Wallaby, rugby league star, accountant and captain of the greatest schoolboys team in history – Tony Melrose at 66 has no time for dwelling on age

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Tony Melrrose playing for Manly.

Former Wallaby and NSW State of Origin star Tony Melrose knows one secret for staying young as age catches up and that’s to have teenage daughters.

Tony, now 66, admits that passing the 60 milestone caused him some trepidation and says he’s felt the same way about each subsequent birthday.

“Down the years you think about it a little more but it is what it is,” he says. “There’s no point dwelling on the age thing. Just go for it.

“I didn’t get married until I was 41 so I had two teenage girls in the house when I was in my 50s. I had to remain young at heart just to keep up with them.”

Tony has been married to Deanne for 26 years and his daughters are now 24 and 22.

In a football career which covered six rugby union Tests for Australia, 182 first-grade rugby league games for four clubs and one State of Origin appearance, Tony also found time to study accountancy.

“I built up an accountancy practice for 35 years and sold out when I was 58 or 59,” he said.

“Travel has been a big thing for me since I was 17 or 18 and going on football trips. I’ve just got back from a couple of weeks in Hong Kong with a few mates for the rugby Sevens and rugby 10. Hong Kong is always a lot of fun.”

The 1977 Australian Schoolboys rugby union team is still rated the greatest schoolboy side in history. The squad completed a 16-match tour of the UK, Ireland, France, and Japan unbeaten, scoring 553 points and conceding only 97.

The team included future rugby union legends Glen, Gary and Mark Ella; rugby league “Immortal” Wally Lewis and dual-code champion Michael O’Connor.

There were so many wonderful players in the squad that it’s easy to forget the captain was none other than Tony Melrose from Northmead High School (now the Northmead Creative and Performing Arts High School).

Many of the ’77 Schoolboys team still get together regularly.

“We couldn’t do it too much in the early days because there were a lot of them who were famous players in both codes by the time we were 28 or so,” Tony says.
“Since them we have had more regular reunions. We go all over Australia for two or three days at a time and the wives come along now.

There were plenty of characters on the Schoolboys tour Tony says the ‘Clown Prince’ was Peter McPherson, a winger from Newcastle.

“He was always up for a prank and kept us laughing. We were stuck in an army base in Wales over Christmas and some of the boys were feeling a bit down in the dumps. Peter somehow found a Father Christmas outfit and handed out presents. It brightened everyone’s Christmas,” he said.

The schoolboys were so good they were treated to a virtually unheard-of street parade in Sydney when they arrived home.

As for today’s game, Tony said he “loves it”.

“I don’t go out of my way to go to the ground for two reasons – one, you just wish you were out in the middle and two, it’s horrible inconvenient to get a beer, then have to find a toilet,” he said.

And he certainly doesn’t begrudge today’s players their fat pay cheques. “Not one bit,” he said. “Good luck to them. They work their arses off and they pay a lot of tax.

“A lot of them start off as kids who go into rugby league academies at 15 and their schooling suffers. The rugby union types come from, generally speaking, better schools and have more to fall back on.

“If they are lucky, they might play for 10 years and earn enough to buy  an expensive house on Sydney’s North Shore but that’s all they’ll have.

“You have to put it in perspective. Compared to people in other sports around the world they aren’t well paid. That comes down to the amount of money sports can attract with much bigger populations elsewhere.”

After school, Tony played for Parramatta and the Waratahs and played six Tests for the Wallabies at flyhalf before before switching to rugby league in 1980 when he was 20.

After two seasons with Parramatta, Tony moved to South Sydney where he was the Rabbitohs leading point scorer in 1982 with 186 points (eight tries, 79 goals), and again in 1983 with 154 points (two tries, 69 goals). He then spent two seasons at Manly under the coaching of the legendary Bob Fulton before moving to Easts from 1986 to 1989.

He was picked on the wing for NSW in the second game of the 1982 State of Origin series and kicked two goals from three attempts.

Tony retired from playing league after the 1989 season, having played 182 first grade games (20 with the Eels, 50 with Souths, 39 with Manly and 73 with Easts). He returned to rugby union in 1992 , playing with Gordon.

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. While Barry was the first full-time Australian football writer for The Courier Mail in 1973, his true passion was always Rugby League and he covered a myriad of Grand Finals, State of Origins and Test matches. Barry was inducted into the Media Hall of Fame on March 27 2017.