Gene Miles

Townsville centre-turned-forward was equally destructive in attack at club, state or Test level. Gene Miles began his career with Wynnum-Manly in 1980 and made his State of Origin debut the following year. He was a fringe player on the 1982 Kangaroo tour (11 games, no Tests) and broke into the Australian team in the centres against NZ the following year. Miles was a Test star for the next three years, playing in the series against Great Britain (1984), NZ (1986) and on the 1986 Kangaroo tour (playing in all 6 Tests). At 102kg, his strong bursts coupled with his characteristic one-handed 'basketball' pass, saw him successfully switch to the forwards in 1987 (winning Brisbane's Rothmans Medal in the process). Miles missed the series against Great Britain in 1988 but played in the Test against the Rest of the World. Injury ruled him out of Australia's tour of NZ in 1989 and the next year saw him retire from international football to concentrate on his new role as captain of the Brisbane Broncos. He consolidated his status as one of the best second row forwards in the game during the 1990-91 seasons and his naming as 'Dally M' Captain of the Year in 1990 reflected his standing as a highly respected on-field leader. He left Australia at the end of the club’s disappointing 1991 season to play one final season with champion English club Wigan. It was cruelly ironic that while Wigan gave him a Wembley Challenge Cup and League Championship victory, the Broncos won the 1992 premiership without him and then defeated Wigan in the World Club Championship. Miles returned to Australia and pursued a media career with Channel 9 in the early 1990s before being appointed Chairman of a revamped QRL selection panel in 2001 that saw the Maroons win the State of Origin.