Belcher’s bruising welcome to Sydney first grade

Queensland boy Gary Belcher will never forget his introduction to Sydney rugby league. Growing up, he knew nothing about how they did things footy-wise in the harbour city. He did, however, receive a very quick education upon arrival into the NSWRL.

After playing 148 games for his beloved Canberra Raiders between 1986 and 1993, as well as 16 State of Origins for the Maroons and 15 games for Australia, Belcher became a rugby league television commentator, giving him more than enough time to get his head around the comings and goings of the Sydney league scene.

As Belcher recalled for Inside Sport back in 2014, before there was wall to wall television coverage of rugby league, the New South Wales and Queensland sides of the game may as well have been on different planets.

“Back then in my playing days, while being interviewed for magazine profiles and stuff, people would ask me, ‘Who are your favourite players?’ I’d rattle off blokes like Bruce Astill and John Grant. Granty played for Souths Brisbane, and then of course went on to become the ARLC chairman.

“And the interviewer would say, ‘No, no, IN SYDNEY.’ And I’d say, ‘I don’t have any favourite players in Sydney.’

“I knew guys from afar ‒ you know, internationals, so I’d just say Bob Fulton and Graeme Langlands … My impression was that it was a good comp … not that far ahead of what we had in Brisbane, but certainly it got more intense in the bigger matches.

“In my first few games back in 1986, the Raiders weren’t winning, but we were competitive. I remember we went to Belmore to play against Canterbury, and Chris Mortimer and Andrew Farrar and their outside backs jammed up and absolutely smashed us with that umbrella defense they had. I remember thinking, shit, this is a bit different down here. These blokes, they’re full on. I realised then that there WAS a gap."

(Header image by Getty Images)

Belcher was part of a famous brace of Canberra players who not only set the world on fire with their talents on the field, but also with the coaching clipboard upon retirement. It’s an impressive roll call of Raiders-turned-mentors: Ricky Stuart, Mal Meninga, Laurie Daley, Craig Bellamy and David Furner to name a few. But “Badge” still has no idea how it worked out that the ‘80s and ‘90s versions of the Raiders were first grade coach production lines.

“No idea at all,” says the popular former fullback. “I had no idea that our former team-mate Craig Bellamy, now at the Melbourne Storm, would turn out to be one of the great coaches.

“I also had no idea Mal Meninga would turn out to be the greatest coach in Origin history. But I did know we had some special guys … Laurie Daley made his mark, for example. It’s probably a reflection of the people that were in charge of us.

“A lot of it has to do with our coach at the time, Tim Sheens, and the way he went about his business and how thorough he was. And those men, in turn, have had their own influences on other people over the years.”