🐇 Ron Willey | Rabbitohs Coach #19

Full Name: Ronald William Willey
Born: 8/1/1928 at Canterbury (Sydney), NSW
Died: 24/9/2004 at Erina (Central Coast), NSW [aged 76]
Club Playing Career: Canterbury 1948-53; Brothers Rockhampton 1955; Manly 1956-62; Parramatta 1963-64
Representative Playing Career: Possibles 1950-52; Probables 1950; City Seconds 1950-52 and 1957; NSW XIII/Colts 1951; City 1952; Australia 1952-53 (17 tour games); City Firsts 1956; NSW 1956 (three games)
Club Coaching Career: Canterbury 1951; Brothers Rockhampton 1955; Manly 1962 and 1966-74 (Reserves in 1966-69/premiers in 1969 Reserves and 1972-73 Firsts); Balmain 1977-79; North Sydney 1980-82; South Sydney 1983-85; Penrith 1988-89; Bradford Northern 1989-90
Representative Coaching Career: City Firsts 1986; NSW 1986-87; City Origin 1987

Willey was a Canterbury junior who also played in Canterbury's Presidents Cup side in 1947, kicking two goals in their opening round loss against Newtown. The Berries graded him the following year and he quickly progressed through the lower grades to establish himself as the club’s fullback and make his first grade debut in the same year against Newtown, in round seven.

In 1951, the Berries coach Vic Bulgin retired from his role at the club after round five, and Willey took over as interim captain-coach for two rounds, before the club appointed the former Rabbitoh, Albert Carr-Why, as their official coach. The talented fullback at the time was the youngest ever club captain and coach at Canterbury. In the same year, Willey also played for a NSW XIII/Colts side against France and was chosen as understudy to Clive Churchill on the 1952-53 Kangaroo Tour. He did not play in any Tests on tour (17 tour games, scoring five tries, 63 goals, 141 points), but playing during Clive Churchill’s era would often thwart his selection for NSW and more importantly, Australia.

He suffered a terrible knee injury in 1953 that should have ended his career, but he recovered after a year's convalescence to captain-coach Brothers Rockhampton in 1955. Willey represented Queensland that year before becoming a prolific scorer at Manly. He captained the club on and off during 1957-60, playing in the club's grand final losses in 1957 and 1959 and was captain-coach in 1962. By the time he left Manly at the end of 1962 season, he was the record point scorer at the club until Graeme Eadie eclipsed his records in the 1970s.

Willey moved to Parramatta in 1963 and played in the club’s big 39-18 victory over the touring South Africans in the same year, where he kicked two goals. But after playing in only a handful of matches for the Parramatta Fruit Pickers in two years he decided to hang up his boots and retire. Ron then went on to have both a successful and controversial coaching career.

After his retirement he started coaching at Manly with their Reserve Grade side between 1966-69, losing the grand final 17-7 to Souths in 1968, and winning ten-points-to-six against Balmain in 1969. He took over the first grade side at the Sea Eagles from George Hunter in 1970, taking them to the semis every year and also winning the club's first ever premierships in 1972-73. Willey then coached Balmain in 1977-79, where he took the Tigers to a semi-final in his first season and later was criticized for his strong-arm tactics at the club.

In 1980-82 he coached North Sydney, taking them to a semi-final in his last season at the Bears. In 1982 he also released a coaching book titled, Avco’s Clues on Coaching.

Ron then signed a three-year contract to coach the Rabbitohs in 1983-85. Willey, being the old-style coach, knew he didn’t have a flashy side at Souths, so he had to come out with different ways to unsettle their opponents. He saw that his forward Dean Rampling had the knack of knowing when the biff can take place during the game and it was decided that Rampling would call out ‘Henry’ during games, which initiated a brawl and unsettled most sides by changing the flow of games. The call was chosen to honour their trainer at the time, Lionel ‘Henry’ Potter, who was a rather quiet and unassuming type with a very strong spirit and never-say-die attitude. Rampling always called the stink when the opposition were least expecting it and made sure it was done mostly around the middle of the field, just in case they got penalised to prevent their opponents kicking a goal from there. He also advised that once he called ‘Henry’ every player on his team had to pick out an opponent to fight at the same time so that the referee and touch judges could not see where it all started.

One match stands out where this tactic was used with great success and that was the 1984 semi-final against Manly at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Souths finished fifth on 30 points in the regular season and were thrown a mid-week play-off with Canberra to decide who would advance to the semi finals. The Rabbitohs easily defeated the Raiders by 23-4 on Tuesday night and then faced Manly on Saturday. The Sea Eagles were playing all over Souths and after scoring two converted tries and a penalty goal, they were comfortably leading 14-0. The turning point came from a scuffle that served to put Manly off their game and when half-time was called the scores were locked at 14-all. Souths’ tough tactics worked so well from there and they went on to win by 22-18. The late John ‘Lurch’ O’Neill, one of Souths’ toughest players, later noted that this was the best comeback match he had ever seen in his life.

In 1986, Ron coached City Firsts to victory and the NSW Origin side to their first ever three-nil Origin whitewash over Queensland. The following season he successfully coached City Origin and the NSW Blues, who won the Origin series two-one. He signed on as coach of Penrith in 1988, but parted company with the Panthers after several controversial team selections in the 1989 semi-finals. His last stint as a coach was with English club Bradford Northern in 1989-90, which also resulted in his sacking.

Ron died on the Central Coast in 2004, aged 76, after a long illness. His grandson, Anthony Don, who was also a fullback or winger played over 150 NRL games for the Gold Coast Titans from 2013 to 2021.