Greg Pierce

The grandson of 1930s Test hooker Arthur Folwell, Greg Pierce was a Newtown junior (Marrickville) who spent two years in the C’bury junior league. He was graded in the late 1960s as a long-haired fullback with battlers Cronulla but under Tommy Bishop's leadership in the early 1970s he switched to lock and, after playing in the 1973 grand final, was selected on the Kangaroo Tour. Pierce became the first Cronulla player to play a Test when selected against France at the end of the tour and played in Australia's 1975 and 1977 World Cup victories. In the First Test of the 1978 Trans Tasman series Pierce became the first Cronulla player to captain Australia but the year proved to be bitter-sweet. Despite winning the Test selectors dropped him from the Second Test to pave the way for Bob Fulton to take over the captaincy (Pearce was reinstated as a player for the Third Test). Pearce then missed Cronulla's second grand final appearance when he was suspended after the club’s semi-final against Wests. Pierce had scored a try to set up victory for the Sharks but was sent off for fighting with John Donnelly. (It was later revealed that Donnelly took a dive and despite Pierce’s impeccable playing record he was suspended for four matches and missed the grand final). Being named as vice-captain of the 1978 Kangaroo Tour was some consolation for Pierce but he played in just four matches before injuring his knee in the international against Wales. Further injuries, and the opportunity to take over as club coach after Tommy Bishop's disastrous return to the club in 1980, led to his retirement with a then club record number of games to his credit. Pierce spent two seasons as Cronulla coach and took the club to the semi-finals in 1981. His reputation as one of the fittest men in rugby league is borne out by the fact that he was still playing lower grade rugby union on the Central Coast well into his forties. In 2003, the year he was named as one of the Sharks’ ‘immortals’, he fought a determined battle against cancer.