Ron Coote finally recognised as rugby league immortal

Rugby league great Ron Coote has been inducted into the ranks of an immortal following a ceremony in Sydney.Photography: PROVIDED/IMAGE PR

Forty-six years after hanging up his boots, South Sydney and Eastern Suburbs champion Ron Coote has been elevated to the highest echelon of rugby league greatness after being named the 14th Immortal at an emotional ceremony in Sydney.

Known during his illustrious playing career as the ‘Prince of Locks’, Coote enjoyed success at every level, winning six championships and appearing in nine grand finals while also winning three World Cups with Australia. Individual honours also poured in. During his career he won a record four EE Christensen Player of the Year awards as well as two Harry Sunderland Medals, while he was named in both the New South Wales and Australia Teams of the Century in the game’s centenary season.

Related: Ron Coote named 14th Rugby League Immortal, ending 43-year wait

Coote was also named in both South Sydney and Eastern Suburbs’ best teams of all time – a remarkable feat that was recognised by two founding clubs as one of their finest servants. He was retrospectively named the Clive Churchill Medallist as the best player in the 1971 Grand Final.

Ron Coote, a South Sydney junior born in Kingsford and son of three-time Eastern Suburbs rugby league champion Jack, may not have been destined for rugby league greatness but he was born into a game he quickly grew to love. It’s a game he thrived in and still loves today.

Coote made his debut as a 19-year-old in 1964 during the halcyon days of the great St George team that won 11 consecutive championships, but few at the time realised that the big, raw-boned forward would help end that famous run and become a central figure in the next two great dynasties.

During an incredible 11-year run from 1965 to 1975, Coote appeared in nine grand finals, a feat surpassed only by Norm Provan and Brian Clay, and matched by Eddie Lumsden and Cooper Cronk.

Coote quickly established himself as a player with immense potential, replicating the cover defence of fellow Immortal Johnny Raper, and combining it with a ferocious running style. For a forward, he had electric speed and a motor that would never stop. He scored a try on his debut and went on to score 88 times in his 257 Premiership games, an often overlooked aspect of his game due to his defensive work. His 13 Test tries remain a record for Australian Test forwards.

Although he was in competition with Raper for the first six years of his career, Coote was quickly propelled onto the representative scene, starting for the NSW first teams in 1965, in only his second year in the top grade. He was named in the second row, where he played much of his representative football.

It was a remarkable year for Coote, who played in the first of his nine grand finals. The Rabbitohs lost to the Dragons but better days lay ahead and it was two years later that the year proved to be a defining one for the fabulous number 8. Coote was superb in helping end St George’s run of 11 consecutive titles and returning South Sydney to championship glory for the first time in 12 years. He also played the first of his 24 Tests in green and gold, beginning a journey that saw the brilliant forward become one of Australia’s most successful international players, including World Cup victories in 1968, 1970 and 1975, captaining the 1970 side while scoring a try in all four games of the 1968 campaign.

Coote was at his peak in 1968, when he was considered the best player in the world. He won the first of his four EE Christensen Player of the Year awards, led Souths to back-to-back titles and tasted World Cup glory. It was this kind of success that would mark the final decade of his career.

He was arguably South Sydney’s best player in a hugely talented team that included Bob McCarthy, John Sattler and Eric Simms among others. They played five consecutive deciding games, winning four. His final game in the Cardinal and Myrtle was perhaps his best, scoring a try in Souths’ 16-10 win over St George in a decisive performance.

He is now as beloved by South Sydney fans as he is by the Eastern Suburbs – perhaps the only thing both clubs can agree on – but he caused furore when he left the Rabbitohs in 1972 for their rivals shortly after a court case allowed players to leave their clubs freely. Although he later claimed he left for the money, he didn’t waste a second. Easts reached only their second grand final since the end of World War II in his debut season. Two years later, they ended a 29-year title drought under Jack Gibson, with Coote winning player of the year honours. The Tricolours won their second successive title in 1975 while Coote won his fourth player of the year award a year later in 1976.

Coote hung up his boots in 1978, a six-time world champion, three-time world champion, World Cup-winning captain and four-time player of the year. To truly understand his place in the game, the man considered by many to be the greatest, Jack Gibson, said of Coote: “I can’t think of any forward that any coach or player would rather play with.”