Graham Eadie

Graham "Wombat" Eadie (born 25 November 1953 in Lidcombe, New South Wales), is an Australian former rugby league footballer of the 1970s and 80s who has been named amongst the nation's finest of the 20th century. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australian international representative fullback, he played in Australia during Manly-Warringah's dominance of the NSWRFL competition during the 1970s. He won four premierships with them and his 1,917 points in first grade and 2,070 points in all grades were both records at the time of his retirement. Eadie also played in England for Halifax, winning the Challenge Cup final of 1987 with them. He also won World Cups with Australia and collected awards such as the Rothmans Medal and Lance Todd Trophy.

Playing career

Eadie was graded by Manly-Warringah in 1971 and showed immediate promise in the lower grades that season. The following year with the retirement of long serving Manly fullback Bob Batty, he established himself as the team's first grade fullback and his powerful running style was already a serious danger to all Manly's opponents. Though not excessively tall at just under 180 cm (5'10"), Eadie's solid build of around 95 kg (15 stone) gave him abundant pace and so much strength that once he was on the move, few opposing defenders were ever able to stop him when he ran into the backline. At the same time, Eadie was an accurate line kicker and extremely safe under the high ball in an era when the "bomb" was coming into prominence.