{"id":781672,"date":"2026-07-06T01:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T01:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/781672\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T01:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T01:27:14","slug":"nrl-naidoc-week-2026-best-pre-nrl-era-indigenous-players-arthur-beetson-steve-renouf-cliff-lyons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/781672\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL NAIDOC Week 2026: Best pre-NRL era Indigenous players; Arthur Beetson, Steve Renouf, Cliff Lyons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that the following content may contain descriptions, images and\/or voices of deceased persons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This week marks a half-century of celebrating NAIDOC Week and as a result, it\u2019s appropriate that we reflect on the impact Indigenous players have had on rugby league over the past 50 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Arthur<\/p>\n

Arthur Beetson, Jaime Chapman and Johnathan Thurston are Indigenous champions.\u00a0Polly Hanning<\/p>\n

In partnership with the NRL, Nine.com.au is putting a spotlight on some incredible athletes.<\/p>\n

Fans can vote on who they believe are the best Indigenous players of the past 50 years in both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

In this piece, we\u2019ve chosen to focus on the top Indigenous talent from the pre-NRL and NRLW era. Among them is an Immortal and plenty of premiership winners.<\/p>\n

TO VOTE FOR THE BEST INDIGENOUS PLAYER OF THE LAST 50 YEARS, CLICK\u00a0HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Arthur Beetson<\/p>\n

Widely regarded as the best forward of the 20th century, Arthur Beetson<\/a> is so far the only Indigenous player with Immortal<\/a> status.<\/p>\n

A skilful yet imposing front-rower who changed the way the toughest position on the field was played, the man known as \u2018Artie\u2019 emerged as one of Queensland\u2019s best talents in the 1960s before moving to the Sydney competition with Balmain.<\/p>\n

But it was his move to Eastern Suburbs that truly catapulted Beetson to stardom, captaining the Roosters<\/a> to back-to-back premierships in 1974-75.<\/p>\n

He was also the pioneer for State of Origin<\/a> as we know it, where he was the inaugural captain for the Maroons<\/a> and helped launch the iconic format.<\/p>\n

After retiring on the field, Beetson continued as a coach at club, state and international level throughout the 1980s. <\/p>\n

Queensland icon Wally Lewis<\/a> spoke candidly to nine.com.au about the time he shared with Beetson at the Origin level and what made him so special.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a guy that inspired everybody in rugby league and he was the most skilful ball carrier I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came into the Origin team, I was a 21-year-old kid and I had the chance to play with a man that I\u2019d watched on television, I was in absolute awe watching the brilliant skills that he displayed and also the way he taught those around him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it came time for guys to play against him, they were always enormously fearful, but when I got the chance to play with him in that very first Origin game, I remember him teaching me more in the space of five or six days than I\u2019d learnt from all of my previous coaches, and it was a thrill to benefit from him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Arthur<\/p>\n

Arthur Beetson in action for the Roosters.\u00a0The Sydney Morning Herald<\/p>\n

Lewis also gave an insight into Beeton\u2019s off-field personality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly don\u2019t ever recall somebody saying something in disrespect about Arthur and everybody had reverence for him,\u201d the Immortal said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody enjoyed his company and he had an ability to not just make them better footy players, but better people as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cArthur was proudly Indigenous and he used to spend an enormous amount of time trying to inspire, as he called them, the champions of tomorrow – but he would always make sure there was a bit of amusement attached.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d organise a touch footy game after Origin for us and he\u2019d say \u2018all the black fellas over here with me and all the white fellas over there\u2019. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just part of his personality to make sure everyone was accepted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only time I didn\u2019t enjoy being in Arthur\u2019s company was at breakfast, lunch and dinner. He used to say \u2018I see you\u2019ve drawn the short straw\u2019 … but he always found a way to make every conversation an exciting one.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 15 years on from his passing, Beetson\u2019s impact is still felt to this day and he remains one of the most revered figures in the sport\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Steve Ella\"\"<\/p>\n

Steve Ella in action for the Parramatta Eels.\u00a0Parramatta Eels<\/p>\n

A four-time Parramatta<\/a> premiership winner, the man they called \u2018Zip Zip\u2019 may not get the same recognition as some of his teammates from the 1980s dynasty period, but he was one of the most exciting and lethal stars of his generation.<\/p>\n

Ella – a cousin of former Wallabies players Mark, Glen and Gary – was known for his electric speed and footwork in the 13-man code.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was one of the quickest players off the mark that I ever saw and his electric sidestep guaranteed that whoever he was coming up against would have some very difficult times ahead of them,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wasn\u2019t the biggest bloke, but he had a real brilliance about him and the only time I didn\u2019t like watching Steve play was when he had a NSW jumper on.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a career that spanned a decade with the Eels, the talented backline utility formed one of rugby league\u2019s all-time great centre pairings with Mick Cronin.<\/p>\n

In the representative arena, Ella managed a handful of appearances for the Kangaroos in a star-studded era, while representing NSW on seven occasions. <\/p>\n

Steve Renouf\"Steve<\/p>\n

Steve Renouf in action for the Broncos.\u00a0Fairfax<\/p>\n

Bursting onto the scene with the Broncos<\/a> as a teenager, Steve Renouf<\/a> appeared destined for stardom from the moment he stepped into first grade.<\/p>\n

\u201cWayne Bennett<\/a> used to tell us all at the Broncos about this young kid who had blinding acceleration and evasive skills that few were blessed with,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as he got an opportunity, he was absolutely freakish.\u201d<\/p>\n

A member of the club\u2019s back-to-back titles in the early-1990s, it was Renouf\u2019s lightning speed that made him a nightmare for opposition defenders.<\/p>\n

He became arguably the best centre of his generation and made 11 appearances at State of Origin level for the Maroons. <\/p>\n

Renouf\u2019s incredible career was capped off by a Hall of Fame induction in 2024.<\/p>\n

TO VOTE FOR THE BEST INDIGENOUS PLAYER OF THE LAST 50 YEARS, CLICK\u00a0HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Cliff Lyons <\/p>\n

There are few players, if any, more synonymous with the proud Manly<\/a> club than Cliff Lyons, who was one of the best ball-players of his time. Despite spending some of his career at lock-forward, Lyons found a home in the five-eighth role under Bob Fulton that brought the Sea Eagles two premierships.<\/p>\n

Lyons became the first Indigenous player to win the Dally M Medal<\/a> in 1990, before claiming the competition\u2019s top individual honour again in 1994. He also represented NSW and Australia six times each at representative level.<\/p>\n

His combination with the game\u2019s greatest try-scoring forward, Steve Menzies proved a headache for defences and is still spoken about to this day.<\/p>\n

Despite how much the game has changed, it\u2019s quite often you hear his style and ability compared to the likes of Cody Walker, which is a testament to Lyons. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cliff Lyons in action for Manly.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cHis creative ability was just unmatched,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCliffy was one of those guys who was a real inspiration to young Indigenous kids and really laid the foundation for guys like Johnathan Thurston after him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katrina Fanning<\/p>\n

A true pioneer, Katrina Fanning was one of the NRL\u2019s inaugural Hall of Fame inductees from the women\u2019s game in 2024 and is the only Indigenous female member of that elite club.<\/p>\n

A tough front-rower from Junee who never took a backwards step, Fanning was part of the first-ever Jillaroos team in 1995 and played in two World Cups, going on to captain her country and featuring in 24 Test matches.<\/p>\n

She has given back an enormous amount to the community post-playing and was named ACT\u2019s Australian of the Year in 2020 for her work in education and health.<\/p>\n

Fanning\u2019s legacy will continue for years to come, with Canberra\u2019s women\u2019s premiership competition named in her honour.<\/p>\n

Full pre-NRL and NRLW era list<\/p>\n

Men: Sam Backo, Arthur Beetson, Tony Currie, Laurie Daley, Steve Ella, Terry Fahey, John Ferguson, Cliff Lyons, Steve Renouf, Dale Shearer<\/p>\n

Women: Teresa Anderson, Katrina Fanning, Jenni-Sue Hoepper, Caryl Jarrett, Loretta O\u2019Neill, Tracey Thompson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that the following content may contain descriptions, images and\/or voices…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":781673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-781672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781672","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=781672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}