If I remember the 'Franny jock strap' threads correctly they were more Kazzy then Hels Bells.



Unlikely to find it on a thread about Wilf Rosenberg.

As ever your powers of recall are exemplary.
I thought that the way you & JC were boring on that the thread should have been about flying whingers.

I was done with the thread way before christmas (edit: end of October) but Juan got a second wind.

I saw the two great tries by Wilf in the championship semi against saints in 1961

Yes me too. Derek Hallas played a big part in many of Wilf's tries. Much underated centre.

he certainly did

I seem to remember he played a season with Paramatta maybe with Fred Pickup

yes he went to Parramatta ,dont know who went first though .I think Fred I think maybe Derek went back to Keighley from Leeds .I wonder if 3 x leeds men played for Parra at the same time Fred ,Derek and of course Ken Thornett

I've been doing a bit of research and it looks like Ken Thornett (Paramatta 1962-1968 + 1971) played with both Derek Hallas (1963-65) and Fred Pickup (1966-6icon_cool.gif for Paramatta but not at the same time. Fred Pickup played for Manly (1964-65) and where he scored 16 tries

Talking of Kenny Thornett brings back some memories. For me still the best fullback I have seen. He was known to fans as "bucket" because he never seemed to drop the high ball. But he was known to Ozzie players as "the Mayor" because when on tour over here with the Green and Golds (after his time with Leeds) he was mobbed by admiring fans where ever he went.

I remember when Ken Thornett first arrived,at that time as kids we used to go watch them train,we used to walk with him back to the dressing room's,Arthur Clues at that time used to help out with the coaching,we had never heard Aussie accents before.We thought it was great.
Yes thanks for that about Fred Pickup I remember him going. I thought he spent all his spell at Parramatta.If he had stayed he would have figured in the Roy Francis era and probably got GB honour's but he did come back towards the end of his career and got a couple of medals

Ken Thornett was a terrific attacking FB with a lethal handoff. He used to figure a lot in the famous Lewis Jones "hanging pass" move with the object of putting a man into space.

From the base of a scrum Evans (SH) would pass to Jones (SO) who made to pass to his centres. But in the final execution of the pass would flip the ball up with wrists and soft hands to make the ball "hang" in the air as if by magic. This gave options for either Evans to run around Jones and collect the ball or for Thornett to take it at great speed and slice through with an angled run in the other direction.

This move produced many tries or yardage (as it was in those days). As opposition grew accustomed to the move Jones would vary it by following through with the pass to the centre with Evans and Thornett on dummy runs at different angles.

Talking of Derek Hallas I can still remember the try he scored in the 5-5 1st round cup game with Wigan ,in 1961 Evans passed to Jones from the scrum Jones kicked from about centre field halfway for Hallas and Rosenberg to chase
the ball just bounced nice for Hallas who ran about 15 yards to score 5-10yards in from the south stand old score board end.
Wigan equalised when geoff bootle stepped into touch on his way to score.
We got thrashed in the replay 32-7 ,but we got the holy grail the championship at the end of the season

I seem to remember getting soaked that day in a big 30k+ crowd. Big Jack Fairbank shoulder charged Billy Boston into the paddock and you could hear the contact all around the ground. Should have won on the day. I went to the replay at Central Park and we were outplayed by Ashton and their pack in front a huge crowd (mid week I think?)