Merv Hicks

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Merv Hicks (born in 1943 in Crosskeys, Monmouthshire) is a Welsh former rugby league footballer. He played club football in Australia for the Canterbury Bulldogs and North Sydney Bears and, in Britain for Doncaster, Warrington and St. Helens. Hicks was also selected to play representative football for Lancashire the Great Britain national side.

1 Early Career
2 New Life & Career in Australia
3 Later Career
4 Coaching Career

[edit] Early Career

After representing Wales Youth Rugby Union as number 8 and captain in 1960, he was 'lured north' to play rugby league for Doncaster for the sum of £1000, enough to buy several houses in his home village at that time. His dynamic skills and size caught the eye of Warrington, who paid Doncaster £6000 just a few months later to sign him. The "Wire" converted him from a centre to a hard running ball distributor playing in the second or front row.

Whilst at Warrington, he was selected as captain of the Great Britain under-24 team. He then moved onto St. Helens starring in one of the all-time great packs alongside players such as Ray French, Cliff Watson and John Mantle, and also winning county caps for Lancashire and full caps for Great Britain.

[edit] New Life & Career in Australia

The offer to start a new life with the Canterbury Bankstown Berries in the Sydney Rugby League competition led Hicks to Australia with his wife and two young sons in 1966.

Five highly successful seasons with the Berries including a grand final in 1967 ended with his move to the North Sydney "Bears" as captain-coach for the 1971 and 1972 seasons. Although these were lean times for the Bears and an injury stricken Hicks, they managed to beat all of the finalists of those years when Hicks was on the field, as well as creating many headlines with the hard-hitting antics of the captain and his fellow Welsh import, big Jim Mills.

[edit] Later Career

Hicks then returned to the north of England for 4 seasons to finish off his first class career with spells at Hull, Leeds and Bradford Northern. His 19 straight seasons of professional rugby league ended for the "Pale Whale" with 3 years at the Bowral Blues in Group 6 of the New South Wales country rugby league.

[edit] Coaching Career

After hanging up his boots, he continued to coach several teams including Bowral, Group 6, Southern Division and Riverina in the country championships, alongside his long career in hotel management.

Merv Hicks stills lives near to Bowral and works in Sydney.