1983 Skinner Cup Winners

1983 was so long ago now but theres stuff that you never forget.

Gary Austin (Waka) was our Captain for good reason. Always led from the front. Early on in the 1st round, Waka was targeted by a player and was badly injured. His season was over, but every Tuesday and Thursday practice he was always there. I have huge respect for him for that. That was the thing about this team. Everyone fronted up. Injured players still came to practice. We lost a couple in the 1st round but we started getting tighter and tighter in the team.

Basically lived together. Tuesday Thursday practice, Friday night, couple quiets at the sponsors, Game day Saturday. Every Saturday night we always went to someones house. Never the pub, always! The key to our team was come Sunday, 95% of the team always turned up. Game of touch for 45 mins, then upstairs to spend the day with your mates and family that came down during the day.

There was this one game that stands out for me. In the 1st round we were beaten by this team. One of their players got an intercept try. He dotted down, then looked at us and gave us the finger. Downside for that team was it was on video. Ray Ramsay our head coach sat us down and made us watch it over and over, an hour before we replayed this team. We walked up to the park, in total silence, each of us angry about what we were made to watch and proceeded to dismantle them. I remember thanking that player afterwards. That's when I knew we had something special here. I suppose you might call it a brotherhood. Everybody played for everybody.

I guess its fair to say, we had wheels on the outside. John Hunt, our 1/2 back, Beadyeyes Gloag, Trev Mitchell, Billy Seyb all had speed to burn. The forwards., well I never tried to understand their logic but they all seemed to be experts at back play. Those were the days when Hendy was young and had hair! Winning the final was for Waka. Looking back, winning the Cup was great, but even if we had lost, in that time I had a team of brothers. We still get together and reminisce.

Pete Tutton