One of the toughest and most feared players in rugby league history has died, losing a long battle with kidney failure. <\/p>\n
Barry 'Bunny' Reilly – a Roosters legend and key member of the premiership-winning teams of 1974-75 – passed away last night. <\/p>\n
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A ferocious tackling back-rower, Reilly was smaller than most modern day halfbacks but was known as 'The Axe' during his career – because his fearsome defensive technique would virtually cut rivals in half. <\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Roosters supremo Nick Politis arranged a special birthday party for Reilly that was attended by the entire current Roosters team. <\/p>\n
Reilly, who was 73, devoted his life to Easts, working for the club after retirement in coaching and administration and was a member of the Roosters' team of the century. <\/p>\n
"I played with and against 'Bunny' and I can tell you, I much preferred the former," league legend Ron Coote told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n
"He was only little, but he had this way of driving you under the ribs and rattling your whole body. <\/p>\n
"He got me a beauty once when I played for Souths – I think I can still feel it now. "Pound for pound, there probably wasn't a tougher player." <\/p>\n
A Roosters junior, Reilly\u00a0came into first grade in 1966 – the year the club didn't win a game. But he toughed it out and was a Jack Gibson favourite when the Roosters won their two consecutive titles in 1974-75. <\/p>\n
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The week before the 1975 grand final, Reilly badly tore his calf and was ruled out of the starting side. <\/p>\n
But Gibson so loved his little tackling dynamo that late in the game, Reilly hobbled out on to the field so he could play a part in the win over St George – despite barely being able to walk.<\/p>\n
Former teammate John Peard remembers the fear Reilly instilled into opponents.<\/p>\n
"Even in the Easts juniors, everyone knew the legend of 'Bunny'," he once told me. <\/p>\n
"If he wasn't playing for us, we could hear chatter and laughter in the opposition room before the game. <\/p>\n
"If he was, there was silence and all you could hear was the nervous rattling on the floor of the players' boots, terrified of what they were about to face." <\/p>\n
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