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[h=1]Queensland rugby league great Wally Lewis inducted as sporting legend into Sport Australia Hall of Fame[/h]
[FONT="]No Cookies | The Courier Mail
Robert Craddock, The Courier-Mail
October 13, 2016 10:51pm
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[FONT="][FONT="]“THE King” has been crowned at last.
Wally Lewis, perhaps the greatest rugby league player of all time, was inducted as a sporting legend at the 32nd Sport Australia Hall of Fame dinner in Melbourne on Thursday night.
Lewis told of his pride, not simply becoming the Hall of Fame’s 38th legend but at rebuilding his life after brain surgery in 2006 following an on-air seizure while reading the news at Channel 9.
Among his personally invited guests were doctors Sam Berkovic and Gavin Fabinyi, who supervised the operation which ensured he has had no epileptic seizures since his condition was brutally exposed on air. He had kept it secret since it was diagnosed 21 years before.
“I am so grateful to them,” Lewis said. “That night reading the news was the worst moment of my life but it led to the biggest benefit.
“After that moment I just thought ‘Stuff it ... I don’t care what happens any more’.
“I had been a coward for all those years keeping it a secret and I finally decided I had to do something.
“To now be recognised like this makes it even more special. You never feel you belong in the company of the great sportspeople around you.
“I thought it might have been a gee-up when I was told.”
Lewis sits beside Johnny Raper and Reg Gasnier as the only rugby league players to be promoted to legend status and joins greats including Don Bradman, Greg Norman, Bart Cummings and billiards ace Walter Lindrum.
Nicknamed “The King”, Lewis’ status as the man whose State of Origin deeds lifted the self-esteem of the entire state of Queensland tends to overshadow a decade-long Test career spanning 34 matches.
Lewis still possesses the quirky little gear bag he was given before his Test debut against France in Sydney in 1981. It is in pristine condition.
“When they played the national anthem at my first Test, I looked into the stands and I saw my old man wiping his eyes,” Lewis said.
“He said it was dust but it was more than that. It struck me that at last I had paid my parents back for all the countless hours they had put in driving me to training.”
After his brain surgery, Lewis had to reacquaint himself with his own career by rewatching major moments which were suddenly blanked.
His true greatness is graphically born out in State of Origin statistics comparing him to modern great Johnathan Thurston, which showed Lewis gained 40 per cent more kicking metres, made 40 per cent more tackle busts, 60 per cent more running metres and just under twice as many line breaks from a similar number of games.
Lewis said the most nerves he felt as a player – “it still gives me goosebumps” – was when first named Queensland captain in 1981. It remains the biggest moment of his career.
Lewis enjoys the modern game but, being a king of conjure himself, rues that structure is stifling creativity.
“We all admire how physical it is but it’s just a shame that the creativity of the current players is stuffed in a suit case,” he said.
“Thankfully great players like Thurston continue to display it and it’s what I enjoy most.”
And what he once did as well as anyone ever has.
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[FONT="]No Cookies | The Courier Mail
Robert Craddock, The Courier-Mail
October 13, 2016 10:51pm
[FONT="][FONT="]“THE King” has been crowned at last.
Wally Lewis, perhaps the greatest rugby league player of all time, was inducted as a sporting legend at the 32nd Sport Australia Hall of Fame dinner in Melbourne on Thursday night.
Lewis told of his pride, not simply becoming the Hall of Fame’s 38th legend but at rebuilding his life after brain surgery in 2006 following an on-air seizure while reading the news at Channel 9.
Among his personally invited guests were doctors Sam Berkovic and Gavin Fabinyi, who supervised the operation which ensured he has had no epileptic seizures since his condition was brutally exposed on air. He had kept it secret since it was diagnosed 21 years before.
“I am so grateful to them,” Lewis said. “That night reading the news was the worst moment of my life but it led to the biggest benefit.
“After that moment I just thought ‘Stuff it ... I don’t care what happens any more’.
“I had been a coward for all those years keeping it a secret and I finally decided I had to do something.
“To now be recognised like this makes it even more special. You never feel you belong in the company of the great sportspeople around you.
“I thought it might have been a gee-up when I was told.”
Nicknamed “The King”, Lewis’ status as the man whose State of Origin deeds lifted the self-esteem of the entire state of Queensland tends to overshadow a decade-long Test career spanning 34 matches.
Lewis still possesses the quirky little gear bag he was given before his Test debut against France in Sydney in 1981. It is in pristine condition.
“When they played the national anthem at my first Test, I looked into the stands and I saw my old man wiping his eyes,” Lewis said.
“He said it was dust but it was more than that. It struck me that at last I had paid my parents back for all the countless hours they had put in driving me to training.”
After his brain surgery, Lewis had to reacquaint himself with his own career by rewatching major moments which were suddenly blanked.
His true greatness is graphically born out in State of Origin statistics comparing him to modern great Johnathan Thurston, which showed Lewis gained 40 per cent more kicking metres, made 40 per cent more tackle busts, 60 per cent more running metres and just under twice as many line breaks from a similar number of games.
Lewis said the most nerves he felt as a player – “it still gives me goosebumps” – was when first named Queensland captain in 1981. It remains the biggest moment of his career.
Lewis enjoys the modern game but, being a king of conjure himself, rues that structure is stifling creativity.
“We all admire how physical it is but it’s just a shame that the creativity of the current players is stuffed in a suit case,” he said.
“Thankfully great players like Thurston continue to display it and it’s what I enjoy most.”
And what he once did as well as anyone ever has.
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