Brett Kenny

A swap with five-eighth Steve Ella in the middle of the 1981 season worked wonders for a team that had struggled during the previous season and a half and under coach Jack Gibson they developed into formidable competitors.

Kenny was the pivot between the fearsome backline combination of Cronin, Ella and Eric Grothe and a tremendous scrum-base force of halfback, Peter Sterling and lock, Ray Price. These stars formed the nucleus of a side which dominated the New South Wales Rugby League premiership between 1981 and 1986 winning four premierships, once runners-up and once third.

In the 1981 Grand Final against Newtown, Parramatta were behind for most of the match but exerted a continuous pressure after half time which took its toll on the Jets. The Eels powered away to win comfortably with Kenny scoring two fine tries - the first when he flew away into the corner after a Ray Price break.

Along with Wally Lewis, Kenny was selected to have his likeness adorn the newly-created state of Origin Shield. His superb performance in the 1982 Grand Final against Manly - scoring two tries and producing a wonderful step near the touchline to set up one for Eric Grothe - made him a certainty for that year's Kangaroo tour.

The 1983 season saw Kenny continue his irrepressible form for the most part - his 21 tries is the standing record for a five-eighth in an Australian rugby league premiership season and included eight tries over five consecutive games. However at one point that season he was rested for a time by coach Jack Gibson. He returned to his best in the finals, scoring two Grand Final tries for the third successive time in the Eels 18-6 win over Manly.

Words by John Walker
26th August, 2011

Part I

September 27, 1981. The flight of embers that danced high over the dusty patchwork of Cumberland Oval marked more than just the average footy fan's penchant towards anarchy. It was a sparkling victory dance that signalled the end of a 35-year nuclear winter. Most of all it was the fiery birth of rugby league's most emphatic region, who offered up their own wicker man to the good grace of the footy gods. The beating heartland of the modern game came of age as the decomposing stand and scoreboard of Cumberland burned. The golden age of the Parramatta Eels had begun.

It was the injection of dazzling youth-the first flowers of a junior nursery that has since become the game's most fabled-that would herald the bright new dawn. Bristling with skill and infallibility, and nurtured by a venerable master, monikers like Sterlo, Zip-Zip and Guru would join the familiar handles of Pricey, Bear and The Crow in the crowd's battle cries. They were a band of brothers turned people's champions, and in 1981 they would finally claim the elusive. While bar stool bluster has often debated which of these names stood taller, one simple utterance has often united opinion-Bert. In his startling career he would exorcise a witch, unsettle a King and stand invicible on foreign fields. But to the hearts of many, he is the iconic link in one of the greatest rugby league teams in the game's history. His name is Brett Kenny.

Sitting in the presence of Brett Kenny is like reliving a warm childhood memory; a time when the game was fresh and new in a youngster's eyes and footy heroes seemed larger than life. Despite his heroics on two continents plus state and international arenas, it is difficult to think of Kenny in any colour but blue and gold. His place in the roll call of that four premiership juggernaut has meant his name will be forever linked with those of his teammates. But in a game that is won and lost on the value of sacrifice and mateship, he would have it no other way.

"We were like brothers, really; we looked after each other. We didn't live in each other's pockets but we enjoyed each other's company and I think that was part of the recipe for us being so successful. We have a reunion every year, set up by the players themselves. So we still see each other at least once every twelve months."

Such is Kenny's legacy in the game that it comes as a suprise that the teenage version was nearly ripped away from the sport that would make him. "My father was a baseballer, so for me that was a natural progression. I played baseball in the summer and football in the winter at Guildford. When I got graded in 1980 for Parramatta, I thought 'well, you know, I'm getting paid to play football, I'm not getting paid to play baseball', so obviously the football was going to take over."

"I played in the centres a lot when I first started at Guildford and back then Mick Cronin and Steve Rogers were the centres for Australia. I always looked at those two guys and thought I'd like to be as big and strong as Mick Cronin and as fast and agile as Steve Rogers. I thought that would be the perfect centre. They were the two guys that I idolised and I was very fortunate to be able to play alongside both of them throughout my career."

Part III

"People wanted us to win; Parramatta supporters and even other supporters felt a little sorry for us because we had missed out on two previous grand finals. I think the only pressure was what we had on ourselves. We all wanted to win and we knew it was going to be a tough game but we had the ability and we hung in there."

That night rapturous Eels fans would seal victory in flame. Cumberland Oval's already condemned grandstand would burn to the ground. The following two years would complete a stunning hat trick of premierships as Parramatta accounted for arch rivals Manly in a thrilling one-two. The Eels stunning rebirth would be crowned in 1986, with the newly-risen Parramatta Stadium towering like a phoenix above the smouldering ashes of the past. Post-Gibson, battling a season of injuries and facing that other tough nut crowd-pleaser of the 80's in the only tryless grand final in rugby league history, Kenny is adamant 1986 was the Eels finest hour.

"When you look at what we were able to achieve, 1986 was the best year that we had. [Coach] John Monie was under a bit of pressure because Gibson had won three in a row. 1986 was something special for him because he was able to become his own person. He not only won the grand final but every competition that they threw at us that year."

Kenny says that the '86 decider-which would become the last stand for club stalwarts Ray Price and Mick Cronin-was one of the toughest battles he contested. "The Bulldogs were always very tough defensively, and both sides had opportunities but just couldn't get over the line. I think we were just fortunate that Mick Cronin was able to kick those penalty goals."

"Right at the end, the Bulldogs were attacking our line and we had about eight or nine players take one of theirs over the sideline near the corner post. I remember they've gone back to pack a scrum down and we were shouting at Mick Stone, "the siren's gone, the siren's gone" and he's realised and blew time out. We were victors so it was good. Canterbury had beaten us in the '84 grand final, so we finished up one-all."

Call him what you will. The slipperiest of all Eels. The master of the intercept. The blue blood nemesis of King Wally. Great Britain and Wigan great, Billy Boston, declared the man as "The greatest player in rugby league history." Kenny himself coined the term 'Mr Natural' in the title of his autobiography and it seems a fitting epitaph to one of rugby league's finest careers. While his skill and anticipation on the field was to be marvelled at, Kenny refuses to accept notions that he was born with a God-given talent.

"You learn to anticipate what's going to happen. Jack used to say 'don't stand back and watch the guy, you've got to imagine that he is going to make a break or he is going to get his hands free and he's going to be able to off-load the ball'. It was always on his mind. That's the way we were coached and it just became a natural part of the game."

And in the end, even Brett Kenny himself seems unable-or unwilling-to seperate himself from that famous roll call. "Eric Grothe, Steve Ella, Mick Cronin. Sterlo at half; Pricey at lock. I was just very fortunate at Parramatta to play with some of the greatest players the game has ever seen."