He scored the most famous try in grand final history – now Steve Jackson runs chicken shops in Mackay and wouldn’t have it any other way

Steve Jackson would love a dollar for every time the iconic try he scored the 1989 NRL grand final comes up in conversations or is replayed on television but he doesn’t even rate the try itself as anything special.

Steve carried several opponents to  the tryline and stretched out to score to win the match in extra time with the Canberra Raiders beating the Balmain Tigers 19-14.

“I’m pretty humble about it, actually. I was just in the right place at the right time,” he says.

“It wasn’t such a great try but it was a great grand final. A lot of good judges say it was the best grand final of all time and they’re still saying that 36 years later.

“It’s a beautiful thing for me to have been involved in that game, even off the bench. I have to pinch myself sometimes to remember how lucky I was.”

Watch the incredible try here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3MHMx1WBDw&authuser=0

Steve’s “happy place” these days is at the six -acre (2.4ha) property he owns at The Leap inland from Mackay. It’s where he goes to escape the pressures of running two small businesses and working as a real estate agent.

“It’s 15km from the coast but we can see the ocean and can see the coal ships waiting off-shore,” he said.

“There are usually 15 or 20 of the carriers anchored out there waiting for their turn in port. A businessman friend of mine said to me: ‘if the number of coal ships waiting ever drops below five, it’s time to get out of Mackay’.

“My father, Kevin, worked on the tugs so I heard plenty about the port.”

When Steve’s football career ended in 1993 because of a chronic back injury (a prolapsed disc) he returned to his hometown of Mackay  and started looking for business opportunities. The Lenards Chicken chain was looking for someone to open an outlet in the renovated Mt Pleasant Greenfield shopping centre.

“I met a man named John Whitbread, who was the master franchisee for Lenard’s in north Queensland. One night he looked at me and said, ‘I’m opening a Lenard’s store at Mt Pleasant and you’re the man to run it.’

“Twelve months later, on November 26, 1997 I was in the store which was part of the $30million extension at Mt Pleasant Shopping Centre. I’ve just had my 28th Christmas in that shop and might have one more before I think about selling.”

Steve bought a second Lenards story, at the Caneland Central shopping centre in 2018, not long before the Covid outbreak.

He’s also in the real estate business as principal and lead agent at J & M Realty so he’s a busy man.

And if that wasn’t enough, in 2014 he ran for mayor in the Mackay local elections as leader of the Jacko’s Team – Mackay First team.

“I always said the last person you’d want to go to war with was a politician but there I was having a go,” he said. “I was working a hundred hours a week!

“On election night, a long-time politician came up to me and said ‘Congratulations’. I said ‘what for, they’re still counting votes’. He said ‘No, you’ve won.”

“Other people said the same thing but by the time postal votes were counted I just missed. They said the swing from postal votes for (three-time incumbent) Greg Williamson was the biggest they’d ever seen.”

Steve has just turned 60 and has had a few health issues that come with age. “I’ve got two titanium steel and ceramic hips and have just had an operation on my knee,” he said.

“The recovery is going OK. It’s been four weeks and I’m close to getting into some serious exercise again. I need to lose about 20 kilos but I’ve got a pretty good tolerance for pain.

“Life is about challenging yourself. “Things can slow you down as you get older but having a challenge makes you feel younger. That’s my philosophy.

“Family is everything to me. I have one daughter, Courtney, who is 27 and three sons – Llayton, 25, Kai, 21, and the baby Nate, who is 19. Courtney has two children, Miles and Malia.

“We are a tight-knit group and I love them all.”

After the 1989 decider, Steve went to England with the Raiders to play in the world club championship final against Hull before leaving Canberra to play with the Wests Magpies.

“Ivan Henjak and I had signed with Wests before the ’89 season was over. I basically went there for a jersey … a front-row jersey because there was no way I was going to be a regular starter at Canberra,” Steve said.

“It worked out well because I played nine State of Origin games for Queensland and they wouldn’t have picked me out of reserve grade at the Raiders.

“After the Magpies, I went to Tweed Seagulls but that was for financial reasons, I got $500,000 for three seasons.

“One memory of the time at the Seagulls was the ground (near Pigabeen). It was one of the best grounds I’ve ever played on … and I played at Old Trafford.

“Now you drive over the little bridge just before Seagulls and all you can see is houses everywhere.”

Steve is grateful he played his football in the days before mobile phones.

“When we toured we were left alone. What happened on tour stayed on tour. Now everyone’s got a phone with a camera and everyone wants to be a reporter and maybe make some money from a sneaky picture. You have to feel sorry for the players of today; they can’t have a normal life”.

Unlike some of the players of his generation, Steve doesn’t begrudge the modern-day players their pay packets.

“They deserve every cent,” he said. “The game is amazing and these guys are rock stars.

“I love watching the NRL games and watch every minute of every game in Magic Round.”

Barry Dick was a journalist at The Courier-Mail and Sunday Mail for 43 years, before retiring in 2015. Most of that time was spent on the sports desk in a variety of roles including sports editor, digital sports editor, Rugby League editor and chief Rugby League writer. Barry was the first full-time Australian football writer for The Courier-Mail in 1973 but his true passion was always Rugby League and he covered many Grand Finals, State of Origins and Test matches. Barry was inducted into the Media Hall of Fame on March 27, 2017.

If you liked this story, try this one: From cardiac arrest to celebrating 65: Garry Jack’s remarkable second chance at life