Norm Provan - 'Sticks'

The career of Norm 'Sticks' Provan casts a giant shadow over the game of rugby league. The St George and Australian Test legend played in 10 winning grand finals from 1956-65, the last four as captain-coach, as well as 14 Tests. Provan came into the St George ranks from neighbouring Sutherland in 1950 after the lanky, raw-boned forward missed out on being graded by Easts. He played in St George's loss to Souths in the 1953 grand final but great years lay ahead. In 1954 he played for NSW and in all three Tests against Great Britain. With almost 100kg spread over his 1.93m frame Provan formed a great partnership with Kel O'Shea in Australia's back row. In 1956, the year St George started their record-breaking 11 consecutive premiership wins, Provan toured with the Kangaroos. Injury ruled him out of the Tests against Great Britain but he appeared in three Tests against France at the end of the tour. A member of Australia's victorious World Cup squad the following year Provan played in all three Tests against Great Britain in 1958 and against the Kiwis in 1959. Despite declaring his unavailability for the 1959 Kangaroo Tour, he took on the Frenchmen in 1960 in his final Test series. The retirement of Ken Kearney in 1962 led to Provan's appointment as captain-coach of St George and the club's dominance continued. (The only hiccup during this time was the thrashing St George received by a champion Great Britain team in 1962). In the 1963 grand final Provan's image was immortalised with Wests’ captain Arthur Summons in John O'Gready's famous photograph, 'The Gladiators'. No other photo has captured the sportsmanship and camaraderie in the code. In 1965 Provan announced his retirement and a record SCG crowd of 78,065 fans were on hand to farewell him after yet another grand final victory. Following a season as non-playing coach in 1968, in which he took St George to the preliminary final, Provan had two further stints as coach with P’matta (1975) and grand finalists Cronulla (1978-79) before retiring to Queensland. His legacy in the game is remembered in the striking of the Winfield Cup trophy (1982-95), the Provan-Summons Medal for Best and Fairest player and the current NRL premiership trophy.