Playing Career
Vital Statistics
- Full Name
- Harry James Wells
- Nickname(s)
- Dealer, Bomber
- Born
- Sunday, 8th May, 1932
- Current Age
- 93 years and 326 days
- Place Of Birth
- Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
Honours & Awards
Based only on data available in the RLP database. This information should be used as a guide only.
- The Ashes
- 1954
- World Cup
- 1957
- Test Series
- Australia vs New Zealand 1959, France vs Australia 1959/60, Australia vs France 1960
- Interstate Series
- 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1961
- City vs Country Firsts
- 1953, 1957, 1958, 1960
- NSWRFL Premiership (NRL)
- 1951
Known Family Links
- Brother
- Colin Wells
Biography
Harry Wells (real name Wills) came from a long line of boxers (both his father and grandfather fought under the name 'Dealer' Wills) and brought many of the ring's attributes to his league career. A robust, weaving centre, Wells came from Wollongong to play for Souths in 1951, winning the premiership in his first season in Sydney, before returning home. In 1952 he represented NSW and toured with the Kangaroos, where he made the first of 22 Test appearances. Wells played against NZ (1953 and 1959), Great Britain (1954 and 1958), France (1955 and 1960), in three World Cup campaigns (1954, 1957 and 1960) and a second Kangaroo tour (1959-60). In the latter part of his career, he formed a great partnership with a young Reg Gasnier, and the pair played in 12 Test matches together. In 1956 Wells came to Wests as part of the club's premiership build-up but the Magpies lost the grand final to St George, 20-9. Wells played out the remainder of his career in the country and made one last appearance against Great Britain while playing for Monaro in 1966.
- ALAN WHITICKER
Additional Notes
His real surname was Wills.
With the passing of Dick Poole in June 2025 Harry is currently the oldest living Kangaroo.
Playing Career Statistics
All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.
To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.
| Representative Career - International | Comp Wins | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests (Senior International Matches) | - | 30 | 14 | - | - | 42 | 18 | 12 | 0 | 60.00% | List | ||||
| Other International Matches | - | 4 | 4 | - | - | 12 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
| The Ashes | 1 | 7 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 42.86% | List | ||||
| World Cup | 1 | 8 | 5 | - | - | 15 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 75.00% | List | ||||
| Tour Matches | New South Wales Firsts | - | 9 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 66.67% | List | |||
| Tour Matches | Monaro/Southern Division XIII | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
| Tour Matches | Australia | - | 58 | 27 | - | - | 81 | 39 | 18 | 1 | 67.24% | List | |||
| Tour Matches | New South Wales Country Firsts | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
| Tour Matches | Southern Division | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00% | List | |||
| Tour Matches | Sydney Firsts | - | 2 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50.00% | List | |||
| Tour Matches | Monaro | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
| Test Series | 4 | 21 | 8 | - | - | 24 | 11 | 10 | 0 | 52.38% | List | ||||
| Representative Career - Australia | Comp Wins | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| Interstate Series | 8 | 27 | 6 | - | - | 18 | 18 | 9 | 0 | 66.67% | List | ||||
| City vs Country Firsts | 4 | 7 | 3 | 0 | - | 9 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 57.14% | List | ||||
| Country Carnival | - | 7 | 8 | - | - | 24 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 42.86% | List | ||||
| Club Career - Australia | Comp Wins | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| NSWRFL Premiership (NRL) | 1 | 91 | 36 | - | - | 108 | 62 | 27 | 2 | 68.13% | List | ||||
| NSWRFL Finals | - | 8 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 25.00% | List | ||||
| Overall | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||||
| First Class | 203 | 80 | 0 | - | 240 | 168 | 93 | 4 | 82.76% | List | |||||
Test Matches - By Team | |||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| Australia | 1952-55, 1957-60 | 30 | 14 | - | - | 42 | 18 | 12 | 0 | 60.00% | List | ||||
International Matches - By Team | |||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| Australia | 1952-1960 | 4 | 4 | - | - | 12 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
World Cup Matches - By Team | |||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| Australia | 1952-1960 | 8 | 5 | - | - | 15 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 75.00% | List | ||||
Australia - By Team | |||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| Southern Division | 1952-55 | 5 | 4 | - | - | 12 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0.00% | List | ||||
| Monaro/S.Division | 1952 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | ||||
| NSW Firsts | 1952-61 | 36 | 8 | - | - | 24 | 24 | 12 | 0 | 66.67% | List | ||||
| NSW Country Firsts | 1952-55 | 5 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 40.00% | List | ||||
| Sydney Firsts | 1956, 1958 | 2 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50.00% | List | ||||
| Possibles (AU) | 1956 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
| NSW City Firsts | 1957-58, 1960 | 3 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
| NSW City Seconds | 1961 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00% | List | ||||
| Monaro | 1966 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | ||||
| Overall | 1952-1966 | 55 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 31 | 21 | 3 | 56.36% | List | ||||
NSWRFL Premiership (NRL) - By Year | |||||||||||||||
| Team | Season | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| South Sydney | NSWRFL 1951 | 6 | 3 | - | - | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
| Western Suburbs | NSWRFL 1956 | 15 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 73.33% | List | ||||
| Western Suburbs | NSWRFL 1957 | 17 | 9 | - | - | 27 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 52.94% | List | ||||
| Western Suburbs | NSWRFL 1958 | 11 | 6 | - | - | 18 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 63.64% | List | ||||
| Western Suburbs | NSWRFL 1959 | 13 | 5 | - | - | 15 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 69.23% | List | ||||
| Western Suburbs | NSWRFL 1960 | 16 | 5 | - | - | 15 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 56.25% | List | ||||
| Western Suburbs | NSWRFL 1961 | 13 | 6 | - | - | 18 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 84.62% | List | ||||
NSWRFL Premiership (NRL) - By Team | |||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| South Sydney | 1951 | 6 | 3 | - | - | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
| Western Suburbs | 1956-61 | 85 | 33 | - | - | 99 | 56 | 27 | 2 | 65.88% | List | ||||
| Overall | 1951-1961 | 91 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 108 | 62 | 27 | 2 | 68.13% | List | ||||
Contributions:
Greg Fiveash, Jason Ganter, Rugby League Tables, Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson, Paul Carter, Max Turner, Tony McCarron, Alan Katzmann, Wests Archives, AJ Lucantonio, Bill Bates, Tim Costello
Your Say
16 May 2014 8:26pm
Amazing career considering they held down a full time job looked after their family and paid for their own uniform to play in. Maybe the young players of today should meet Harry and find out what pride is about and how they should appreciate their forefathers!
22 Apr 2017 10:16pm
I met Harry when I was a kid in the seventies in Port Macquarie.
My Father was a friend of his & he was doing some work for Harry & I tagged along.I was always a big Rugby League fan & over the years as I grew older I had the pleasure of being coached by Harry in School teams & watching him play for Port in the local comp when he Captain Coached the club.He must have been well into his forties then but still commanded lots of respect & his ability was still there to be seen.
There is no doubt Harry was one of the greatest footballers of all time but I think his greatest attributes are his personality & humbleness.It has always been a pleasure talking to Harry & he has always been a true gentleman & I & Im sure many other local footballers in Port Macquarie are glad we had the pleasure of meeting him
14 Apr 2019 9:22am
Harry made Gasnier, if not for harry Gasnier would not have been as good as he became.
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