BY JOHN DAVIDSON
Immortal Wally Lewis has backed the importance of international rugby league, stating representing your country is the greatest honour available and that Test matches are tougher than State of Origin.
Lewis, one of the greatest ever to play the sport, made 31 appearances for Australia and 28 for Queensland.
The five-eighth went on Kangaroo tours in 1982 and 1986, captained his country from 1984 to 1989, and helped the green and gold win the 1988 World Cup.
He is a member of the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame and is the sixth member of rugby league’s Immortals.
A legend of the Maroons, the 64-year-old told James Graham’s podcast The Bye Round that his fondest memories and hardest challenges came not in State of Origin, where he achieved hero status north of the Tweed, but in the international arena in games against Great Britain and New Zealand.
“A lot of people say that the Origin matches are the best matches of the year, and they are wonderful matches,” Lewis said.
“But surely the greatest honour you can ever have is representing your country. And when you go out in those games you find they are tougher, and a completely different style of football, then you play in State of Origin.
“The pride that people have and when they’re being cheered on by the country – I can remember the thrill I got out of playing in Leeds, in Wigan I often used to get told by people that it was the home of footy.
“And then playing in Hull… I still say my greatest honour is playing for Australia. Test match footy has got to be at the top of the tree.”
Lewis stated that the highlight of his career, and one of the highest points of his life, came in the 1986 ‘Unbeatables’ tour.
In that tour the Kangaroos played 20 matches, including against Papua New Guinea, Great Britain and France, and went undefeated over a two-month period.
“When you play in England you are given the greatest challenge and amongst the toughest hardships where the fans and the opposition players make sure that your challenge is as tough as you will ever come up against in your lifetime,” he said.
“It is something quite extraordinary. In 1982 we were over there and without being disrespectful, we flogged Great Britain.
“But in 1986… that was a team we were allowed to produce whatever talents we had and when I accessed the quality of the players we were against in 86, that was when Ellery was producing his best.
“Garry Schofield was lightning, he was unbelievably quick. And Andy Gregory, I remember him… They had a wonderful side. It was a real challenge.
“Then we’d play against New Zealand. The teams that they had – Mark Graham, Olsen Filipana – the guys that would be involved in those matches was something quite extraordinary.
“It was a moment of my life where I felt good in every game because the matches were so hard. It was a thrill to play in them and an honour, should we be successful.
“If and when we got beaten, it was very difficult to accept, but for the game of rugby league it was exceptional.”
