{"id":330946,"date":"2023-09-14T03:38:25","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T03:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=330946"},"modified":"2023-09-14T08:01:31","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T08:01:31","slug":"queenslands-first-state-of-origin-coach-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=330946","title":{"rendered":"Queensland's first State of Origin coach dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLC chairman Peter V'landys<\/a> has lauded John McDonald as "one of the greatest leaders ever to grace the game of rugby league", paying tribute after Queensland's first State of Origin<\/a> coach died at the age of 79.<\/p>\n

McDonald represented Queensland in the pre-State of Origin days and made 13 Test appearances in the green and gold.<\/p>\n

He also captained the Manly Sea Eagles, even leading the club in the famous 1970 grand final in which South Sydney Rabbitohs icon John Sattler played with a broken jaw.<\/p>\n

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He then coached the Arthur Beetson-led Maroons in the inaugural State of Origin match at Lang Park in 1980.<\/p>\n

McDonald also chaired the Queensland Rugby League for 20 years, from 1992 to 2012, and was an Australian Rugby League chairman.<\/p>\n

His sporting talents were not limited\ufeff to rugby league with McDonald once holding the men's world record for the 440 yards.<\/p>\n

Stream the NRL premiership 2023 live and free on<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"Few individuals have had an impact on the game of rugby league in Australia to the magnitude of John 'Cracker' McDonald," V'landys said.<\/p>\n

"He was also one of the game's absolute gentlemen and he will be remembered for many decades to come for his immense contribution to grassroots and elite rugby league.<\/p>\n

"The Australian Rugby League Commission and everyone at the NRL and across the game are saddened by John's passing and we send our thoughts and deepest sympathy to his family and friends."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ARLC chairman Peter V'landys has lauded John McDonald as "one of the greatest leaders ever to grace the game of rugby league", paying tribute after […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":330948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330946"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=330946"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330949,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330946\/revisions\/330949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/330948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=330946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=330946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=330946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}