Playing Career
Summary
Vital Statistics
- Born
- Thursday, 18th January, 1940
- Died
- Tuesday, 28th May, 2019 (Aged 79 years and 130 days)
- Place Of Birth
- Innisfail, Queensland, Australia
Known Family Links
- Brother
- Fred Yakich
Biography
Flying Manly winger scored tries in each of his three appearances for NSW in 1965 which catapulted him into the squad for the Australian Tour of NZ. Born in Innisfail Queensland (the son of a Croatian immigrant who stowed away on a ship bound for Perth in the 1920s) Yakich moved to Mosman in the late 1940s and attended school at Marist Brothers with budding sprint star Ken Irvine. After attending Newcastle Teachers College with his brother Fred, Nick Yakich was posted to Harbord Primary School. Trialling with Manly at the instigation of Frank Stanton, a cricket team-mate, he was graded as a winger in 1960. Nick Yakich came under the guidance of former beach sprint champion Johnny Bliss, an assistant coach at the club, and went on to win 5 Australian Sprint Championships with the North Narrabeen Surf Club. In 1965 he was chosen for Australian on the tour of NZ and although he did not play in a Test (Ken Irvine and Mike Cleary were the Test wingers), Yakich was the leading try-scorer on tour with six tries in minor matches. Major knee surgery after suffering an injury in a match against Souths ended his Sydney career the following year and he retired from the game when he suffered a shoulder injury as captain-coach of Werris Creek in 1967.
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 | 73 | 52 | - | - | 156 | 29 | 42 | 2 | 39.73% | List | ||||
| Tour Matches | NSW Colts | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
| Interstate Matches | 3 | 4 | - | - | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
| Tour Matches | Australia | 4 | 6 | - | - | 18 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
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Australia - By Team | ||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
| Sydney Colts | 1964 | 1 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
| NSW Colts | 1964 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
| NSW City Seconds | 1965 | 1 | 3 | - | - | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
| NSW Firsts | 1965 | 3 | 4 | - | - | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
| Overall | 1964-1965 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
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NRL/NSWRL - By Year | ||||||||||||||
| Team | Season | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
| Manly | NSWRFL 1960 | 3 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 2 | 0 | 33.33% | List | |||
| Manly | NSWRFL 1961 | 8 | 3 | - | - | 9 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 62.50% | List | |||
| Manly | NSWRFL 1962 | 11 | 5 | - | - | 15 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 36.36% | List | |||
| Manly | NSWRFL 1963 | 17 | 14 | - | - | 42 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 41.18% | List | |||
| Manly | NSWRFL 1964 | 16 | 16 | - | - | 48 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 31.25% | List | |||
| Manly | NSWRFL 1965 | 15 | 12 | - | - | 36 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 40.00% | List | |||
| Manly | NSWRFL 1966 | 3 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 33.33% | List | |||
| Overall | 1960-1966 | 73 | 52 | 0 | 0 | 156 | 29 | 42 | 2 | 39.73% | List | |||
NRL/NSWRL - By Team | ||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
| Manly | 1960-66 | 73 | 52 | - | - | 156 | 29 | 42 | 2 | 39.73% | List | |||
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Your Say
Steve says: Nick Yakich played 74 games for Manly. He also represented New South Wales on three occasions in 1965 scoring a try on each occasion, he was also called up to the Australian squad to tour New Zealand but was never selected for a match. (28/10/2009)
ROY HORRIGAN says: VERY UNDER RATED WINGER, VERY QUICK. THOSE WERE THE DAYS OF IRVINE & CLEARY SO HE DID NOT GET MUCH OF A RUN IN THE REP GAMES.HOWEVER ALWAYS WENT WELL WHEN HE DID. SEEN HIM PLAY A FEW TIMES OUT AT THE OLD SPORTS GROUND ,USED TO GET QUITE A FEW WOLF WHISTLES FROM THE GIRLS FOR HIS SHORTS WHICH WERE PRETTY BRIEF. GOOD PLAYER. (18/10/2013)
John says: Played at Newcastle teachers with nick in 1959.
His gift was acceleration. Could be at full speed in two paces. He played in a school team. With Irvine. Reckon he was faster than Irvine as was bernie de Witt over 100 but de Witt was bigger and he,d catch them after 75 yars..shorter than that. They were too quick (23/05/2014)
David PAUL says: Nick Yakich was my teacher in 3rd grade 1960 at Harbord Primary and I have supported Manly ever since. Nice guy and a very fast winger. Google "Nick Yakich YouTube" to see him fly down the wing in a game vs Souths in 1962. (14/04/2017)
John d says: Played with nick at teachers college but also played against him at school when he and brother Fred also had that slow winger ken Irvine in the same team (19/06/2017)
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