{"id":593976,"date":"2026-04-08T18:59:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T18:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/593976\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T18:59:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T18:59:24","slug":"nrl-community-rallies-around-legendary-fullback-graham-wombat-eadie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/593976\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL community rallies around legendary fullback Graham \u2018Wombat\u2019 Eadie"},"content":{"rendered":"

The rugby league community is rallying around former Manly and Test fullback Graham \u2018Wombat\u2019 Eadie, who suffered two seizures on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Eadie, 72, was taken by ambulance to a Gold Coast hospital where he is undergoing a series of medical tests.<\/p>\n

The former Manly, NSW and Kangaroos fullback had coffee with some of his old footy mates, including Larry Corowa, on Wednesday morning before suffering the seizures.<\/p>\n

Eadie is confused and weak as doctors conduct further tests on his lungs.<\/p>\n

It is understood his oxygen levels are low.<\/p>\n

But ex-teammates insist Eadie will continue to fight hard as did throughout his illustrious rugby league career which included 237 games for the Sea Eagles \u2013 between 1971 and 1983 \u2013 where he amassed a record 1917 points.<\/p>\n

Eadie played 14 games for NSW, 20 Tests for Australia while representing English club Halifax in 72 matches.<\/p>\n

The barnstorming fullback has struggled with ongoing health issues during recent years including being diagnosed with probable Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).<\/p>\n

Close mate Corowa said the entire rugby league network was behind Eadie.<\/p>\n

\u201cGraham has had his health issues over the last couple of years and we \u2013 all the boys \u2013 are right behind him,\u201d Corowa said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had coffee with him on Wednesday morning and seemed to be okay.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the boys wish him all the best. He is much loved in the rugby league community and everyone is right behind him and we wish him all the best.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a wonderful ambassador for rugby league and a club legend at Manly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manly CEO Jason King wanted to wish Eadie a speedy recovery on behalf of his entire club and fan base.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe send our thoughts and prayers to \u2018Wombat\u2019 and his family. He is legend of this club, and his name will always be synonymous with Manly,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGraham is a four-time premiership winning fullback and Hall of Famer who was a huge part of a golden era for Manly in the 1970s. He still holds the record for most points for Manly and it\u2019s hard to see that being broken any time soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our 80th season we are recognising the achievements of those who have helped build this club, and Wombat is right up there with the best to have worn the maroon and white.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former players living in and around the Gold Coast meet once a week at a cafe in Coolangatta.<\/p>\n

Eadie is often there along with a host of ex-first graders including Corowa, Bernie Lowther, Neil Pringle, Steve Martin and Cronulla\u2019s John Purcell.<\/p>\n

Inducted into the NRL Hall of Fame in 2018, Eadie won four premiership at Manly in 1972, 1973, 1976 and 1978 and claimed the 1974 Rothmans Medal.<\/p>\n

Eadie\u2019s Sea Eagles play St George Illawarra in Wollongong on Friday night.<\/p>\n

\"Dean<\/a><\/p>\n

Dean “Bulldog'” Ritchie has covered rugby league at The Daily Telegraph, and now CODE Sports as well, for 33 years. From the Super League war to NRL grand finals, State of Origin clashes and World Cups, Bulldog has written about the biggest issues in the game and broken many of the most important stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The rugby league community is rallying around former Manly and Test fullback Graham \u2018Wombat\u2019 Eadie, who suffered two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,689,289911,289922,289921,6173,289909,28814,289913,289908,289918,289925,2485,289919,22657,289912,154769,289916,289914,289917,44450,4601,98569,761,762,289915,673,158,677,289910,289923,11396,289924,701,159,108291,289920,85,32499,4526],"class_list":{"0":"post-593976","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","11":"tag-barnstorming-fullback","12":"tag-bernie-lowther","13":"tag-close-mate","14":"tag-club-legend","15":"tag-community-rallies","16":"tag-dean-ritchie","17":"tag-doctors-conduct","18":"tag-english-club","19":"tag-ex-first-graders","20":"tag-footy-mates","21":"tag-gold-coast","22":"tag-gold-coast-hospital","23":"tag-health-issues","24":"tag-illustrious-rugby-league","25":"tag-jason-king","26":"tag-john-purcell","27":"tag-leah","28":"tag-legendary-fullback","29":"tag-manly","30":"tag-manly-sea-eagles","31":"tag-medical-tests","32":"tag-national-rugby-league","33":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","34":"tag-neil-pringle","35":"tag-new-south-wales","36":"tag-nrl","37":"tag-oceania","38":"tag-ongoing-health","39":"tag-oxygen-levels","40":"tag-paul-crawley","41":"tag-premiership-winning-fullback","42":"tag-queensland","43":"tag-rugby-league","44":"tag-rugby-league-career","45":"tag-sea-eagles-play","46":"tag-sports","47":"tag-steve-martin","48":"tag-wollongong"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}