Ray 'Mr Perpetual Motion' Price

Tough, courageous lock, Parramatta's 'Mr Perpetual Motion' represented Australia in both rugby codes. Ray Price switched to League in 1976 after representing the Wallabies in 8 Tests whilst playing for the P’matta RU club. It was first thought that he would take time to adjust to rugby league but nothing could have been further from the truth. Price was an immediate success that year as a second row forward before moving to lock and scored more tries than any other forward in the competition. He was tireless in defeat in the Eels' losing grand final teams in 1976-77 (he was knocked out three times in the historic replay against St George in 1977). In the 1978 major semi-final replay against Manly Price was controversially sent from the field and later exonerated by the judiciary. He made his Test debut against NZ in 1978 before touring with the Kangaroos. Price played in all five Tests on tour and, following three Test matches against Great Britain in 1979, won both the Harry Sunderland Medal and Rothmans Medal. Price was a champion competitor who always gave his all, whether at club, state or Test level. During his career he took the peculiar stance of watching the uprights when an opposing player took a shot at goal. (In his first RU Test against NZ in 1974, he scored a try off a failed penalty goal by Paul McLean and was always wary of others doing the same). P’matta won three consecutive premierships in 1981-83 and Price added steel and resolve to the club's lightweight forward pack. In 1982 he made the second of his Kangaroo Tours and by the time he stood down from Test football in 1984 he had played in 22 Tests over a six year period. The first player to be awarded the Order of Australia while still playing the game Price took over as P’matta captain in 1985 and set his sights on leading the club to the premiership before he retired. In a storybook ending to his career he did just that in 1986 but the reality of the 4-2 grand final win over C’bury is one of Price putting his body on the line for his club and driving himself to the point of exhaustion. He was named 'Dally M' Lock of the Year for five consecutive years (1982-86) and retired with a club record number of first grade games to his credit. Always a man who said what he thought Price took on a broadcasting role with Radio 2UE but three years later, at age 36, played one final season with Wakefield Trinity in England. In 1993 Price was admitted to the Australian Sporting Hall of Fame and won a place on the P’matta Club Board with the aim of seeing the club reverse its downward slide. His criticism of the club's efforts in the 1990s was poorly executed and, in 1994, he was forced to stand down from the P’matta Board after a failed business venture. In 2001 Price was duly named in the Eels’ team of the century but five years later, took on his toughest opponent – cancer.