer with 58pts (4t, 23g). In the 12-10 First Test loss in Auckland he had the distinction of becoming the first Australian fullback to score a try in a Test match. In 1962 he played in Australia's First Test loss to Great Britain, which was his last international match. After a long career Parish left the Magpies and captain-coached Wollongong Wests during 1968-70 (premiers in 1969) before returning to the Magpies as coach from 1972-76. His time with Wests can be viewed as a success (finalists in 1974 with Parish named 'Coach of the Year') but his two years with Penrith (1977-78) were unfulfilling.
- 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 %  
City vs Country Firsts 4 - 6   - 12 0 4 0 0.00% List
Tour Matches Western Division 2 - 7   - 14 1 0 1 50.00% List
Tour Matches NSW Colts 1 - 4   - 8 0 1 0 0.00% List
Interstate Matches 5 3 8   - 25 1 4 0 20.00% List
Tour Matches New South Wales Firsts 2 3 9   - 27 0 2 0 0.00% List
NRL 65 17 179   5 419 41 22 2 63.08% List
Tour Matches Australia 8 4 26   - 64 6 2 0 75.00% List
Test Series 3 1 7   - 11 1 2 0 33.33% List
NRL Finals 7 2 8   - 22 4 3 0 57.14% List
Craven Mild Cup 21 6 43   1 106 12 6 3 57.14% List
Tour Matches Sydney Firsts 1 - 2   - 4 0 1 0 0.00% List
The Ashes 1 - 3   - 12 0 1 0 0.00% List


International

Test Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1961-62 3 1 7   - 17 1 2 0 33.33% List

International Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1961 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List


Representative

Australia - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Western Division 1958, 1960 2 - 11   - 22 1 0 1 50.00% List
NSW Colts 1958 1 - 4   - 8 0 1 0 0.00% List
Riverina/Western 1958 1 - 5   - 10 0 1 0 0.00% List
NSW Country Firsts 1958-60 5 1 12   - 27 0 5 0 0.00% List
NSW Firsts 1959, 1961-62 7 6 17   - 52 1 6 0 14.29% List
NSW City Seconds 1961 1 - 1   - 2 0 0 1 0.00% List
Sydney Firsts 1962 1 - 2   - 4 0 1 0 0.00% List
NSW City Firsts 1962 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List
Overall1958-1962 19 7 52   0 125 2 15 2 10.53% List


Club Career

NRL/NSWRL - By Year

Team Season App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1961 12 4 35   - 82 9 3 0 75.00% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1962 17 9 48   - 123 12 4 1 70.59% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1963 16 2 41   - 88 11 5 0 68.75% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1964 1 - 2   - 4 0 1 0 0.00% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1965 2 - 4   - 8 0 2 0 0.00% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1966 3 - 5   - 10 2 1 0 66.67% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1967 14 2 44   5 104 7 6 1 50.00% List

NRL/NSWRL - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Western Suburbs 1961-67 65 17 179   5 419 41 22 2 63.08% List

Your Say

  • neil
    07/08/2011

    A very exciting fullback in an era of great fullbacks. Injury plagued but a really classy player

  • Peter Smith
    14/10/2021

    When he ran with the ball in hand he was magic and exciting to watch.

  • Anonymous
    15/11/2021

    Don was a technician-in-training in Sydney when he first played with Wests. He was a fully fledged PMG technician in Dubbo when he first burst into representative football with Country, NSW and Australia.

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Contributions: Greg Fiveash, Paul Carter, Andrew Ferguson, Shawn Dollin, Rugby League Tables, AJ Lucantonio, Alan Katzmann, Max Turner, Bill Bates