Bob Fulton

Born in Lancashire England in 1946 Bob Fulton immigrated to Australia as a youngster and settled in the Wollongong area. Signed by Manly from Wollongong Wests in 1966, the brilliant centre/five-eighth was a shock omission from the 1967-68 Kangaroo tour (having already played for NSW) but made his debut for Australia in the World Cup the following year. In 1968, at age 20, Fulton captain-coached City against Country and led Manly in the 13-9 grand final loss to Souths but he had to wait until 1970 to make his Test debut. (Fulton played RU for Combined Services against the visiting NZ ‘All Blacks’ while completing his National Service in 1968 and later returned to England to play for Warrington in the 1969-70 off-season). After taking his place in the deciding Third Test against Great Britain in 1970 he kicked two field goals in Manly's 23-12 grand final loss to Souths and was a member of Australia's victorious World Cup squad at the end of the year. Fulton’s class was integral to Manly winning its first premiership title in 1972 and it was his touch of brilliance in scoring two tries that turned a violent, brawling grand final against Cronulla into victory the following year. A cheeky, tenacious competitor with great anticipation and darting, incisive acceleration Fulton was the season's leading try-scorer in 1972 (19t), 1973 (18t) and 1976 (18t), and scored a club record 129 tries in his career with Manly. He made his first Kangaroo tour in 1973 and, after appearing in 8 successive Test matches, played in the 1975 World Series. In 1976 Fulton captained Manly to its third premiership title but then stunned the rugby league world when he signed with Easts (he was later made a life member of the Manly club while still playing for the Roosters.) Fulton then played in his fourth World Cup competition (1968-70-72-77) and appeared in a record 15 World Cup matches during his career. Fulton achieved his highest honour as a player when he captained Australia against NZ and led the 1978 Kangaroos to Ashes success. Although beaten in two Tests in France, on a personal level he again returned from England and France as the leading try-scorer on a Kangaroo Tour. He took over as captain-coach of Easts on his return in 1979 but his playing career came to an end midway through the season after succumbing to a knee injury. With Fulton as coach, Easts qualified for the 1980 grand final and were minor premiers in 1980-81 but it was no surprise to see him return to Manly in 1983. Fulton brought to the club the type of player required to win the premiership and that achievement came, belatedly, in 1987. The following year he resigned as Manly coach after six seasons (taking on the role of coaching co-ordinator with the Sea Eagles) and was named Australian Test coach. Under his guidance, Australia's international dominance continued with World Cup wins in 1992 and 1995. However, in each subsequent series against Great Britain (1990 Kangaroos, 1992 Ashes series and 1994 Kangaroos) and against NZ in 1991 Australia was stretched to the deciding Third Test of the series. It is a mark of Fulton’s ability as a coach and mental toughness that Australia went on to win every series. He again took up the coaching reins with Manly following the resignation of Graham Lowe in 1993 and took the club to a hat -trick of grand finals in 1995-97. Disappointingly, despite dominating each of the three trouble-plagued seasons, Manly could win only the one title (against St George in 1996.) Fulton, who was awarded the OAM in 1994, placed himself in the forefront of the fight against Super League when he was used as an advocate by the ARL in the counter-signing of young players. At the end of the 1997 season he resigned as Australian Test coach and signalled an end to his coaching career when he stated that 1999 would be his last with the Sea Eagles. Despite resigning after Manly’s poor start to the beginning of the season Bob Fulton's standing as one of the game's post-war 'immortals' remains intact. He retired as the most experienced coach in premiership history (405 matches in 19 seasons, a record since bettered) and Australia’s most-capped national coach (39 Tests in 1988-97 as well as two World Cup victories). More importantly, his single-minded professionalism as a player, captain and coach enriched the game immeasurably over four decades. In 2001 Fulton was appointed to the NSW and Australian Selection Panels and was an automatic inclusion into the RL Hall of Fame when it was formed in 2002.