Forty-six years after he hung 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 in an emotional ceremony in Sydney.
Known during his decorated playing career as the “Prince of Locks”, Coote tasted success at every level, winning six premierships and playing in nine grand finals while winning three World Cups with Australia. The individual honours flowed as well. During his career he won a record four EE Christensen player of the year awards along with two Harry Sunderland medals, while he was named in the NSW and Australian teams of the century during the game’s centennial season.
Coote was also named in both the greatest South Sydney and Eastern Suburbs teams of all time – a remarkable achievement to be recognised by two foundation clubs as one of their finest servants. He was retrospectively named the Clive Churchill medal winner as the best player of the 1971 grand final.
A South Sydney junior born in Kingsford and the son of three-time Eastern Suburbs premiership winning prop Jack, Ron Coote may not have been destined for rugby league greatness but he was born into a game that he quickly grew to love. It is a game he thrived at and a game he still adores today.
Coote debuted at the age of 19 in 1964 during the halcyon days of the great St George team that won 11 straight premierships, but few at the time realised that the tall, raw-boned lock forward would help end that famous run and become be a central figure in the next two great dynasties.
During an incredible 11-year run from 1965 to 1975, Coote would play in nine grand finals, an achievement surpassed only by Norm Provan and Brian Clay, and equalled by Eddie Lumsden and Cooper Cronk.
Coote quickly marked himself as a player with immense potential, replicating fellow Immortal Johnny Raper’s scything covering defence, and matching it with a fierce running style. For a forward, he had electric speed and a motor that would never stop. He crossed for a try on debut and scored a 88 times during his 257-game premiership run, an often overlooked aspect of his game due to his defensive work. His 13 Test tries remain a record for Australian forwards in Tests.
Despite competing with Raper for the first six years of his career, Coote was quickly thrust into into the representative scene, starting for the NSW firsts in 1965 in just his second year in the top grade. He was named in the second row, where he would play much of his representative football.
It was a remarkable year for Coote, who played in the first of his nine grand finals. The Rabbitohs went down to the Dragons but better days lay ahead and it was two years later that would prove a defining year for the fabulous No 8. Coote was superb in helping end St George’s run of 11 straight titles and taking South Sydney back to premiership glory for the first time in 12 years. He also played the first of his 24 Tests in green and gold, starting a journey that saw the brilliant forward become one of Australia’s most successful international players, highlighted by winning World Cups in 1968, 1970 and 1975, skippering the 1970 outfit while scoring a try in all four games of the 1968 campaign.
Coote was at his pomp in 1968 when he was regarded as the best player in the world. He claimed 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 that kind of success that would mark the final decade of his career.
He was arguably the best South Sydney player of a supremely talented team that included Bob McCarthy, John Sattler and Eric Simms, among others. They played in five straight deciders, winning four of them. 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 match-turning performance.
He is beloved equally today by South Sydney and Eastern Suburbs fans – perhaps the only thing the two clubs can agree on – but created a furore when he left the Rabbitohs in 1972 for their rivals soon after court action allowed players to freely leave their clubs. While he later said he left for the money, he did not lose a step. Easts went to just their second grand final since the end of the second world war in his first season. Two years later they would end a 29-year title drought under Jack Gibson with Coote winning player of the year honours. The Tricolours would go back-to-back in 1975 while Coote won his fourth player of the year gong a year later in 1976.
Coote hung up the boots in 1978, a six-time premiership winner, a three-time World Cup champion, a World Cup winning captain and a four-time player of the year. To truly grasp his standing in the game though, the man regarded by many as the greatest, Jack Gibson, said of Coote that “I can’t think of any forward a coach or player would rather be out there with”.
