🐇 Bob McCarthy, MBE | Rabbitohs Coach #14
Full Name: Robert John McCarthy, MBE
Nickname: Macca, Big Mack, The Body
Born: 5/8/1944 at Surry Hills (Sydney), NSW
Club Playing Career: South Sydney 1963-75 and 1978 (premiers in 1967-68 and 1970-71); Canterbury 1976-77
Representative Playing Career: NSW Colts 1964; City Seconds 1964 and 1968; City Firsts 1969-73; NSW 1969-72 and 1974-75 (13 games, seven tries); Australia 1969-74 (13 Tests and World Cup games, 14 tour games, 12 tries)
Club Coaching Career: South Sydney 1975 and 1994; Souths Brisbane 1980-83 (premiers in 1981); Gold Coast 1988-90
Representative Coaching Career: Brisbane 1983-84 (midweek Cup winners in 1984)
Awards and Accolades: Rabbitohs premiership winner 1967-69 and 1970-71; Rabbitohs Life Membership (Inductee No.39) 1972; Kangaroo Tour 1973; Souths Brisbane BRL premiership winner (as a Coach) 1981; RLW Top 100 Players (Ranked No. 37); SCG Life Membership and SCG Trust Walk of Honour 2003; Bob McCarthy Award (for Rabbitohs Clubman of the Year) – named in his honour 2003; Rabbitohs Dream Team (as a Second Rower) 2004; NRL Team of the 1970s 2005; ARL Top 100 Greatest Players 2007; South Sydney Juniors Team of the Century (as a Second Rower) 2008; NRL Hall of Fame (Inductee No. 70) 2017; NSWRL Hall of Fame 2017
Administrative Career: NSWRL Vice-President 2007-08; NRL Judiciary; NSWRL Metropolitan Selection Committee 1995-2008; NSW Selection Committee (also Chairman) 2000-08; Australian Selection Committee (also Chairman) 2000-08
Bob McCarthy was without a doubt the most exciting ball-running forward of the new era of limited tackle introduced in the 1960s. To showcase his dominance under this new rule he scored only ten tries in 54 games during the 1963-66 seasons. But from 1967 to 1975 and including 1978 where he didn’t even score a try, his tally is 90 tries in 157 games. He also scored 19 tries for Canterbury in 40 games in 1976-77. He was a vital cog in the champion Souths teams that won premierships in 1967-68 and 1970-71, which we now refer to as our third ‘golden era’. He didn’t play in the 1968 First Grade grand final because he was coming back from injury and had to be content with a Reserve Grade premiership title instead. When he retired from playing he held a club record number of first grade games with 211, which stood for many decades.
The Rabbitohs junior partnered Ron Coote in Souths’ Jersey Flegg side in 1961, and the following year 'Macca' was part of the winning Presidents Cup side for Souths. The Rabbitohs graded him and in his first game in the top grade he scored a nice try against Canterbury in the 1963 pre-season competition. Souths then signed him up for four years, at £500 a year, which was a lot of money back then for a teenager. He made his first grade debut in the first round of 1963, with six other debutants, including John Sattler who came from Kurri Kurri. The club was in a massive rebuild and still needed more reinforcements so they could challenge the better sides for premiership honours. He married Judy Inman in 1963, she was the daughter of George Inman Snr, who also played for Souths in the early 1940s. His son, George Inman Jnr was another Rabbitoh from the early 1970s. Judy’s uncle Wally ‘Bubsy’ Floyd also donned the red and green during the 1970s. With genes like theirs it’s no wonder their two sons were also prominent first grade players in their own right. Their eldest son, Darren McCarthy, played for Souths in 1983-86 and 1990-91, and Canterbury in 1987-89, while the younger son, Troy McCarthy, played for Gold Coast in 1988-93.
The introduction of the four-tackle rule in 1967 allowed McCarthy to become one of the most devasting second-rowers the code has ever produced. ‘The Little Master’ proved to be a great coach and the young Rabbitohs side started off their third golden era by winning the 1967 premiership, with McCarthy’s intercept try being the highlight. In 1968 he was troubled with injuries and spent some time on the sidelines and five games in Reserve Grade, including the grand final where Souths defeated Manly by 17-7. The following season was the big breakthrough for him and selectors finally started to pick him in all the representative sides. He made his debut for City Firsts in the annual City-Country fixture in May, scoring a try, and five days later made his state debut in the annual interstate clash with Queensland, which the Blues won by 26-0. Late in May he was with the Australian side on their tour of New Zealand, playing in both Tests against the Kiwis and two tour games. Unfortunately, the Rabbitohs lost the grand final to Balmain in 1969 by 11-2, and the League was forced to change the rules after the Tigers feigned injury whenever Souths looked likely to build any rhythm, and stopping their flow of play.
The Rabbitohs regained their brilliance to win the 1970 grand final, which was made famous by John Sattler’s broken jaw and featured a record six field goals. The Rabbitohs were starting to lose players to other clubs, but they still managed to beat St. George in the 1971 grand final, which had an unlikely half-time score of one-nil, courtesy of a field goal by Souths fullback, Eric Simms. The League had reduced the value of a field goal in 1971 from two points to one. Souths were just hanging onto an 11-10 lead late in the game until Coote set up McCarthy to score the winning try in the 78th minute and clinch the title. McCarthy also had the honour of scoring the last South Sydney try in a grand final in 1971 and we had to wait another 43 years for that record to be broken.
McCarthy took over as coach of the Rabbitohs in the disastrous 1975 season. Clive Churchill was forced to resign as coach after round 17, with McCarthy taking over as captain-coach for the remaining five rounds. Despite the club finishing in last place that season, they still managed to have four Australian players in 1975, with John O’Neill, Gary Stevens, Paul Sait and George Piggins, who made his international debut during the World Cup at the end of the year. He left the club at the end of the year and played with Canterbury for two seasons. He returned to Souths in 1978 after being persuaded by super coach Jack Gibson and Don Lane. The following year McCarthy played in two trials for Easts but after not securing a deal owing to the import rule at the time, he decided to retire from the game after playing 16 seasons in the top grade. McCarthy then coached Souths Brisbane for four seasons in the BRL premiership. They won the premiership in 1981. He was also Gold Coast's initial coach in 1988-90 but his return to Souths at the start of the 1994 season proved to be short-lived. Souths won the pre-season Tooheys Challenge Cup that year when they defeated the highly fancied Brisbane Broncos by 27-26. However, when the premiership started his position as sole coach had changed and Ken Shine joined him as a coach. McCarthy quit after four premiership rounds.
He was inducted as a Life Member of the Rabbitohs in 1972 and was awarded an MBE for his services to Rugby League in 1977. In 2004, he was selected in Souths’ Dream Team, as a second rower. He also held positions on the NRL Judiciary, and was Chairman of the NSW and Australian Selection Panels. Bob’s older brother Bill McCarthy also played for Souths and Newtown during the 1960s, and younger brother Rick McCarthy played lower grades with Easts.
