🐇 John O'Neill | Rabbitohs Coach #16
Full Name: John Bernard O’Neill
Nickname: Lurch
Born: 9/5/1943 at Griffith, NSW
Died: 9/8/1999 at Sydney, NSW [aged 56]
Club Playing Career: South Sydney 1965-71 and 1975-76 (premiers in 1967-68 and 1970-71); Manly 1972-74 (premiers in 1972-73)
Representative Playing Career: Northern Division 1964; Country Seconds 1964; City Seconds 1965, 1969 and 1974; City Firsts 1970-71; NSW 1967 and 1969-71 (seven games); Australia 1970 and 1972-75 (three World Cup games)
Club Coaching Career: South Sydney 1977
Awards and Accolades: Rabbitohs premiership winner 1967-68 and 1970-71; Manly-Warringah premiership winner 1972-73; Kangaroo Tour 1973; Rabbitohs Life Membership (Inductee No. 54) 1984; RLW Top 100 Players (Ranked No. 77) 1992; Rabbitohs Dream Team 2004 (as a prop); NRL Hall of Fame 2008 (Inductee No. 73); Manly Dream Team 2016 (as a prop)
Administrative Career: Rabbitohs Director 1983-90; Rabbitohs General Committee 1979-82; Rabbitohs Ways and Means Committee 1979-87
O’Neill came to Sydney in 1964 to trial with the great St. George side and played in some second-grade trials for the club and was even graded but never appeared in any premiership games for the club in any grade. They told him in the end to go back to the bush for a year and try again next year. He went back to Gunnedah and in the same year he was selected in Country Seconds for the annual City-Country fixture, then he represented Northern Division against the touring French side, with Northern winning by 17-13. He impressed state selectors who chose him to play for the NSW Colts against France, where three of his future teammates also played – Bob McCarthy, Ron Coote and Jim Morgan. The Colts proved too good for the touring French and won by 39-15. Souths officials were impressed with what they saw of him after the Colts game and offered him £100 for a one year deal, plus match payments. He accepted Souths’ offer and left the family home at Gunnedah to go and play in the big smoke in 1965.
He was joined at the Rabbitohs with new players in Jim Morgan and Bob Moses from Newcastle, and Ivan Jones from Brisbane. His aggressive style of play, charging runs and overall toughness earned him the nickname of ‘Lurch’ (a character from the TV series, The Addams Family). One newspaper report stated: “In his first match with the Rabbitohs he showed the granite toughness, the crashing runs and the punishing tackles that have made him one of Sydney rugby league’s most rugged props.” His captain at the Rabbitohs, John Sattler, once remarked: “If you are going to war, John O’Neill is the man you want beside you in the trenches.”
O’Neill went on to win four Grand Finals while at the Rabbitohs in 1967-68 and 1970-71 and was twice runner-up in 1965 and 1969. In the 1968 grand final O’Neill and Bobby Honan both had their noses broken in the first half. O’Neill was in a fearful mood at halftime in the dressing room threatening to get even with the Manly player who got him in a high tackle. O’Neill said: “He got me cold.” Souths officials and coach Clive Churchill took him aside and quietened him down. “We couldn’t afford to risk him being sent off,” said Club President, Denis Donoghue. After Souths won 13-9, O’Neill did his lap of the Sydney Cricket Ground with a Manly jersey draped around his neck and blood splattered all over his face as a badge of honour.
O’Neill punished the Manly forwards after Sattler had his jaw broken in the 1970 grand final and was selected in Australia’s World Cup squad on grand final night. Clive Churchill told pressmen that O’Neill had “Developed into a classic front row forward, was a good ball handler who played close to the ruck and knows how to niggle forwards and lead them into indiscretions. He’s a past master of the softening up process. Just watch the way he runs with the ball and how he hits a tackler. And keep an eye on him when he is making his tackle – you’ll see that it’s generally the tackled man who comes off the second best.”
Not that everything was beers and backslapping on grand final night. O’Neill and Michael Cleary fronted officials back at the Leagues Club when they learned that they had failed to check on John Sattler. Satts was in hospital having his jaw wired but the officials dined at an inner-city restaurant while the players feasted on ‘sandwiches and cold pies’ among thousands of fans. O’Neill later claimed he even ‘cuffed’ one or two officials that night when they tried to defend their actions.
As a result, Cleary was placed on an open transfer the following year. Souths’ officials stalled contract negotiation with O’Neill, who was about to achieve his highest honour with selection in Australia’s World Cup squad. After that Test match O’Neill returned to the Rabbitohs in the run to the 1971 grand final, with Souths always in control against St. George to win their 20th premiership.
When his contract came up for renewal at the end of the year Souths officials showed they had long memories. They delayed negotiations over Christmas as punishment for his standing up to them. When teammate Ray Branighan revealed to O’Neill that he was leaving the club to play for Manly in 1972, O’Neill made the decision to contact Manly Secretary Ken Arthurson to see what the Sea Eagles could offer him and decided he would play in maroon and white for the next three years.
In 1972, O’Neill missed the Test series against New Zealand but played in Manly’s maiden grand final success before travelling to France for the World Cup. The following year he made his seventh straight grand final appearance. This was his eighth in nine years – as Manly defended its premiership against a plucky Cronulla team. That ten-points-to-seven win over the Sharks has since gone down in history as one of the hardest grand finals on record. O’Neill said some years later: “The 1973 grand final was boots and all. Of all the grand finals I played in that’s the one people ask me about. It’s the game they all remember. And it’s not because of the quality of the football.”
“Lurch didn’t really feel comfortable at Manly,” John Sattler said later. “He would always come back after the game to drink with the Souths boys. He said he couldn’t get over the Manly fellas after training. They never got together to have a drink. They just went home. He changed that. Terry Randall told me once that ‘Lurch’ O’Neill taught Manly how to win the tough matches.”
Rabbitohs fans hoped that O’Neill’s return in 1975 would be the signal for a return to the Club’s halcyon days. After a promising start to the season, he joined George Piggins, Gary Stevens and Paul Sait in Australia’s World Series team. The season ended in disaster, with O’Neill injuring his shoulder and the team capturing the wooden spoon after Clive Churchill resigned as coach with five games remaining. O’Neill played in just eight matches for Souths in 1976, owing to being hampered with a tricky shoulder which kept popping out of its socket. Finally, he was forced to have an operation on the shoulder and then announced his retirement. One of the Rabbitohs favourite sons took his first grade tally to 201, 150 of those were with Souths.
He surprised many when he put his hand up for the vacant coaching position at Souths. With Bob McCarthy and Gary Stevens leaving the club for Canterbury, O’Neill only had Paul Sait and George Piggins for leadership at the club. George Piggins recalled: “Lurch took over the job but soon realised he didn’t have the time to devote to it. He had a very successful building business with Gary Stevens and quickly realised he couldn’t turn up at five o’clock in shorts to coach a bunch of footballers. He had to prepare, get the team ready for its next match. John thought, “What have I done?” He picked a job paying $1000 a year when his business was turning over millions.” Souths won only three games in 1977 to finish second last on the ladder, and O’Neill realised he had made a mistake so he went to see premiership-winning coach Jack Gibson about taking over the coaching reigns at the club for next season, which he accepted.
O’Neill was inducted as a Life Member of the South Sydney Football Club at the 78th Annual General Meeting held at the South Sydney Leagues Club in Redfern on 1 December 1985. In 1995, after being named in Australia's best Rugby League team since the limited tackle rule was introduced, then shortly after he was diagnosed with cancer. He fought a long brave battle, but sadly died in 1999, at the age of 56. It was estimated that over 4,000 people attended his funeral, showing the great respect everybody had for him. At a gala dinner which was held at the Westin Hotel in Sydney on 29 July 2004, O’Neill was selected as a prop forward in the South Sydney Dream Team. In 2016 he was also named as a prop in Manly’s 60th Anniversary Dream Team.
